If Brian Cox’s time on Succession doesn’t give the actor a ruthless enough image already, the 75-year-old actor recently took shots at an actor still near and dear to many people: Johnny Depp. During a recent interview, the award-winning actor called Depp “so overblown” and “so overrated,” as well as called out a couple of his most famous roles, including Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. Following the quotes going viral, Cox is walking back on his comments.
Brian Cox, who recently put out a memoir about his life called Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, discussed his comments about Johnny Depp with Yahoo. In his words:
What certain people accused me of was my lack of respect, and I really do not disrespect anybody involved in this profession because I know how difficult it is. Now, I may have reservations about their talent, but I certainly don’t disrespect them. And my reservations about Johnny Depp are minimal — absolutely minimal. You know, I do think he’s sometimes overblown, but I actually think he’s also done some considerable work. Some of his work has really been extraordinarily good.
Following some scathingly honest remarks to GQ where Brian Cox also stated that Johnny Depp didn’t “do anything” with his role in Edward Scissorhands, along with claiming he’s done “even less” in his career following the 1990 Tim Burton film. Now, though, Cox is changing his tone. He felt that Depp’s “vociferous” fans mistook his words as disrespect, which he did not intend toward the actor.
Brian Cox instead said his reservations against Johnny Depp are “absolutely minimal,” and even if his career may be overrated by his taste, he also believes Depp has done some “considerable work” that has been “extraordinarily good.” Cox also pointed out that he thinks it’s “great” that the actor has such loyalty from his fans.
Brain Cox started talking about Johnny Depp in the first place during the interview when it was touched on that the Succession actor turned down the role of the Governor in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, which went to The Two Popes Oscar-nominee Jonathan Pryce instead. Cox shared that he’d worked with the director, Gore Verbinski, on The Ring prior to being offered Pirates, and admitted it would have been a “money-spinner,” but called it a “thankless” role that would have kept him from other work for years to come.
During the interview, Brain Cox also got candid about turning down the role of Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones and being up for another high profile role in the Harry Potter franchise, which, by his estimation, was Brendan Gleeson’s role of Mad-Eye Moody. But even without these big franchise films, the actor has maintained his status in Hollywood, and steadily made films since getting his start in the ‘60s.
Brian Cox, of course, stars in one of the most popular and acclaimed TV shows on right now with Succession, where he plays Logan Roy. The actor is also shooting a political thriller called The Independent, which is expected to come out later this year.