Actor Brian Cox recently did not hold back when giving his opinion on various topics, including his own films, at London’s HistFest Sunday night, reports Variety. “‘Braveheart’ is a load of nonsense,” Cox said, taking on Mel Gibson‘s 1995 historical epic, in which Cox himself starred. “Mel Gibson was wonderful but it’s a load of lies. He never impregnated the French princess. It is a bollocks [sic] that film.”
Cox’s next target was Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. “It’s terrible,” Cox remarked about the historical drama, per The Standard. “A truly terrible performance by Joaquin Phoenix. It really is appalling. I don’t know what he was thinking. I think it’s totally his fault and I don’t think Ridley Scott helps him. I would have played it a lot better than Joaquin Phoenix, I tell you that. You can say it’s good drama. No — it’s lies.”
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Afterward, Cox pondered on Phoenix’s name: “I think he’s well named. Joaquin … wackeen … wacky. It’s a sort of wacky performance.” Cox was one of the guest speakers at HistFest, a two-day event commemorating the intersection of arts, academics, and history to promote his lead performance in the West End production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
In response to critics who compared his theater role to Logan Roy in Succession, he replied, “It’s stupid! Why make that comparison? It’s so obvious. Most critics are stupid. They really are. Theater criticism has gone right down the tubes. You think of those wonderful critics of the past, there’s nobody to match them now. Because they don’t do their homework.”
Cox didn’t stop there. He ripped into method acting, a topic he routinely discussed when asked about his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong’s rigorous approach.
“Oh no that’s all bollocks. It’s a kind of nonsense. We’re transmitters. That’s what we are as actors. We transmit energy,” Cox said, emphasizing that researching a role is more crucial than assuming characters off-camera. “You have to do your homework. That’s the delight of it, the information you get because you’re reading everything about Churchill and you’re building up a picture of who this person was.”
Furthermore, Cox addressed politics, hinting that he may leave America if Donald Trump recaptures the presidential seat following the passage of restrictive abortion laws. “It’s very hard to govern America and you certainly don’t need idiots like Trump doing that,” Cox said. “I do think that Biden is a good man but he’s too old.” Asked whether he would leave the United States if Trump returned to office, Cox replied, “I probably will.”
