"The entire crew came out and applauded… It was just this epic moment." Adrien Brody takes a walk down memory lane as he rewatches scenes from his classic works including 'The Darjeeling Limited,' 'King Kong,' 'The Village,' 'The Pianist,' 'Succession,' and 'The Brutalist.'
Director: Funmi Sunmonu
Director of Photography: AJ Young
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Adrien Brody
Producer: Emebeit Beyene
Associate Producer: Alexis Alzamora
Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza
Camera Operator: Osiris Nascimento
Audio Engineer: Paul Cornett
Production Assistant: Fernando Barajas; Lauren Boucher
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Director: Funmi Sunmonu
Director of Photography: AJ Young
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Adrien Brody
Producer: Emebeit Beyene
Associate Producer: Alexis Alzamora
Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza
Camera Operator: Osiris Nascimento
Audio Engineer: Paul Cornett
Production Assistant: Fernando Barajas; Lauren Boucher
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm driving through these narrow alleys,
00:02there are stuntmen and extras,
00:03and the stuntman fell in front of me,
00:06and I averted, and a door opened.
00:10I cut right and cut left and shut the door
00:13and kept driving,
00:14and the entire crew came out and applauded.
00:18And it was just this epic moment.
00:21How you doing? I'm Adrian Brody.
00:24We're here with Vanity Fair,
00:25and we're watching scenes from films
00:28throughout my career.
00:29Let's have some fun.
00:45That's a terrible thing to say.
00:47Well, I don't mean it to be.
00:48I just don't want you to get the feeling
00:49that you're better friends with him
00:51than we are or something weird like that.
00:53And also, you can't leave your wife
00:55just because she's pregnant.
00:56Jack agrees with that too, right, Jack?
00:59Stop including me.
01:01I was his favorite.
01:02I love the way Wes shot this.
01:03It's so great.
01:04Playing in the street right before he died.
01:08Oh my God, it's so good.
01:09How is that supposed to make us feel?
01:12I love Wes Anderson.
01:14I love Wes Anderson for not only
01:16what he's given us all in his unique work,
01:21but for this in particular life experience
01:25and for living in India for months
01:28with these guys
01:29and working on a moving train every day
01:32and for all that beautiful creativity
01:35and the way he just looking at the scene,
01:36the way he shot it
01:38and how he does these kind of long moving masters,
01:40but how myself and Jason Schwartzman
01:45enter the mirror reflection.
01:49And so we're seeing all the characters,
01:51one is a shot on one individual,
01:53then you're seeing the reflection
01:54through the other plus the double image
01:57and then through the doorway
01:58where the character is entering
02:00and coming and going.
02:01It's so beautifully constructed.
02:03It's so cool and fun and energetic
02:06and I just love it.
02:08Francis.
02:09Yeah.
02:10Here's your bell.
02:22Stop.
02:23There's humor and tragedy at the same time.
02:25That's what's really great.
02:27I mean, it's very funny,
02:31but it's got heart to it, which I love.
02:34There is a degree of complete slapstick humor
02:38that it incorporates,
02:41but it still has feeling
02:43and it's a remarkable thing.
02:47I love this movie and Owen is hilarious.
02:51Jason as well, by the way,
02:52but Owen is just like a hilarious person.
02:56Just hang out with.
02:59You don't love me.
03:00Yes, I do.
03:01I love you too,
03:01but I'm going to mace you in the face.
03:10We shot five hours one direction
03:12or four and a half hours one direction
03:14and then the train would come back
03:17down the same tracks
03:18and we'd go back to Jodhpur
03:20where we start and we'd pack a lunch.
03:22We'd work all day.
03:23We'd get up in the morning,
03:24five something in the morning.
03:26We'd have to be at the train station
03:30at 10 minutes to six
03:32if the train was departing at six
03:34and if you were late, you missed the set.
03:36So no one was late.
03:37There was no makeup.
03:39It was just aside from Owen
03:40needing his apparatus for bandages, et cetera.
03:43Drank a chai, had some oatmeal
03:46that was very spicy
03:49and then went to work.
03:52We all lived in a house together
03:53and they were really cool.
03:55I bought a Royal Enfield.
03:56I had a motorcycle.
03:57I bought a motorcycle in India
03:59that I was going to ship home
04:00and then it turned out
04:01that the motorcycle
04:02was not an export model motorcycle
04:04so I had to sell it in India
04:07and then I had to sell Owen.
04:08I had a scooter.
04:10I ended up selling Owen my scooter.
04:12It was hilarious.
04:13We were like brothers
04:14and it was a really fun time in my life
04:17and I'm really grateful to Wes
04:18because this is one of the first
04:22overtly comedic roles
04:23a director had given me
04:25and at this point in my career
04:27I'd done The Pianist.
04:28I'd done these dramatic works
04:29and I am relatively serious
04:31when I speak of the work
04:32because it's meaningful to me
04:34but I think I have a sense.
04:37I crack myself up.
04:38I don't know if anybody else laughs
04:39but I think things are funny all day long
04:42including myself.
04:54You!
05:01You!
05:12Man, Peter Jackson does that stuff
05:16so damn well.
05:17I mean, wow.
05:19The original, the 30s one
05:21with Faye Ray in black and white
05:22and stop motion
05:23was the movie that made Peter Jackson
05:25want to become a filmmaker
05:27and it was such a big deal for me.
05:30Just remarkable to be a part
05:32of Peter's dream project
05:35after doing Lord of the Rings
05:36and it just was very, very exciting.
05:46As the scene progresses
05:48it leads into this whole Times Square scene
05:51where Kong is just wreaking havoc on everything
05:55and Jack knows he needs to pull him away
05:57from this densely populated area
06:00and he hops in an old 30s taxi cab
06:04and a chase ensues
06:06and that was one of the most fun days
06:09I've ever had on any movie set
06:11ever in my life.
06:12I grew up in New York and Queens
06:15and drag racing, street racing
06:18my whole youth and my teenage years
06:20and building muscle cars
06:22and I bragged to Peter
06:23about my driving skills
06:25and I showed up on set
06:27and he surprised me
06:28and he said,
06:30you're driving today
06:31and they had a souped up
06:33completely rigged
06:36like racing transmission
06:38racing engine
06:40in the body of a 30s taxi
06:43with side mounted cameras
06:45a rear mounted camera
06:48front mounted camera
06:49and I did the entire stunt driving sequence
06:53in that movie
06:54and in that scene
06:56and in one moment
06:59I'm driving through these narrow alleys
07:01there were literally inches
07:02on side of either of the cameras
07:05that were side mounted
07:07there are stuntmen and extras
07:08and the stuntman fell in front of me
07:11and I averted him
07:13and a door opened on the taxi
07:17and I cut right and cut left
07:20and shut the door
07:21and kept driving
07:23and the entire crew came out of the building
07:26they were all hiding behind
07:27and applauded
07:28and it was just this epic moment
07:32it was so fun
07:40There are different types of love
07:47It's actually a pretty upsetting scene
07:54where my character Noah Percy
07:56discovers that Joaquin's character
08:00is finding himself in a relationship
08:03with the girl that my character
08:05has been very close with
08:06who's been caring for him for so long
08:08I'm often drawn to portraying people
08:11who have to come to terms
08:14with some kind of torment
08:16or circumstances that are hard
08:19I'd like to do that as honestly as I can
08:24The only pressure I feel
08:26is that I can find a way
08:28to hone in on that
08:30and tell it with a degree of honesty
08:35and empathy
08:46I love Joaquin
08:52I mean the wonderful thing
08:53that M. Night Shyamalan did
08:55who directed the film
08:56was he created this real sense of community
08:59we were playing people
09:01who lived in this utopian society
09:03I lived in a house with William Hurt
09:05Sigourney Weaver
09:06Bryce Dallas Howard
09:08and Joaquin was in the guest cottage
09:11and Joaquin moved out
09:12at some point I got the guest cottage
09:15but I was there with my dog
09:16and we all ate together
09:18and we did a full-on retreat in the woods
09:21where we lived in a tent
09:23and I prepared food
09:25very challenging
09:27but meaningful
09:46This film is incredibly meaningful to me
09:49and was quite an undertaking
09:51one that I felt an immense responsibility
09:54and in this scene
09:56we're at the very end of the film
09:58Vladislav Spielman
10:00the character that I portray
10:01he's been reduced to you know
10:05a shell at that point
10:08we shot in reverse chronology
10:09so I had to do a crash starvation diet
10:12and then gain the weight back rapidly
10:14so that we can shoot the beginning of the film in spring
10:16and we shot in the winter time here
10:17and I was 129 pounds
10:20in the dead of winter in Poland
10:21it was incredibly cold
10:24we shot in former Soviet barracks
10:28outside of Berlin
10:30I just was talking to my mom about this the other day
10:32and the beauty of growing up in New York City
10:34and how my understanding of character
10:38was very different
10:40My character really came from the many years
10:44of taking the train to drama school from Queens
10:47I remember in my youth
10:50witnessing a tremendous amount of homelessness
10:53and because the winters are brutal in New York
10:57I kind of would always notice the hands
10:59of these homeless people
11:02that are frostbitten and gnarled
11:05and their mobility is impaired
11:09I felt that this composer
11:13and eloquent successful musician
11:18because manual dexterity is just
11:21you know like a surgeon's
11:23to have it lose that
11:25to have that eroded as well as
11:28the physical being to be reduced
11:32and to then be faced with
11:36having to try and bring it back alive
11:39and remember it
11:40and the opening of that scene
11:42I as the character contemplate my hands
11:46and I remember looking at them in a way
11:49as if they're not going to work
11:53in the memories of what used to be
11:58and it's very tragic
11:59and then he begins to play slowly at first
12:03and then plays the beautiful
12:05I believe that's the ballad
12:07and it's just so it's just wonderful
12:11it's the power of art
12:13triumphing in spite of all of that darkness
12:23When is this gonna end?
12:24I'm here in separate planes
12:27I gotta say I don't like betting on blood feuds
12:30It ends with me in control
12:34slap wrists
12:36then a payout
12:38that stuff
12:40seamless
12:42vapor
12:43I love the show
12:43and I love the tremendous work
12:46that everyone involved in the show has done
12:49the writing is spectacular
12:51it's just a great show
12:52it's brought a lot of joy to a lot of people
12:55I had signed on to do Winning Time
12:57Adam McKay was also involved
13:00with the creation of Succession
13:02and his team and HBO had mentioned
13:05that there was this role that was right for me
13:10so I said hell yeah you know this sounds great
13:12and then I had wonderful discussions with the writers
13:16and they pretty much wrote
13:19embellished this scene for me
13:21because I had felt that it needed a bit more bite
13:25because these guys are omnipotent
13:28and you really want this guy to come in
13:31and put the pressure on
13:33and I want to do that
13:35and I thought how exciting it was
13:37to step into that world with these powerful guys
13:42and just swimming in with the sharks
13:44and get in there
13:46and show them what's up
13:50but I have a gun at your head
13:52and I need to know
13:54if this is going to be a functional situation
13:57and I'm sure you're going to say
13:59yes it is going to be a functional situation
14:01but I'm going to need to hear you say
14:02that it's a functional situation
14:04so can you work together?
14:08Uh-huh
14:09Sure absolutely
14:14Oh fuck
14:15There was a lot of humor in this one for me too
14:17because he's the kind of billionaire
14:23that fancies himself a man of the people
14:26and like kind of earthy and connected
14:31and he definitely exudes a tremendous amount of power
14:35so I had a lot of fun playing with the costume
14:39and being prepared and outsmarting them
14:42being prepared for inclement weather
14:44and taking them on this hike that ensues after this meal
14:46and I knew they'd rock up in their loafers
14:49and try to have this business meeting
14:51where they soothed me on my concerns of their power struggle
14:56and I just put them to the test
14:58I have my boots on and my layers
15:01and it's just hilarious
15:03it was so much fun
15:11It is my understanding that
15:15many of the sites of my projects that survived
15:18they remain there still in the city
15:24The aspirations of the film really speak to me on many levels
15:29one as an artist
15:32as someone who wants to leave behind a body of work
15:34that is of some significance
15:37even distilling work in a film
15:42is similar to an architect directing a building
15:46and creating something
15:47there's a foundation of work
15:49there is a physical thing that is left behind
15:53and that speaks to future generations
15:57and has an emotional core
16:00that has the potential to inspire conversation
16:04this was such a beautifully written and complex screenplay
16:10I expect for them to serve instead as a political stimulus
16:16sparking the upheavals that so frequently occur
16:19in the cycles of peoplehood
16:24It speaks also to the immigrant experience
16:26which people from many different backgrounds can relate to
16:30especially in our country
16:32and that's something I understood very well
16:34because I am the son of a Hungarian immigrant
16:38my mother, she and my grandparents fled Hungary
16:41and fled Budapest in 1956
16:43during the Hungarian revolution
16:45and lost everything, left everything behind
16:49and it was particularly hard for my grandfather
16:52as the language barrier was more challenging for him
16:57my grandmother spoke five or six languages
17:00and was able to find work
17:03and I just remember how much they've sacrificed
17:08and I never took that for granted
17:10and then to find a role that speaks to that
17:13and what must be overcome to begin again
17:16and to become American
17:19for me to be an American who grew up in New York
17:23and to have had the potential for the opportunities
17:28I have in my life means a lot
17:30and to speak to that in my work means a lot
17:34I'm very grateful that this film came my way
17:37Thank you again for sitting with me
17:40as we went through some scenes from films throughout my career