Brian Cox is riding quite the wave. Not only does he play the patriarch in the ridiculously popular show Succession, but he’s also the voice of McDonald’s. With that level, of fame, however, comes a certain amount of accountability.
Cox found this out firsthand on an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, when he was forced to explain recent comments he made about actor Johnny Depp. In his book Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, the 75-year-old actor called Depp “overrated.”
“You know what it’s like. You go for the easy joke, and I went for the easy joke. I sort of regretted it, because I’m not like that normally. I was just being a bit glib, a bit flip,” the actor said.
Cox said he got a lot of flak from Depp supporters.
“I’ve heard a lot from his … they call it a fan club, but I think it’s some kind of CIA agency that works on his behalf,” he said.
In his book, Cox said:
“Personable though I’m sure he is, [he] is so overblown, so overrated. I mean, Edward Scissorhands. Let’s face it, if you come on with hands like that and pale, scarred-face make-up, you don’t have to do anything. And he didn’t. And subsequently, he’s done even less.”
He also said that Depp’s star had fallen from his heyday.
“But people love him. Or they did love him. They don’t love him so much these days, of course. If Johnny Depp went for Jack Sparrow now, they’d give it to Brendan Gleeson.”
Also in the book, Cox also revealed that he declined a role in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, despite the hefty payday attached.
“It would have been a money-spinner, but of all the parts in that film it was the most thankless. Plus, I would have ended up doing it for film after film and missed out on all the other nice things I’ve done.”