Sir Ian McKellen is widely regarded as one of the United Kingdom’s greatest living actors.
Don’t believe me? Just take a look at all the awards he’s won, including a Tony Award, six Laurence Olivier Awards, and he’s been up for two Academy Awards.
All of that, and he played Gandalf and Magneto! The guy’s an undeniable acting legend.
Or at least he is in some circles, because it seems The Lord of the Rings star isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Enter, another acting legend, the one and only Brian Cox, who’s best known these days for playing the curmudgeonly Logan Roy in Succession and for calling out other actors.
This week, during an interview with The Times, Cox reportedly whittled off a list of actors that he doesn’t care for, which just so happened to include McKellen.
‘Edward Norton? A pain in the arse. Kevin Spacey? ‘A stupid, stupid man.’ Ian McKellen’s acting? ‘Not to my taste,’ he apparently told The Times reporter.
We’re not quite sure why Cox feels this way. The pair have worked together numerous times, most notably on a Royal National Theatre production of King Lear, and we found photos of them hanging out online.
Perhaps his attitude is best explained by a later quote from the interview, where Cox makes clear he’s too old to worry about these things.
My wife keeps saying, “Brian, be careful. Brian, be careful,”‘ he explained.
‘I think, “F* it, I don’t want to be careful any more! I’ll be 80 this year. F* it! I’m gonna say what I want to say.”‘
Also, it’s not like McKellen was the only actor to get it in the neck. Cox also put Johnny Depp on blast as well, calling him ‘so overblown, so overrated’.
Still, there was one actor Cox was keen not to call out this time… sort of.
When asked about Jeremy Strong, who played his eldest son in Succession, about his previous comments on method acting, Cox refused to be drawn on it… while also sort of insulting it.
I don’t want to go on about Jeremy,’ he said. ‘I’ve got into a lot of problems, and he’s begged me to stop talking about him. He’s a good actor, Jeremy. He’s a wonderful actor. It’s just all the bollocks that goes with it.’
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