The co-star Brian Cox called “a stupid, stupid man”
Brian Cox is not a diplomatic figure. He’s not out there glad-handing his way through Hollywood like Dwayne Johnson or Tom Cruise. He isn’t burnishing his reputation as the nicest man in the biz like Tom Hanks. And he certainly isn’t holding back when it comes to calling an asshole an asshole.
He’s been consistently dismissive of Method acting, for example, referring to the process of his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong as “fucking annoying” and being none too candid about his feelings for Edward Norton (a “pain in the arse,” apparently). He doesn’t seem overly concerned about ruffling feathers, no matter how large the fanbase is for his latest target. Case in point, he made no bones about calling Johnny Depp – and specifically his performance as Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – “overrated”.
If anyone has earned the right to pass judgment on the work and process of actors, though, it’s Cox. He may not be the most famous star in the world, but he is one of the most impressive. He’s had a lengthy career on stage and screen, earning two Laurence Olivier Awards, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe. The fact that he hasn’t won an Oscar says more about the voting body than it does about his worthiness. He’s also worked with everyone from Olivier himself to Orlando Bloom, the opposite ends of a very long spectrum.
In his 2021 memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, Cox unleashed plenty of unsanitised thoughts on his many co-stars but reserved particularly harsh words for someone who most people would agree deserves it: Kevin Spacey. The two worked together on the 1994 Disney movie Iron Will, which follows a plucky teen who enters an infamous dog sledge race after his family is plunged into financial straits. Spacey plays a journalist who helps the boy get into the competition, while Cox plays one of the race organisers who bets against him.
In Cox’s estimation, Spacey is “a great talent, but a stupid, stupid man”.
While this might sound as though he is a fan of the actor’s work, he quickly dialled back that one glimmer of positivity. “As an actor he was good,” he wrote, “A little bit flashy at times. A little bit glib.” So, in other words, he might have had talent, but he didn’t use it well. Cox went on to relate that he saw Spacey’s misconduct with men firsthand, detailing a party they had been to in which the actor took it upon himself to hit on all the young male guests.
“[I]t was an open secret,” Cox wrote of Spacey’s alleged predatory tendencies. “You could see that it was a habit with him.” Spacey was one of the central figures to be called out during the #MeToo movement for alleged misconduct and has all but disappeared from the screen in the ensuing years.
In contrast, Cox continues to work tirelessly. In fact, he cited Iron Will as a turning point in his career. After an unsatisfying entry into the American film industry with 1986’s Manhunter, he found the experience of making the Disney movie to be nothing but joyful. It helped him decide to continue accepting offers in Hollywood, which led to roles in Braveheart, Kiss the Girls, and, ultimately, Succession.
