Brian Cox takes shots at Margot Robbie and Quentin Tarantino

Brian Cox has done what Brian Cox does best, said exactly what he thinks about a string of Hollywood names, including Margot Robbie, Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Spacey and Donald Trump, with very little regard for the consequences.

Speaking to The Times in an interview published on Friday, 3 April, the 79-year-old Succession star weighed in on Robbie’s casting in the Wuthering Heights adaptation, in which she plays Catherine Earnshaw opposite Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff. 

“Margot Robbie is far too beautiful for that role,” Cox said. 

“I mean, I think there should be something more of the Gypsy about her, but it’s wrong of me to judge. It may be a brilliant film.” 

He then proceeded to mock her Australian accent with an impression of how he imagined the film might sound, quipping: ” ‘Keith Cliff! It’s me, Cathy!’ ‘How ya doing, Keith? Awright?’ ‘Yeah, I’m awright!’ “

Cox then turned his attention to Tarantino. 

Describing his own preference for directing, he said, “I like to honour the actor’s performance. With a Quentin Tarantino film, what you see is all Quentin Tarantino. That’s not me. I don’t want to do that.” 

He called Tarantino “meretricious”, meaning apparently attractive but lacking real value or integrity.

He also called Kevin Spacey, his co-star in the 1994 film Iron Will, “a stupid, stupid man,” and had pointed words for Trump: “Trump doesn’t give a s*** about the people. He’s only interested in the oil [in Iran]. There’s just sheer f***ing greed motivating him, nothing else. The idea he’s liberating people is nonsense.”

On Jeremy Strong, his Succession co-star whom he has repeatedly criticised, Cox appeared to be trying to dial things back, slightly. 

“I don’t want to go on about Jeremy, because I’ve got into a lot of problems and he’s begged me to stop talking about him. He’s a good actor, Jeremy.”

As for whether his candour has cost him professionally, Cox was unbothered. 

“My wife keeps saying, ‘Brian, be careful. Brian, be careful.’ I think, ‘F*** it, I don’t want to be careful anymore! I’ll be 80 this year. F*** I’m gonna say what I want to say.’ “