‘Succession’ Alum Brian Cox Slams ‘Overrated’ Johnny Depp, ‘Meretricious’ Quentin Tarantino and More

Succession‘s Brian Cox has taken aim at Hollywood’s most recognizable names, blasting A-listers such as Johnny Depp, Quentin Tarantino and Ian McKellen.

According to The Times, the snippy Scotsman, 79, called Johnny “so overblown” and “so overrated” and claims he was relieved to turn down the role of governor in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which went to Jonathan Pryce and would have had him acting alongside Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow.

During Cox’s career, which has earned him two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe, he appeared in Marvel’s blockbuster X2. But he says fellow X-Men castmate Ian’s acting is “not to my taste.”

Brian didn’t stop there — and calls his 25th Hour costar Edward Norton “a pain in the arse.”

He also seemingly mocked Aussie Margot Robbie and her new flick Wuthering Heights, in which she plays heroine Catherine Earnshaw to Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff.

Cox, who admitted that he hadn’t seen the Emerald Fennell–directed movie, reportedly used an Australian accent to utter: “Keith Cliff! It’s me, Cathy!” He complains, “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.”

Cox goes on to label filmmaker Tarantino “meretricious” and Kevin Spacey a “stupid man.”

He admits he’s too old to care what people think of him and has no interest in shutting his yap, even though his spouse, Nicole Ansari-Cox, has tried to get him to tap the brakes. He argued, per The Times, “My wife keeps saying, ‘Brian, be careful. Brian, be careful.’ I think, ‘F**k it, I don’t want to be careful anymore! I’ll be 80 this year. F**k it! I’m gonna say what I want to say.’”

However, Cox says he hasn’t taken up an offer from Daniel Day-Lewis to have a discussion about method acting after he previously bashed Succession costar Jeremy Strong’s approach as “f**king annoying.” He carps, “He’s a good actor, Jeremy … 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!”