Brian Cox isn’t sugarcoating his opinion about Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon movie that came out last year.
“Terrible. It’s terrible. A truly terrible performance by Joaquin Phoenix,” Cox said at London’s HistFest on Sunday night, according to The Standard.
“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,” Cox added.
Brian Cox Goes on Rant About Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon
The Succession star had an idea of what might have improved Napoleon, however: “I would have played it a lot better than Joaquin Phoenix, I tell you that,” he said. “You can say it’s good drama. No – it’s lies.”
He took one more jab at Phoenix, this time about his name.
“I think he’s well named. Joaquin… wackeen… wacky. It’s a sort of wacky performance.”
Representatives for Cox and Phoenix did not immediately respond to MovieMaker‘s request for comment Wednesday.
Napoleon came out at Thanksgiving, following Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor and military commander who rose to power during the French Revolution. Phoenix co-starred opposite Vanessa Kirby as Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon’s wife.
But Phoenix wasn’t the only target of Cox’s rant on Sunday. Cox also complained about historical accuracy in movies in general. Napoleon director Ridley Scott notably said historical fact checkers should “get a life” in his November New Yorker profile timed to the release of Napoleon.
“Braveheart is a load of nonsense,” Cox said. “Mel Gibson was wonderful, but it’s a load of lies. He never impregnated the French princess. It is a bollocks [sic] that film.”
The actor also had something to say about theater critics. He can currently be seen in the stage play Long Day’s Journey Into Night on London’s West End, where he plays the lead role of patriarch James Tyrone.
Also Read: Brian Cox: ‘I Resent the Fact’ That ‘I’ve Lost My Anonymity’ Because of Succession
In regards to critics who have compared his role as Tyrone to that of his Succession character Logan Roy, Cox said: “It’s stupid! Why make that comparison? It’s so obvious.”
He added: “Most critics are stupid. They really are. Theatre 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 also bemoaned method acting, something he’s been vocal about in the past, particularly regarding Jeremy Strong, his on-screen son — and number one boy — in Succession. (“Oh, it’s f—ing annoying. Don’t get me going on it” Cox said of Strong’s method acting in an interview with Town and Country last year).
Now, he’s doubling down on his anti-method opinions.
“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. “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.”
Politics was another topic that Cox covered. Seeing that he currently lives in the U.S., the Scottish-born actor had some opinions to share about former president Donald Trump and the country’s tightening abortion laws.
“I think my relationship with America will be coming to a very short sharp end quite soon because of that very thing,” he said. “It’s very hard to govern America and you certainly don’t need idiots like Trump doing that. I do think that Biden is a good man but he’s too old.”
He even threatened to move away from the U.S. if Trump gets re-elected: “I probably will,” he said.
Main Image: Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon, Apple TV+ and Columbia Pictures, Brian Cox in Succession, HBO
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