Aged 75, Brian Cox will publish his memoirs, “Putting the Rabbit in the Hat”, on January 18, in which he looks back on his entire career. And take the opportunity to throw out some truths about certain Hollywood stars.
Johnny Depp
The first to hang behind the head is none other than Johnny Depp. The interpreter of Logan Roy in the excellent series Succession recalls never having played alongside the star of Pirates of the Caribbean, but had been offered the role of Governor Weatherby Swann played by Jonathan Pryce. Which he had refused. However, he has a fairly strong opinion about the 58-year-old actor.
“I’m sure he’s charming, but he’s so overrated, so overrated. In Edward Scissorhands, let’s be honest, if you’re decked out with hands like these, with this pallor and these makeup scars, you don’t have to do anything. And he didn’t have to do anything. And afterwards, he did even less,” says Brian Cox.
Quentin Tarantino
Brian Cox is absolutely not a fan of the work of the director of Once upon a time… in Hollywood. “I find his work flashy. Everything is superficial. He plays with the script to hide the lack of depth. Prioritize style over substance. I didn’t stay until the end of Pulp Fiction. (…) That being said, if he called me for a role, I would do it”, explains the Scottish actor.
Steven Seagal
Brian Cox shared the movie poster for The White Shadow with Steven Seagal in 1996. And he obviously didn’t have good memories of the actor. “Steven Seagal is as ridiculous in real life as he is on screen. He exudes a facade of serenity, as if he were moving on a higher plane than all of us. And if it is obvious that it evolves on a different plane from ours, there is no doubt, it is certainly not on a higher plane, ”he begins.
He goes on to explain that Steven Seagal suffers from the “Donald Trump syndrome of believing himself to be much more capable and talented than he really is, seemingly oblivious to the fact that an army of people are involved in maintaining this illusion. “.
Edward Norton
Brian Cox is the first fan of Spike Lee, the director with whom he worked on the film The 25th hour, whom he considers to be one of the most talented directors in the profession. What was his joy when the latter did not hesitate to put Edward Norton in his place on the set of the film in 2002. According to Brian Cox, the actor is “a nice boy but he can be boring because that he likes to believe himself author-director”.
And to clarify: “He and I had a scene in my character’s bar. Spike had thought of and prepared everything immaculately. But Ed showed up and started saying, ‘I’ve been working on the script and I’ve got a few ideas I’d like to pitch to you. I rewrote some things. Spike told her he was going to take a look. He looked at his notes and said, ‘That’s very interesting. Alright, so let’s get back to what we were doing’…and in that way he put Ed in his place,” says Brian Cox.