Brian Cox Drags Johnny Depp Over One of His Most Beloved Performances

Brian Cox gave a candid new interview with The Guardian, in which the 77-year-old actor once again demonstrated that his personality is not entirely unlike that of his gruff Succession character, Logan Roy. In addition to lamenting the loss of his privacy thanks to the role that made him a household name, Cox did not hold back his feelings when discussing projects he passed out on.

One of those projects was evidently the role of the governor in Pirates of the Caribbean. Though the part, which ultimately went to Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce, would have certainly been lucrative, Cox was uninterested.

"It would have been a moneyspinner but, of all the parts in the film, it was the most thankless," Cox explained, calling it "very much the Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow show."

"And Depp, personable though I’m sure he is, is so overblown," Cox continued, scathingly. "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."

Among his other high-profile career near misses was a role on the first season of Game of Thrones, which he opened up about in his memoir published two years ago, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat.

"I’m often asked if I was offered a role in Game of Thrones," Cox revealed. "Reason being that every other bugger was—and the answer is, yes, I was supposed to be a king called Robert Baratheon."

However, Cox said that he turned down the other massively popular HBO series because the money wasn't good enough and, as fans are well aware, Robert Baratheon didn't last very long on the show. "There’s always been a tendency of American productions to treat British actors differently from American actors. In other words, to get them cheap."

If nothing else, Cox can always be counted on to shoot from the hip.