Adrien Brody on how taking risks for roles is “essential”
The Hollywood star Adrien Brody may not be the very first actor you think of when considering the very best contemporary performers, but he has proven time and time again that he should be seen among the finest in the industry. From his Oscar-winning performance in the Roman Polanski war drama The Pianist to his recent appearance in the award-winning HBO show, Succession, Brody remains a consistent actor working at the very heights of Hollywood popularity.
Frequently collaborating with the quirky American filmmaker Wes Anderson, Brody has featured in four of the director’s 21st-century movies, including the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, the ensemble classic The Grand Budapest Hotel and Anderson’s most recent venture, The French Dispatch. In each of these films, Brody has demonstrated himself to be an indispensable comic actor, elevating the performances of his surrounding cast members.
Rising to prominence in the 1990s, Brody has been fortunate enough to work with some of the finest directors of all time since, including Peter Jackson, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Terrence Malick and Tony Kaye, as well as Anderson and Polanski. Consistently showing his capability for wrought emotional performances as well as sharp comedy, Brody is best known for his Oscar-winning role as Wladyslaw Szpilman in Polanski’s WWII drama.
Telling the emotional story of a Polish Jewish musician who struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, Brody gives an exceptional performance as the emotionally broken protagonist.
Speaking to The Talks, Brody revealed that he learned to play Chopin while starring in the film, telling the publication that he was grateful for the “luxury” of time to prepare for the life-changing role. Asked whether these extra efforts were part of the acting “process,” Brody swiftly responded: “An essential part. That is a requirement of all actors!”.
Continuing, the actor added: “I did have six weeks to do a massive physical transformation to lose the weight — because we shot in reverse. Learning to play the piano, I worked very hard on that. I don’t read music, but I practiced incessantly. I shut out lots of other personal influences to just dive deeper into that space and time”.
In fact, Brody is quite fond of taking creative risks and bold decisions that require dedicated performances, further explaining to the publication, “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”.
Whilst Brody still enjoys a risk, in recent years, he has taken the bold creative choice to repeatedly appear as eccentric European characters. In Woody Allen’s Oscar-winning 2011 movie Midnight in Paris, he appears as the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, then three years later, he depicted the greedy aristocrat in Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel.
Still, his performance in Polanski’s 2002 masterpiece remains his very best.
