Adrien Brody says new Marilyn Monroe film will stir “controversy”
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Credit: Focus Features
Adrien Brody names the greatest risk of his career
Adrien Brody has enjoyed a remarkable career where he has risen to become one of the most consistent actors of his generation. He has starred in a wide array of projects that have seen him grapple with a myriad of subject material, ranging from The Holocaust, as seen in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, to the fascinating black comedy series Succession.
Brody is a frequent collaborator of Wes Anderson, featuring in four of the American filmmaker’s movies, including the Roald Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr. Fox, the ensemble classic The Grand Budapest Hotel, and the director’s most recent venture, The French Dispatch.
As well as demonstrating his propensity for delivering well-wrought characters and emotionally intelligent performances, Brody has reaffirmed his ability to deliver comedy with verve, as his works with Wes Anderson display. Perhaps the ultimate Adrien Brody movie is The Darjeeling Express, as in it, he walks the line between drama and comedy with panache.
Brody first broke onto the scene in the 1990s, and immediately his aptitude was evident for everybody to see. Since then, his skill has allowed him to work with a range of the most celebrated auteurs of all time, including Peter Jackson, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Terrence Malick and Tony Kaye, as well as Anderson and Polanski.
Recently, Brody sat down with The Talks for an extensive discussion about his career, and in it, the attention turned to him taking risks to achieve the best possible performance.
The Pianist star explained that some risks are greater than others: “Well, learning to play the piano… There are greater risks than that, of course. I’ve been thrown down glacial rivers in the middle of winter in rapids, I’ve eaten worms, I’ve done stunts, I’ve done many dangerous things on set! But that’s just par for the course”.
When asked what the biggest risk he’s taken for a film recently, Brody revealed that it was 2021’s Clean, a personal labour of love that he wrote, produced, acted in, and scored.
He said: “For my recent film Clean, there were many! Mostly financial! (Laughs) This project, which I produced, starred in, scored, and wrote the story for… It was many years of pouring everything that I had into it. My literal blood, sweat and tears. I’ve not done that in any other film this level.
“And I’ve yearn to tell this movie for many years, and finally, I was able to find the people that I wanted to collaborate with, to help me achieve that. And it was a great deal of work, but it’s a dream come true! I spent a lot of time not only in the creation of this from its inception, but the music, which is an additional element of the storytelling”.
