Brian Cox’s most savage roasts of Hollywood, from ‘overblown’ Johnny Depp to ‘f---ing annoying’ Jeremy Strong

Kathleen PerriconeSat, April 4, 2026 at 12:01 AM UTC

0

Brian Cox targets Johnny Depp, Meghan Markle, and Jeremy StrongCredit: Hoda Davaine/Getty; Ilya S. Savenok/Getty; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

At this point, who in Hollywood does Brian Cox actually like?

The Succession actor is making headlines for his scathing interview with The Times, in which he mocks Wuthering Heights star Margot Robbie’s accent, labels director Michael Caton-Jones "a complete arsehole," and calls writer-director David Hare a "see you next Tuesday."

But to be fair, Cox’s unfiltered commentary is nothing new — or personal.

He’s never been one to mince words, whether he’s speaking freely about Hollywood icons or world leaders...

Johnny Depp

The Times' story notes Cox's previous description of Johnny Depp as “so overblown, so overrated,” a critique that dates all the way back to his 1990 film, Edward Scissorhands. In the Tim Burton–directed gothic fantasy-romance the actor quite literally portrays a humanoid with scissor blades for hands.

“Let’s face it, if you come on with hands like that and pale, scarred-face makeup, you don’t have to do anything. And he didn’t,” Cox wrote in his 2021 memoir Putting the Rabbit in the Hat. “And subsequently, he’s done even less.”

That opinion may have influenced his decision a decade later to turn down a role in the “Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow show” otherwise known as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Cox said he was offered the part of Governor Swann in the 2003 blockbuster but declined.

“It would have been a money-spinner, but of all the parts in that film it was the most thankless,” he wrote in his memoir. “Plus I would have ended up doing it for film after film and missed out on all the other nice things I’ve done.”

Joaquin Phoenix

Cox is equally unimpressed by Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix, especially in the 2023 biopic Napoleon.

“A truly terrible performance by Joaquin Phoenix,” he remarked at the 2024 HistFest. “It really is appalling. I don’t know what he was thinking. I think it’s totally his fault and I don’t think [director] Ridley Scott helps him. I would have played it a lot better than Joaquin Phoenix, I tell you that.”

Joaquin Phoenix in the 2023 movie 'Napoleon'Credit: Courtesy of Sony Pictures/Apple Original Films

But that wasn’t all he had to say. “I think he’s well named,” began Cox, but it wasn’t quite the compliment. “Joaquin… whackeen... whacky. It’s a sort of whacky performance.”

Braveheart

In the same interview, Cox was asked about the historical accuracy of Braveheart, the 1995 epic (in which he appeared) chronicling the 13th-century First War of Scottish Independence. “Braveheart is a load of nonsense,” the Scotsman quipped. “Mel Gibson was wonderful, but it’s a load of lies. [Sir William Wallace] never impregnated the French princess.”

Jeremy Strong

Succession ended its acclaimed four-season run in 2023, but Cox didn’t bother waiting until the HBO series was over to air his true feelings. The actor starred as billionaire Logan Roy opposite Strong as his heir apparent Kendall Roy, a role that earned Strong several Emmy Award nominations and one win.

“He’s a very good actor,” Cox acknowledged to Town and Country. However, Strong’s use of method acting was “f---ing annoying” he complained. “Don’t get me going on it.”

Advertisement

Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox in HBO's 'Succession'Credit: Craig Blankenhorn/HBOQuentin Tarantino

A self-proclaimed “Tarantino refusenik,” Cox admits he can barely sit through the Academy Award–winning director’s films — in fact, he walked out of Pulp Fiction.

“I really don’t have much time for Quentin Tarantino,” he wrote in his memoir. “I find his work meretricious. It’s all surface. Plot mechanics in place of depth. Style where there should be substance… I gritted my teeth and sat through Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and although it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, it still wasn’t good enough to convert me.”

Directors

Cox hasn’t worked with Tarantino, but he has been directed by some of the biggest talents in Hollywood, including David Fincher, Doug Liman, Wes Anderson, Gore Verbinski, and Spike Jonze —each with differing results.

“I’ve been very lucky with directors, but I’ve also worked with some real bozos,” Cox confessed in a BBC Maestro series on acting. “You have to learn the lesson and say, ‘Oh, I see, I’m working with an idiot, but I’m not going to let it stop me getting to where I’m supposed to go.’ And that happens a lot.”

Queen Elizabeth II, Markle, Prince Harry, Prince William, and Kate Middleton in 2018Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/GettyMeghan Markle

The Scottish actor doesn’t think much of the British monarchy, and he holds even less space for its rogue American princess. Following the “Megzit” of Markle and Prince Harry from the Royal Family, Cox gave his two cents to Haute Living.

“When you look at what’s happening with Meghan and Harry, you go, ‘Well, Harry, there’s an innocence about.’ And with her, too,” he began. “But you can’t go into a system where somebody’s already been trained to behave in a certain kind of way and then just expect them to cut themselves off. I mean, she knew what she was getting into, and there’s an ambition there clearly as well — the childhood dreams of marrying Prince Charming and all that s--- we see as fantasy that could be our lives in our dreams.”

Steven Seagal

Among the few box-office bombs in Cox’s filmography is The Glimmer Man, a 1996 cop thriller starring martial artist and comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans. Cox played a CIA agent-turned-bad guy, a role he took last-minute after Tommy Lee Jones dropped out.

“Steven Seagal is as ludicrous in real life as he appears on screen,” Cox wrote in his memoir. “He radiates a studied serenity, as though he’s on a higher plane to the rest of us, and while he’s certainly on a different plane, no doubt about that, it’s probably not a higher one.”

Cox (seated in car) with Keenan Ivory Wayans and Steven Seagal in 'The Glimmer Man'Credit: Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett CollectionLos Angeles

The only thing worse than Hollywood, to Cox, is the City of Angeles. During a 2023 Variety Actors on Actors interview with Emily Blunt, the Scottish star revealed he used to live in Los Angeles, “but I ran out of farmers markets. And when that’s gone, where am I going to go? What am I going to do in Los Angeles? Everybody’s so miserable.”

Americans

In 2021, Cox was asked about Succession’s reception in the U.K., when the U.S. caught a stray. “They’re not like American audiences, which have a sort of mindlessness to them,” he told GQ. “They’re much more discerning.”

The Bible

Despite being the most popular and best-selling book of all time, the Bible is “the worst,” says Cox, “from my point of view.”

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

During a 2024 interview on The Starting Line podcast, the actor explained his particular issue with the creation story of Adam and Eve and the idea that men are are “just sperm banks, moveable sperm banks.”

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”