Brian Cox isn’t holding back when it comes to his thoughts on the Oscars.

The veteran actor, who lends his voice to the recently released animated film ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,’ shared candid reflections on his career during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. At one point, he took aim at the Academy Awards, describing them as "nonsense."

"The Oscars are complete nonsense because the work they judge isn’t representative of the whole year. It’s just the projects that happen to be released between Thanksgiving and Christmas," said the 78-year-old actor.

Cox elaborated, explaining that he believes the awards lack credibility. "It creates this false perception because so much incredible work gets overlooked simply because it wasn’t released during what they call Oscar season," he added.

While it’s true that studios often release their most ambitious, awards-driven films in the final months of the year to catch voters' attention, there have been exceptions to this trend. Recent Best Picture winners such as ‘Oppenheimer’ (released in July) and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (an April release in 2023) prove that films launched earlier in the year can still break through — 2024 will likely showcase ‘Dune: Part Two,’ a March release, being nomianted for Best Picture at the 2025 Academy Awards.

Cox’s remarks came in response to a question about his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the 2017 movie ‘Churchill.’ That same year, ‘Darkest Hour’ was released, earning Gary Oldman the Academy Award for Best Actor for his own take on the iconic British leader.

"Our film was a summer release, and it was more of an indie production, so it didn’t have the backing of a major studio," Cox explained. "It didn’t even get a look in. And honestly, I still believe my performance was the stronger one."

Despite being a celebrated actor with an Emmy and Golden Globe under his belt, Cox has never been nominated for an Oscar.

The ‘Succession’ star also spoke about another notable role from early in his career, playing Hannibal Lecter in 1986's ‘Manhunter.’ Cox portrayed the iconic character years before Anthony Hopkins immortalized him in ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ a performance that won Hopkins an Oscar.

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