Brian Cox admits he was too tough on Johnny Depp.
Cox dropped by “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following the October release of his memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat. The “Succession” star confessed that disparaging remarks he made about Depp being overrated were out of line.
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“I just thought I was being a bit harsh,” Cox told Kimmel, per Variety. “You know what it’s like, you go for the easy joke. And I went for the easy joke. That was what happened, and I sort of regretted it. Because I’m not like that normally; I was just being a bit glib, a bit flip.
“I think a lot of times actors think they’re overrated, and some think they’re underrated… Let’s put it this way: Most of them think they’re not rated at all.”
Cox was in talks to portray Governor Swann, ultimately played by Jonathan Pryce, in “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Cox said he was relieved to have passed on the role after seeing Depp’s presentation as Jack Sparrow.
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“It’s very much the ‘Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow’ show,” he wrote in his book. “And Depp, personable though I’m sure he is, 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 makeup, you don’t have to do anything. And he didn’t.
“And subsequently, he’s done even less. But people love him. Or they did love him. They don’t love him so much these days, of course.”
