They say “hindsight is 20/20,” which is especially true when picking the role of a lifetime.
Brian Cox could’ve been on HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” but the veteran actor recently revealed that he foolishly turned down a role on the blockbuster fantasy series early in its run.
The Scottish actor, whose credits include “Braveheart,” the Bourne series, “X2: X-Men United” and “Penny Dreadful,” revealed in an interview with Vodzilla that he refused the offer because the salary was too low.
“Stupidly, I turned it down in the early days because they didn’t pay enough money,” he said. “Now they have more money. And I was silly. I was silly, it was silly, because I’m a complete addict now.”
Cox, 70, didn’t specify which role he turned down, but he did praise some of his colleagues and friends who made a better decision than he did and appear in the show’s more recent, and more popular, seasons.
“It’s attracting certain people who do film,” he said, pointing out Max von Sydow‘s turn as the Three-Eyed Raven this season. “I’ve got friends like Clive Russell and Liam Cunningham, and Charlie Dance is an old pal, being in it, and they had a great time in it.”
“I just watched my friend Ian McShane and I thought, ‘Ooh, Ian’s in it’, so I settled down to watch him. And I thought, ‘Ian did that?’ and immediately I thought, ‘God, they must have paid him well’, because I know Ian!” he added.
But maybe it’s not too late. The massively-popular HBO series has at least two seasons left, plenty of time for Cox to make an appearance.
“I’m still waiting for the call for Game of Thrones and if they’ve got more decent money, I’ll be there!” he joked.