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Joined: Aug 2005
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| Another great interview with Adam! Such a shame about The Justice League film 
Quote: Adam Brody On the Pleasure of Jennifer's Body, the Pain of Justice League, and His New Film, Death in Love
When Adam Brody left The OC two years ago, he was tipped as the cast member with the best shot at a film career — a title he still holds, even if it’s been a bumpier ride than he would have liked. Now, after two of his biggest projects were aborted — a Revenge of the Nerds remake, which was shut down as shooting began, and George Miller’s Justice League, where Brody’s hopes of playing The Flash were derailed by the writer’s strike — the 29-year-old is set to return to theaters with the Diablo Cody-scripted Jennifer’s Body and the Boaz Yakin-directed indie Death in Love, which opens this week. We sat down with Brody to talk about all four films.
Death in Love really grapples with Jewish issues so explicitly, and how the fallout from the Holocaust continues to reverberate generations later. What was that like for you as the cast’s only Jew — even though you’re playing the only character in the movie who isn’t a Jew?
You know, it is unlike most Holocaust movies in that there’s less emphasis on right or wrong. There’s more emphasis on the human psyche and pleasure and pain. So it was definitely less of a finger-pointing angle and more inward-looking. In terms of my views, I don’t carry too much of that with me. I carry a decent amount, but I wasn’t brought up in a terribly religious household, so I wasn’t too conflicted.
Your character is kind of the levity in the film — while Josh Lucas and Jacqueline Bisset have all this emotional heavy lifting to do, you play this smoothie modeling agent that works with Josh’s character. What made you want to take on that role?
For starters, just reading it, it’s got intelligence, and even from the first page it’s apparent that it’s something pretty original and specific and well-done. In terms of my character, I got off easy emotionally, so it wasn’t too physically taxing on me either.
It’s a weighty script…was there anything you wanted to go over with Boaz in more detail after you read it?
I mean, I was sold. He’s a nice guy and he wanted me to do it, so I was in. I was a fan of the script, I was a fan of his previous work. I didn’t need to clear up anything; I think it was more him checking me out, to be honest.
Why, what impression do you think he had of you?
I can only assume, but I would think he’d know me from The OC, playing my most famous character, a total neurotic. I was a very insecure guy [on that show], and I think he was probably concerned about whether I could play the opposite of that, a guy who’s very comfortable in his own skin. But it was a pretty good meeting, and here we are.
There are some similarities, though — in both Death in Love and The OC, you’re handed some very tricky, theatrical dialogue, and it falls to you to deliver that nimbly.
I want a challenge. The dialogue’s very stylized, and you’re right, it is very theatrical. It’s like, do you do it conversational or do you do it Shakespeare-esque? Not that it’s Shakespeare, but…what I try to do is just make it natural. I think I 80% succeeded, and 20% of it still feels written, but what can you do? I feel like I’m verbally dexterous, and it is one of the things I’m better at as an actor.
I wanted to broach Justice League with you…I interviewed the Mulroneys a little while ago, and Michelle said, “I’ll talk about Justice League, but I need a drink first.” It’s got to be a little painful to have this huge movie that was so close to shooting get cancelled.
I wouldn’t say “painful.” It was a totally positive experience in my life, for a number of reasons. Also, I was never convinced it was for sure going. We were in Australia, so we were halfway there, but sets hadn’t been built yet, things still felt on the fence. So it wasn’t a big shock to me when it didn’t go. Before it, even, I totally understood the reasons for doing it and not doing it. I got both sides. At the time, I was like, “If they don’t want to do this and they don’t want to mess with Batman, their golden goose, then I totally get that and that’s probably the right call.”
That said, cut to this summer, and it would probably be coming out this week. I’m like, [groans]. That’d be so exciting. I probably miss it more now than I did then. I’m curious: Armie Hammer, who’s like the real-life Bruce Wayne, if he would have played Batman, would that have gotten in the way of Christian Bale’s [performance]? I don’t know. Would it have diluted Batman 3 a little? Not sure.
Did they let you keep the costume, at least?
Oh God, no. [Laughs] I had it on, but it was only kind of halfway there, you know? It was a preliminary version. There’s some pictures somewhere of me making funny poses in a half-done Flash outfit. That said, after seeing the movies this summer, it could have been great. The Mulroneys did a really good job, and George Miller — I was so curious. I think everybody couldn’t wait to see what he was gonna do. But it was a good experience. I got to be in Australia for a month, we all got paid a little bit, and I got to hang out with George Miller.
What was that like?
He’s just, like, the coolest hippie ever. We spent two weeks talking superhero love — it was this huge superhero roundtable.
Do you think you were more sanguine about what happened because the remake of Revenge of the Nerds, which you’d co-produced and starred in, was shut down during shooting?
Yeah, maybe. I hadn’t put the two together. You know, the process took so long in the first place, just to get us there and get us on the sets, that it never smelled totally greenlit. It was a good group, I’ll say that much. It was a shame, because we had an awesome group of actors, producers, director, and a really solid script. I think it would have been interesting.
At least you didn’t have any of these problems with Jennifer’s Body.
Oh, absolutely. That was a different story. I’d known Jason Reitman, who produced it — he directed Thank You For Smoking [in which Brody had a small role]. So it was great, I didn’t have to go through any agents or anything, they just offered me the part personally. And I was even hesitant to do it for a minute, because it was kind of a dark part, but I can’t believe I even thought twice about it because I like the movie so much. I’m so happy, I’m so happy to be a part of it. I can’t believe I even hesitated. [Director] Karyn Kusama did such a good job and she shot it so well. It’s darker and artier than it was on the page, and it was really good on the page. Karyn photographically matched that and it’s very vivid. It’s nighttime and it’s in the fog, but there’s these flashes of really bright clothing. It’s like a horror movie with bits of neon.
Why were you nervous about accepting the part? I would think that after doing The OC, you might actually be seeking a darker role to play.
It’s a smaller part, and he’s a murderer.
Well, there’s that.
I just thought, “A smaller part, and he kills a woman?” You’ve gotta jump in if you’re gonna do it. I just tried to make him as charming as possible, so even if it’s hard to watch, it’d be fun to watch. But you know, I’m just looking for good movies to be a part of. I don’t have too specific an agenda in terms of the part or breaking that OC perception of me. It’s hard enough to find a good movie to be in that wants you to be a part of it, so I’ll take what I can get.
Adam Brody On the Pleasure of Jennifer's Body, the Pain of Justice League, and His New Film, Death in Love | Movieline | __________________ You do, she wanted to say. You live in my head all the time.
icon credit: rhythmicstereo |
thanks for that new interview, Nese
It's great
here's to hoping!
