Sir Brian Cox has made it clear he’s not a big fan of the Oscars.
During a wide-ranging new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Emmy winner was asked about playing Winston Churchill in a 2017 biopic, the same year that Gary Oldman picked up an Academy Award for his portrayal of the same former prime minister.
“The Oscars are absolute nonsense because everything that’s judged in the Oscars, it’s not a year’s work. It’s just the work that comes out between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he said, pointing out his film Churchill was a “a relatively independent film” that hit cinemas in the summer, compared to Darkest Hour’s November release.
He continued: “I think it makes those awards a fallacy quite honestly because there’s a lot of other good work that goes on outside of what they call ‘Oscar season’.
“So my film never even got a look, and I still think my performance is a better performance.”
Although the Succession star has never been nominated for an Oscar, he does still have plenty of major accolades to his name.
These include two Bafta Scotland prizes, including an Outstanding Achievement Award, as well as an additional two TV Bafta nominations for his work in The Lost Language Of Cranes and Succession.
After winning an Emmy in 2001, he was nominated an additional four times, and picked up a Golden Globe in 2020 for his leading performance in Succession as Logan Roy.
Sir Brian’s work in the theatre has also earned him two Olivier wins out of four nominations.
In recent years, the Scottish performer has become well-known for his unfiltered approach when it comes to interviews, saying exactly what he thinks about everything from world politics and religion to the rise of AI technology and even his co-stars’ approach to acting.