Brian Cox ‘Sort of Regrets’ Calling Johnny Depp an ‘Overrated’ Actor: ‘I Was Being Harsh’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf During an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this week, Brian Cox expressed some regret over calling Johnny Depp “overrated” and “overblown” in his recently released memoir “Putting the Rabbit in the Hat.” Cox revealed in the book that he turned down the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise because he was being offered “the most thankless [role].” The “Succession” actor added he was somewhat relieved he declined “Pirates” because “it’s very much the ‘Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow’ show, and Depp, personable though I’m sure he is, is so overblown, so overrated.”“I just thought I was being a bit harsh,” Cox told Kimmel about criticizing Depp in his memoir. “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.” When asked by Kimmel if actors generally think they’re overrated, Cox responded, “I think they do.

I think a lot of times actors think they’re overrated, and some think they’re underrated,” he said. “Let’s put it this way: Most of them think they’re not rated at all.”Cox was reportedly offered the role of Governor Swann, played by Jonathan Pryce in the films.

Signing up for “Pirates” would’ve reunited Cox with his “The Ring” director Gore Verbinski.“It would have been a money-spinner, but of all the parts in that film it was the most thankless, plus I would have ended up doing it for film after film and missed out on all the other nice things I’ve done,” Cox said in his memoir.He wrote of Depp, “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.