“He’s A Buddhist With An Ulcer”: Brian Cox Recalls Working With Steven Seagal In 1996 Action Comedy With 11% RT Score

Brian Cox recalls working with Steven Seagal on a 1996 action comedy with an 11% Rotten Tomatoes score. The Scottish actor is best known to modern audiences as Logan Roy from HBO’s Succession, receiving three Emmy nominations for his portrayal of the aging and brash patriarch and media mogul. However, as a classically trained Shakespearean actor, Cox also appeared in many movies from the 1980s to the 2010s as a character actor, including Manhunter, Braveheart, The Boxer, The Rookie, Troy, Adaptation, X2, and Churchill.

Over his career, Cox has been outspoken about his co-stars and fellow actors, famously and frequently voicing his disapproval of his co-star Jeremy Strong’s method acting on the set of Succession. He also recently discussed his co-star Daniel Day-Lewis’ method acting on the 1997 film The Boxer, calling his approach “a little off-putting.” Cox also recently called out the Academy Awards for honoring Gary Oldman’s performance as Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour, even though he thought his own performance was “better” in the 2017 film, Churchill.

Brian Cox Recalls Working With Steven Seagal On The Glimmer Man

The 1996 Action Comedy Has An 11% Rotten Tomatoes Score

Brian Cox recalls working with Steven Seagal on The Glimmer Man, a 1996 action comedy with an 11% Rotten Tomatoes score. Directed by John Gray (the creator of Ghost Whisperer), with a script written by Kevin Brodbin (the co-author of Constantine), the movie stars Steven Seagal and Keenen Ivory Wayans as newly-partnered LAPD detectives, Jack Cole and Jim Campbell, whose pursuit of a serial killer reveals connections to Cole’s mysterious past. The cast also includes Brian Cox as Mr. Smith, Cole’s former superior in the CIA.

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Brian Cox recalled working with Steven Seagal on The Glimmer Man, describing him as a paradoxical figure, “a Buddhist with an ulcer,” and shared a humorous anecdote about Seagal refusing to do off-camera lines during filming, which Cox found more of a relief than an issue. He also acknowledged that while Seagal might have once been “very nice,” the film industry can sometimes cause eccentric behavior. Read Cox’s full comments below:

I don’t want to damn the guy because everybody’s getting damned these days, but I remember we were doing this scene and we did the close-ups, and then the director said, “Steven will not do the offlines with you. Is that OK?” And I said, “Oh, I’m so relieved. That would only be a distraction.” There’s a great dichotomy in Steven. He’s a Buddhist, but he’s a Buddhist with an ulcer. My sister used to go to these tae kwon do classes before he was acting, and she said he was very nice. But this business can make you a little wacky sometimes.

Have Other Actors Had The Same Experience?

Brian Cox’s candid comments highlight some of the mixed perceptions surrounding Steven Seagal, portraying him as a paradoxical figure who blends spiritualism with a temperamental edge. His anecdote about Seagal refusing to do off-camera lines humorously underscores the actor’s eccentricity, a trait often attributed to Seagal by others in Hollywood. While Brian Cox tempers his remarks with a note of compassion, acknowledging how the industry can influence behavior, his views align with the broader criticisms of Steven Seagal‘s unconventional work ethic and personality quirks.

Source: THR