Brian Cox mocks Joaquin Phoenix performance in Napoleon: "truly terrible"

Oh no, he didn’t!

If you are going to make fun of someone's surname, it might be a good thing not to be named Cox.

As in "I think you suck, Cox."

What the fuck is wrong with Brian Cox? Is he autistic or something?

He was just giving his opinion, like it or not.

Mocking Joaquin’s name is not just giving his opinion.

Cox has clearly reached the "don't give two fucks" curmudgeon phase. He strongly dislikes really self-indulgent "Method-ish" actors whose performances have more to do with displaying their neuroses than anything else (like Jeremy Strong). I suspect what passes for The Method now has little to do anymore with anything Strasberg taught.

And he's right about Phoenix in NAPOLEON, IMO.

R5, I agree that mocking Phoenix's is stooping pretty low, however.

True or not, this is shameful. But he almost always bad mouths someone in his interviews. Entertaining but very telling on him (and ultimate sin, the joke was unfunny).

Phoenix is not considered a real actor because he’s a method actor which is not real acting.

[QUOTE] What the fuck is wrong with Brian Cox? Is he autistic or something?

It’s called being close to the grave. You stop giving a fuck.

If you have to resort to making fun of someone's name, you've lost all credibility - especially if your name is "cox" because he' is well and truly a dick.

I don't even like Phoenix, but his comments reek of envy.

Leave Joaquin alone! He was raised in a cult and watched his brother die in front of him. I don't even think he enjoys acting but he has to support his grifting family.

Cox only has this ire for American actors. He rarely says shit about English actors who gave equally terrible, self-indulgent performances.

[quote]I think he’s well named. Joaquin…whackeen... whacky.

I wonder if he's going to be called a bigot, because Joaquin is a Spanish name.

Like someone making fun of Asian/African names.

He could have played it better? Agreed. 20 years ago he could have played it better

OP

No fan of Phoenix, but Cox always seems to give the same performance. I recently saw him in something from the late 80s and it was his usual schtick.

I would have thought Joaquin's real name would invite more ridicule. Isn't it "Leaf"?

His real name is Joaquin Rafael Bottom. He briefly went by Leaf because he wanted a name like his siblings.

Brian Cox was the original Hannibal Lecter in the massive flop MANHUNTER (1986) opposite the delicious William Petersen.

He must resent Anthony Hopkins, who made the role iconic a few years later in the blockbuster SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and won the Oscar.

I read his memoir, which is full of stuff like this. He's very talented and has had an interesting career, but, like Frank Langella, his endless sniping seemed less pointless bitchery than rampant egotism.

Joaquin is method? That's too bad. I forget who said it, but they noted that these method actors never play nice guys. It's a free pass to act like an asshole off set.

Joaquin is not a method actor.

He made that quite clear when the first JOKER came out several years ago.

It's evident in the behind-the-scenes footage where he doesn't stay in character in between shots.

He's more of an improvisor. He improvises a lot on set and does each take a little differently.

Re Joaquin: he was given a Spanish name, because he was born in Puerto Rico, where the family resided for a couple of years before the Children of God relocated them to Venezuela.

The rest of his siblings had more nature/hippie names like River, Rain, Liberty, and Summer.

When Joaquin became a child actor, after the family left the cult and returned to the US, he took on the stage name Leaf for the reasons R18 gave.

He went back to using his birth name as a young adult

Yikes. My opinion of Brian Cox falls - no call for that sort of thing, even if Phoenix was completely awful.

"Joaquin…whackeen... whacky. It’s a sort of whacky performance"

This sounds like something Trump would say while soiling his diaper.

Maybe Cox is doing his own method acting...never leaving behind the role he played in Succession.

Thanks for the info, R22. I like Joaquin so was hoping it was no true. Method actors are mostly bullshit to me. Except DDL, who, to his credit, doesn't always play assholes.

So most of the comments come down to, yeah, he probably sucked in this role but nobody is ever allowed to say so, cause everybody in Hollywood is officially a genius and awesome to everybody else in Hollywood.

Sorry, don't give a fuck if somebody broke the sacred Hollywood code of conduct.

[quote] I wonder if he's going to be called a bigot, because Joaquin is a Spanish name.

No, because Phoenix isn’t actually Latino. His name is an outrageous act of cultural appropriation.

R9, the cunt has been close to the grave for the past 50 years then.

I first thought you meant the English physicist Brian Cox. Now there's a cool person, unlike this loser.

Well, Phoenix's Napoleon performance truly was terrible and appalling so there's that. Vanessa Kirby must be commended as well for matching the wretchedness head to head in her truly abysmal performance as Josephine. Great costumes and battle scenes though.

R28 but he's still making fun of a Spanish name that is common in Latin America.

This old fuck shills for McDonald’s.

He’s got no ground to stand on.

r28 Joaquin is a European name.

I don’t see anything wrong with what he said. Joaquin is strange in the film.

British and Scottish people often butcher words like tacos and avocados. TAAH-cos and AAH-vados. WHAHH-keen.

Brian Cox should know that actors don’t always have control of what’s on screen. If the director directed him to act whacky, he can fight with the director, break his contract or just soldier through and hope it dies a quick death. What’s on screen may not be Joaquin’s choice.

Cox is an old cunt. Shilling for Scottish independence from his NYC penthouse and slating other actors.

FUCK OFF

R27, most of the comments come down to "criticize the performance rather than make fun of the guy's name", which is not even particularly an uncommon one.

It's both unprofessional and pointless for Cox to bitch about Phoenix's performance.

He is nonetheless right--it was a truly charmless performance. But he sounds like an idiot for bitching about it.

[quote]nobody is ever allowed to say so, [bold]cause everybody in Hollywood is officially a genius and awesome to everybody else in Hollywood. [/bold]

No one at all said that here, other than you. You pulled that out of your own ass.

Opinions are like assholes...

I looked forward to seeing Napoleon for a year, and when we finally saw it, so disappointed, like he was on drugs.

However, it was great seeing Vanessa Kirby getting penetrated from behind by Phoenix while fully clothed so many times in sumptuous palaces. How sexy!

This is so undignified, I love it! Who else provides such drama these days, apart from Rebel Wilson? Let the celebs feud, we're all better for it.

I like some of the performances Cox has given over the years (eg. his ferocious Agamemnon in "Troy"), but I think these comments are unprofessional.

Nobody wants to see a 77-year-old Napoleon. Bye, girl. Your time is over.

Is Cox angry that he's never received a Knighthood?

He says not….

They seem to hand out the honors like candy. Among actors in his generation, he's probably had too few lead roles in major projects to be considered.

[quote]Opinions are like assholes...

Yes, some stink more than others.

My bad, Cox is a CBE, although he says he would never accept a knighthood (I doubt one will be offered). Bill Nighy who has a similar level of fame, but is a bit more versatile in his deadpan way, simply refused all honors.

Joaquin Phoenix is a terrible and mannered actor. Brian Cox is absolutely right. And the next Joker, once the incels find out it’s a Lady Googoo musical, is going to flop horribly just like Napoleon.

Brian Cox is talented, but he's always come off as angry and bothered by everything.

OP he should have mocked his hairlip, fucked up family and really obvious acting choices.

R53, Joaquin Phoenix isn't my favorite actor, but I think he does a decent job as the creepy Emperor Commodus in 'Gladiator'.