Brian Cox recently spoke to the Times of London about his feature directorial debut, Glenrothan. While there are quotes about Scotland and the film in this piece, the bulk of this interview is just Cox doing what he always does in interviews, which is talk sh-t about almost everyone and everything. As I read this, I started thinking about how differently these kinds of statements would come across if said by a woman. But you know what? I think it’s actually more about age – if an 80-year-old woman/actress talked sh-t constantly, we would probably enjoy it, right? Because of her age, because we would feel like “f–k it, why not?” So that’s how I’m approaching this interview – we’re obviously not going to change his mind or get him to stop sh-t talking, so let’s just sit back and let it all wash over us.
Turning down a role in POTC: Cox turned down the role of the governor in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (Jonathan Pryce played him), relieved not to work alongside Johnny Depp who he thinks is “so overblown, so overrated”.
Some actors & directors he loathes: Edward Norton? “A pain in the arse.” Kevin Spacey? “A stupid, stupid man.” Ian McKellen’s acting? “Not to my taste.” Quentin Tarantino (“meretricious”); Michael Caton-Jones (“a complete arsehole”); David Hare (a “see you next Tuesday”).
Ignoring calls from Daniel Day Lewis: Cox also got into hot water for criticising the “method acting” of his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong (he played Kendall Roy), calling it “f***ing annoying” and “American sh-t”. Strong was reportedly inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis (Strong was once his personal assistant), who in turn got drawn into the debate at the end of last year. Day-Lewis advised Cox to get off his “soapbox” and to make contact to discuss it. Did he reach out to Day-Lewis? “No, I haven’t reached out because it’s got nothing to do with Dan Day-Lewis,” he grumps. “Dan Day-Lewis, he’s discreet. He never upsets it [the filming process]. He’s never, sort of… I don’t want to go on about Jeremy, because I’ve got into a lot of problems and he’s begged me to stop talking about him. He’s a good actor, Jeremy. He’s a wonderful actor. It’s just all the bollocks that goes with it. You watch children — they don’t say, ‘What’s my motivation?’ They just do it!”
Margot Robbie starring in Wuthering Heights: “‘Keith Cliff! It’s me, Cathy!’ ” he declaims suddenly in a cod Australian accent (Robbie was once in the Australian soap Neighbours). “‘How ya doing, Keith? Awright?’ ‘Yeah, I’m awright!’ ” Cox enjoys a hearty chuckle before composing himself. “Margot Robbie is far too beautiful for that role. I mean, I think there should be something more of the Gypsy about her but it’s wrong of me to judge. It may be a brilliant film.”
He’s more Irish than Scottish: He is actually 80 per cent Irish. His forebears arrived in Dundee after the 19th-century potato famine and found work digging canals or spinning jute. The famine was a genocide the effects of which have never been fully acknowledged, he says. The Celts have been “traduced” and often treated little better than “slaves”. “Ireland was always a problem to them [the English], because we just had a different culture,” he goes on. “That’s why, you know, after what happened in Ireland, the whole rise of the IRA was completely understandable.”
On Donald Trump & Iran: “Trump doesn’t give a sh-t about the people. He’s only interested in the oil. There’s just sheer f***ing greed motivating him, nothing else. The idea he’s liberating people is a nonsense. And it’s that greed that sort of permeates through society. I find at my age, I just go, ‘Are we going to get any better?’ You’ve seen great times in our country. And then you go, it’s never been worse, with Farage and that sh-t that he comes out with on a constant level. And there he was, you know, at his school doing Hitler impressions and all that. I find that we’re moving in a direction I can’t understand. Why won’t people want to oppose it?”
On American women asking him to tell them off: “That’s something that women should take up among themselves,” chuckles Cox. “I think it’s an economic thing. In America they don’t like women. They won’t let a woman be president, not in the foreseeable future. Look what happened to Hillary Clinton. The patriarchy is so invasive and so insidious, it’s hard to throw it off. I think the patriarchy is a f***ing mess, and it’s the patriarchy that got us into the position that we’re in at the moment, and we don’t learn the lessons. I say, give it over to the women.”
The concept of Jeremy Strong begging Brian Cox to stop talking about him completely… lmao. I actually think Strong has handled all of that sh-t really well, and it was almost as if Strong and Cox’s real dynamic was reflected on-screen in Succession (or vice versa). Like, Jeremy Strong is an incredible actor and his performance was a high-wire act, made even more difficult by Cox publicly mocking him and his acting style. But Brian ignoring Daniel Day Lewis?? LMAO. It’s such a ridiculous actor-beef, my god. And referring to David Hare as a C-U-Next-Tuesday is cracking me up. Everything he says about Trump and America is correct though.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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English (United States) ·