The new River Wild is a reimagining of Curtis Hansons classic 1994 thriller starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon and David Strathairn about a rafting trip that takes a deadly turn.
In the new version, Adam Brody plays a heavily-tattooed ex-convict who will stop at nothing to make sure he never returns to prison. The movie also stars Brodys wife Leighton Meester and Taran Killam, and it was directed and co-written by the trios longtime friend Ben Ketai.
Brodys violent scenes with Meester are so frightening that one wonders why the couple whove been married for nine years and have two children together signed on to the film. I tried to kill her for a fair amount of the movie, Brody says on this weeks episode of the Just for Variety podcast. I wouldnt have picked this for us. It came to me fully formed from a friend to both of us, but this isnt something I was looking to do together.
Fortunately, Brody isnt a Method actor. It sounds fucking boring more than anything to me, Brody says of the hotly debated immersive acting technique that is popular with Jeremy Strong, Andrew Garfield and Lady Gaga, among others. It sounds ungodly boring, but hats off to them. Hats off to people that dont watch their stuff, are Method I dont know, is it lacking that I can turn it off so quickly? I dont know. Im more comfortable this way. And it just seems so profoundly uncomfortable and also boring.
When filming wrapped, Brody had to have surgery after an old shoulder injury flared during shooting. I had an old injury from when I was 19. I had a torn labrum. My left shoulder would come out of socket a couple of times a year, but briefly. And I dont have to put it back in. It just goes back in, and it hurts, Brody says.
While choreographing a fight scene with Killam, I landed on the floor and it came out really bad, Brody remembers. It came out really bad, and each time it gets looser.
I had surgery in November on it, he continues. It was a nice impetus to get something I could have gotten any time in the last 20 years. And I like saying that Taran did it to me. Thats fun.
Brody, 43, rose to fame 20 years ago for his work as Seth Cohen on the teen primetime soap The O.C. In the decades since, his credits run the gamut from indie fair like River Wild to mainstream popcorn superhero movies like the two Shazam! movies.
During the podcast, Brody looked back on some of his less successful auditions, including one for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Afflecks infamous bomb, Gigli, for the role that went to Justin Bartha. I remember liking the script, Brody says. I remember in the end, [Affleck] died in a way that it still stays with me. Its like hes sitting on the beach, hes bleeding out and the sand just comes up and buries him It was a nice image that they did not use in the movie at all.
At about that time, he was very interested in landing a role in the Dumb and Dumber prequel, 2003s Dumber and Dumber: When Harry Met Lloyd. Im like, I dont give a fuck. I would love to just be Lloyd Christmas, Brody says.
More recently, he read for Peter Quill/Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. I wanted that one, he says, adding that he agrees that Chris Pratt was a better fit. He is bigger, stronger, but tonally, I really dug it.
River Wild is available onNetflixand on digital, Blu-Ray and DVD.
The interview with Brody was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike started. You can listen to the full conversation on Just for Variety above or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.