‘Succession’ star Brian Cox calls Johnny Depp “overblown” and “overrated” in new memoir
The actor also hits out at Quentin Tarantino and Steven Seagal in the book
By Tom Skinner
‘Succession’ star Brian Cox has labelled Johnny Depp as “so overrated” in his new memoir, ‘Putting The Rabbit In The Hat’.
The actor, who portrays Logan Roy in the hit HBO series, released the book in the UK last Thursday (October 28).
In the “rags-to-riches” autobiography, Cox recalled turning down the role of the Governor in ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’, which stars Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.
“Personable though I’m sure he is, is so overblown, so overrated,” Cox wrote of the franchise’s leading man (via Yahoo!).
“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.
“But people love him. They don’t love him so much these days of course,” he added, appearing to reference the controversy surrounding Depp’s divorce from Amber Heard.
Cox also shared his thoughts on Steven Seagal, who he starred alongside in 1996’s ‘The Glimmer Man’. He said that the actor is “as ludicrous in real life as he appears onscreen”.
“He radiates a studied serenity, as though he’s on a higher plane to the rest of us,” Cox wrote. “And while he’s certainly on a different plane, no doubt about that, it’s probably not a higher one.”
He went on to say that Seagal suffers from the “Donald Trump syndrome of thinking himself far more capable and talented than he actually is, seemingly oblivious to the fact that an army of people are helping to prop up his delusion.”
Elsewhere, Cox described Quentin Tarantino’s work as “meretricious”. “It’s all surface. Plot mechanics in place of depth,” he added. “Style where there should be substance. I walked out of ‘Pulp Fiction’.”
As for ‘Once Upon a Time In Hollywood’, the actor said that the 2019 film “wasn’t as bad as I’d feared” but “still wasn’t good enough to convert me”.
An official description of ‘Putting The Rabbit In The Hat’ reads: “This is a rags-to-riches life story like no other – a seminal autobiography that both captures Cox’s distinctive voice and his very soul. Rich in emotion and meaning, with plenty of laughs along the way, it will be a classic in the vein of The Moon’s a Balloon by David Niven and What’s It All About by Michael Caine.”
‘Succession’ season 3 is available to stream on NOW in the UK.