Brian Cox has clarified his comments referring to Johnny Depp as "overrated" when discussing Pirates of the Caribbean in his recently-released memoir. The BAFTA and Emmy Award-winner is famed for his illustrious stage and screen career, having played a slew of iconic characters and historical figures, including Herman Goering in Nuremberg, the titular prime minister in Churchill, and the world's favorite cannibal, Hannibal Lecter, in Manhunter. More recently, the star has garnered further acclaim as patriarch Logan Roy in HBO's hit satire Succession, a role that won him a Golden Globe in 2019.
Looking back on a career spanning nearly 60 years, Cox's new memoir, titled "Putting the Rabbit in the Hat," features quite the cornucopia of surprising details. He reveals, for example, how he turned-down the offer of playing wine-swigging sovereign Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones for financial reasons, as well as outlining his desire to have been in the Harry Potter franchise as Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, Mad-Eye Moody. However, the book has also earned itself much additional publicity due to Cox's unabashed opinions on a number of his fellow celebrities. Along with decrying the acting talents of the late David Bowie and labelling Tarantino's output as shallow, Cox calls Johnny Depp "overblown" and "over-rated," citing the actor as one of his reasons for also turning down the role of Governor Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
But now, Cox seems to feel the need to clarify and re-phrase his opinion of the Jack Sparrow actor. Although the star claims in his interview with Yahoo Entertainment that he hasn't yet had any grievances from those he's denounced, he has heard from Depp's more "vociferous" fans, who were no doubt shocked by his comments. Underplaying his reservations about Depp as an actor and offering praise for "some of his work," Cox also provides a more general rewording of his opinions of those who received a less-than-favorable review from him. Read his full comments here:
"What certain people accused me of was my lack of respect, and I really do not disrespect anybody involved in this profession because I know how difficult it is. Now, I may have reservations about their talent, but I certainly don't disrespect them. And my reservations about Johnny Depp are minimal — absolutely minimal. You know, I do think he's sometimes overblown, but I actually think he's also done some considerable work. Some of his work has really been extraordinarily good."
Cox clearly appears keen to revise his criticisms. He goes on to elaborate that he's now written an addendum, which he intends to include in the memoir's paperback release to help further clarify his opinions. Seeing that his judgements could perhaps have benefited from further editing, Cox explains: "I thought, 'Oh, perhaps I've been too quick' - and I can be too quick for my own good at that, so I wanted to contextualise that more." This additional appendix suggests that Cox is anticipating further backlash to his comments, and perhaps not just from fans, indicating that the dissatisfied Depp devotees were somewhat instrumental in Cox's reassessment of the wording of his various critiques.
This dramatic reversal from claiming that Depp has done nothing notable since Edward Scissorhands, to stating that some of the actor's work "has really been extraordinarily good," may come across as slightly baffling to some. For many, it will certainly provide easy speculation as to exactly why Cox decided to issue these reappraisals so soon after the book's U.S publication, as well as how he may choose to phrase them for its paperback re-release. However, it's clear that Cox maintains the opinions he laid out in "Putting the Rabbit in the Hat," despite feeling he could perhaps have reined it in a bit when discussing the Pirates of the Caribbean star. So, whilst Cox's book has emphatically proved that the Succession star is not one to hide his thoughts of others, this latest admission also proves that he is willing to admit when he may have overstated himself.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment