Houdini had long been one of Brody's favorite figures, dating back to his boyhood in New York City, when he put on magic shows in Queens as "the Amazing Adrien." He went to magic camp, performed at children's birthday parties and practiced on editors at The Village Voice, where his mother, Sylvia Plachy, was a photographer. In success, "Houdini" could put Brody's acting talents in front of more than 15 million viewers and tap Hollywood on the shoulder: This guy can anchor a major project.īrody - true to form - could not resist the chance to dig into a complex, tormented character. He had worked continuously in film since his teenage years, winning best actor at 29 for his Nazi-tormented musician in "The Pianist." But his representatives argued that TV was a valuable opportunity.
When Brody pushed his agents to bring him a big role that would be widely seen, television was not exactly what he had in mind. "We had to make sure that he didn't immerse himself too far, like locking himself up under water." "Adrien is definitely somebody who fully immerses himself in a role," said Dirk Hoogstra, the History Channel's general manager. Kristen Connolly, known for playing a congressional staffer on "House of Cards," appears as Houdini's wife, Bess. The miniseries tells the entire Harry Houdini tale, from his unsuccessful start as a carnival magician to global celebrity as an escape artist to his later years wrestling with the spiritualism movement. It's kind of weird."Īnd he is taking a calculated risk with "Houdini," which the History Channel will run for two nights starting Sept. "The projects will all have me in a pivotal role, whether directing, producing or being a protagonist in the film.
"The goal is to develop the material that I crave that doesn't necessarily come to me," Brody said of his new company, Fable House. (Producers hope to introduce it at either the Cannes or Berlin film festival next year.) A few months ago, Brody formed his own production company, which has $50 million in funding from a Nigerian energy magnate, Kola Aluko, and an anonymous Chinese investor the company aims to make movies with significant box-office prospects, sometimes in partnership with studios. Brody has six independent films in various states of completion, including "The Septembers of Shiraz," a movie about an affluent, Jewish family caught in Iran's Islamic Revolution that has "awards run" written all over it. "I'd love to be doing movies with scope and scale, but as much as I do think studios appreciate me as an actor, they are not coming directly to me," he said, speaking from a nook at the Sunset Marquis Hotel here.
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