Brian Cox, the veteran actor currently portraying Roy family patriarch Logan Roy on HBO's Succession, has enjoyed a particularly prosperous Hollywood career. With that kind of talent and influence comes countless oppotunities. In his recent memoir Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, Cox revealed, always with a dark and sharp sense of humor, many previously unknown things about his past, both personal and professional. One of those tidbits is the revelation that he was offered roles in both Game of Thrones and Pirates of the Caribbean.
In the book, Cox discloses he turned down the role of Robert Baratheon in the first season of Game of Thrones. Instead, the role went to Mark Addy, who ended up nailing the role of the ill-fated king. But, being an actor of great presence, it is not difficult to imagine Cox pulling off the role either. After the success of the HBO fantasy series, Cox did regret his decision to refuse the role. In his words:
“I’m often asked if I was offered a role in Game of Thrones—reason being that every other bugger was—and the answer is, yes, I was supposed to be a king called Robert Baratheon, who apparently died when he was gored by a boar in the first season. I know very little about Game of Thrones so I can’t tell you whether or not he was an important character, and I’m not going to Google it just in case he was, because I turned it down.” (via GQ)
Cox later admits that he did lie about not googling the role. In addition, he justifies his regret by saying that, with Game of Thrones’ undeniable popularity, every member of the cast made a fortune. However, he did not seem too bothered since his character would have been killed early in the show's run.
Speaking of huge and popular fantasy franchises, Cox also addressed the suspicions that he was supposed to play a character in the Harry Potter films. The actor said:
“I think someone had a burning cross held up for me not to be in Harry Potter, because all my pals were in it. I think the part I might have played was the one that Brendan Gleeson got, Mad-Eye Moody, but Brendan was more in fashion than I was at that point, and that’s very much the way of the world in my business, so he got it. Also, he’s much better than I would have been."
Another massive franchise Cox chose not to be associated with was Pirates of the Caribbean. He had been offered the role of the Governor, which eventually went to The Two Popes actor Jonathan Pryce. According to Cox:
“The guy who directed Pirates was Gore Verbinski, with whom I made The Ring, and he’s a lovely chap but I think I blotted my copybook by turning down the Governor. It would have been a money-spinner, but of all the parts in that film, it was the most thankless, plus I would have ended up doing it for film after film and missed out on all the other nice things I’ve done.”
On top of that, Cox further justifies his decision by saying that the films are “Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow” show. Apparently, Cox is not a huge fan of Depp. He said, “he is so overblown, so overrated,” and even criticizes Depp’s performance in the 1990 Edward Scissorhands, saying: “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.”
The main takeaway: Cox may have some regrets regarding roles he rejected but passing on Pirates of the Caribbean is not one of them.