Many critics expressed their disappointment with the Ridley Scott film Napoleon. However, actor Brian Cox is now calling out fellow actor Joaquin Phoenix for his performance in Napoleon – and further adds that he would have done a better job.
As shared by Variety, Joaquin Phoenix began speaking out regarding a number of topics at London’s HistFest. When asked about Napoleon, he began by answering that “it’s terrible.”
Cox continues:
“A truly terrible performance by Joaquin Phoenix. It really is appalling. I don’t know what he was thinking. I think it’s totally his fault and I don’t think Ridley Scott helps him. I would have played it a lot better than Joaquin Phoenix, I tell you that. You can say it’s good drama. No — it’s lies.”
Brian Cox even took the opportunity to mock Joaquin Phoenix by using his own name:
“I think he’s well named. Joaquin … wackeen … wacky. It’s a sort of wacky performance.”
Cox continued to discuss a number of other topics, including the historical inaccuracies of Napoleon while referencing a historical film he himself starred in – Mel Gibson’s Braveheart:
“’Braveheart’ is a load of nonsense,” Cox said. “Mel Gibson was wonderful but it’s a load of lies. He never impregnated the French princess. It is a bollocks [sic] that film.”
Eventually, Cox set his sights on method acting:
“Oh no that’s all bollocks. It’s a kind of nonsense. We’re transmitters. That’s what we are as actors. We transmit energy,” Cox said. In fact, he’d prefer actors simply research their characters rather than pretend that’s who they are. “You have to do your homework. That’s the delight of it, the information you get because you’re reading everything about Churchill and you’re building up a picture of who this person was.”
Ultimately, Cox ended up on the topic of politics, and suggested that he would probably leave the United States if Trump were to be re-elected. As such, we’ll have to see where he and his career head next.