Brian Cox says he regrets calling Johnny Depp overrated: 'I was being a bit harsh'

Brian Cox said he went "for the easy joke" when he described Johnny Depp as "overblown" and "overrated" in his 2021 memoir.

• Brian Cox described Johnny Depp as "overblown" and "overrated" in his 2021 memoir. 
• Cox told Jimmy Kimmel that he now regrets his description of Depp. 
• "I went for the easy joke," Cox said.

Brian Cox said he regrets describing Johnny Depp as an "overrated" actor in his tell-all 2021 autobiography "Putting the Rabbit in the Hat." 

"I just thought I was being a bit harsh. You know what it's like, you go for the easy joke. And I went for the easy joke," Cox said when asked about his comments on Depp during an interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

"That was what happened, and I sort of regretted it. Because I'm not like that normally; I was just being a bit glib, a bit flip."

Cox — who is best known for his role as the tyrannical media mogul Logan Roy on HBO's "Succession" —  continued to say that he believes most actors think they are overrated when asked about the psyche of a performer by Kimmel. 

"I think they do. I think a lot of times actors think they're overrated, and some think they're underrated," he said. "Let's put it this way: Most of them think they're not rated at all."

In his memoir, Cox wrote that he declined an opportunity to appear in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film series in the early 2000s. The casting team offered Cox the role of Governor Weatherby Swann, which was later given to Jonathan Pryce. Cox wrote at the time that he remains unimpressed by the franchise's star: Johnny Depp.

"Personable though I'm sure he is, is so overblown, so overrated," Cox wrote about Depp in his memoir.

The 75-year-old actor took specific aim at Depp's performance in Tim Burton's 1990 film "Edward Scissorhands" to highlight his criticisms.

"Let's face it, if you come on with hands like that and pale, scarred-face make-up, you don't have to do anything. And he didn't. And subsequently, he's done even less," Cox wrote.

"Putting the Rabbit in the Hat" also features anecdotes about Cox's experiences with A-list actors such as Ed Norton and Steven Seagal throughout his almost 60-year-long career. 

During an interview with Esquire at the time of the book's release, Cox explained why he decided to write his memoir. 

"Some people do memoirs far, far too young. Why are you doing your memoir now when you're only 32? There's no life! Getting to where I've got to, you're looking more at the end than the beginning, and you have to just be as honest as you can be without causing offense," he told the outlet.