Succession’s Brian Cox throws serious shade at Johnny Depp: ‘So overrated’

He’s not holding anything back! Succession star Brian Cox is seeing a major resurgence in his career due to the popular HBO show, and in his new memoir, he’s getting brutally honest on moments from his career.

The 75-year-old actor has appeared in plenty of big movies and TV shows over the years, such as Braveheart (1995), Super Troopers (2001), Deadwood (2006) and Zodiac (2007), just to name a few, but no role has been more perfect for him than Logan Roy in Succession. His character is unapologetically corrupt and cold-blooded, leading a major business conglomerate and a weak family who all want to take over the company.

Cox won a Golden Globe for his performance in Succession in 2020, and we’re sure that won’t be the last prestigious award he’ll receive for the part. But though he’s no doubt a fantastic actor, he might be feeling a bit cocky — as evidenced by his upcoming book, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat.

Brian Cox shares thoughts on Johnny Depp

GQ obtained a passage from the new memoir, as reported by US Weekly, which reveals Cox was offered a role in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, but was quick to turn it down. The part eventually went to Jonathan Pryce. The actor explained of his decision:

"“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.”"

But that’s not all. It seems another reason Cox didn’t want to appear in the movies had to do with the star, Johnny Depp! He wrote: “Another thing with [Pirates of the Caribbean] is that 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.”

Of course, the 58-year-old actor has almost become synonymous with his character, Captain Jack Sparrow, and fans of the movies couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role.

With Depp’s legal battle against his ex-wife Amber Heard in recent years, the actor has become more or less a controversial figure in Hollywood. While Cox didn’t touch on any of that in his memoir, it is so interesting to hear his thoughts on Depp in general.

Putting the Rabbit in the Hat is now available for pre-order on Amazon.