Brian Cox slams method acting as “American sh*t”

Actor Brian Cox is on the tear again and this time he’s going after an entire institution of acting.

After screening his new movie Prisoner’s Daughter at the Toronto International Film Festival, Brian Cox discussed the acting process, both commendable and, uh, crap.

“I don’t hold a lot of the American shit,” the Scottish Cox said of method acting, “having to have a religious experience every time you play a part. It’s crap…I don’t hang onto the characters I play. I let them go through me. The thing is to be ready to accept, as an actor. You stand there, you’re ready to accept whatever is thrown at you.” In other words, he’s not going to be building houses or catching pneumonia for a role, Daniel Day-Lewis-style.

Brian Cox has not been one to mince words lately. In his 2021 autobiography, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, he was straight on several co-stars. He called his 25th Hour co-star Edward Norton “a nice lad but a bit of a pain in the arse because he fancies himself as a writer-director.” He was even harsher on Johnny Depp, slamming him as “personable though I’m sure he is…so overblown, so overrated.” (He has since apologized for this.) David Bowie? The Thin White Duke should’ve stuck to music because he’s “a skinny kid, and not a particularly good actor.” Quentin Tarantino? All style, no substance, calling “his work meretricious. It’s all surface.”

So, yeah, Brian Cox has no problems calling you out for being pretentious or…skinny?

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, Prisoner’s Daughter co-stars Brian Cox, Kate Beckinsale, and Ernie Hudson.

Brian Cox was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Succession. He will reportedly voice a computer-generated character in the Russo Brothers’ The Gray Man.

What are your thoughts on Brian Cox’s statement about method acting?