As interesting as my conversation with Adrien Brody was, it was hard to fully engage him above the hustle and bustle of city life as he walked through the streets of New York.
Suits hailing taxi cabs, a newspaper seller touting front-page news, the splutter of a coffee machine and the faint twitter of birds perched in the trees contributed to his wandering mind.
A conversation we had, jokes we shared, sounds I experienced. But unfortunately for me, I was 11,000 kilometres away across several oceans while the American made his way across a city he knows very well. The wonders of technology.
Out of one meeting and on his way to the next, straight-talking Brody can certainly be fierce when he wants to be. I tell him it's the early hours of the morning for me and it's met with a cold, "that's not too bad".
To be fair, from here on in he does try to be accommodating. But it's obviously something that doesn't come very easily to him. Brody lacks the smooth-talking, soundbite suaveness that defines so many actors these days. Instead of well-rehearsed, word-perfect lines I get thoughtful, drawn out, pause-filled sentences. "At least you get the truth," he's quick to point out, apologising for his long-winded answers.
He wastes no time though telling me about his latest release, Wrecked, a film by Michael Greenspan, which enjoys its Middle East premiere tomorrow at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, for which Brody is flying in today.
"I ate ants in preparation," he says. "They taste like sour raspberries. I also ate a worm," followed by a long pause. "I won't be doing that again."
Brody is renowned for the limits he pushes himself to when preparing for a film role. For The Pianist he lost 13kg and mastered the art of Chopin; for Predators he beefed up and slept in the jungle; he picked up Spanish for Manolete alongside Penélope Cruz; and he pored over military manuals for The Thin Red Line.
Filmed in remote woodland in Vancouver, Canada, Wrecked took Brody to another level. "The filming was a major mental and physical challenge," he says. "A route had to be carved out to even get to the set, there was no road access. It was filmed on a mountain, so equipment had to be slowly transported across dangerous areas of land. Getting on set meant a traverse across untouched woodland. We dealt with inclement weather and had very limited time, so worked long days."
But as only a perfectionist (by his own admission) would, Brody took it a step further. "I drove out into the middle of a wood and parked my car. I let myself get cold. I wanted to know what it would feel like to be freezing cold and be all alone. It was my first opportunity to find out just how isolated this man was. He was left trapped, in the aftermath of a terrible accident. For him it was about insurmountable obstacles and for me it was about self-discovery. I think it's an incredible testament to the body and how much we can endure as human beings."
It's not long before I realise for Brody, the preparation process is just as much about himself as the characters he portrays. "The self-discovery for me is unmistakable. Roles like this one remind me not to take for granted how fortunate we are. It's partly about my role — a night out there, no heat, eating insects. It's actually quite poetic. There was this ant running across the dashboard for the open window. It represented the freedom the ant had that my character didn't."
‘Safety net'
But as the ant made a dash for the woods, Brody says his stream of consciousness brought him back to the reality that he could start his engine and drive away whenever he wanted.
"That's when it becomes about you," he says. "The Pianist saw me locked in my house, not socialising to an excess level. But we have a safety net. If I wanted to call for food at any moment, I could have done. So I push myself as far as I can. It's an important insight into who you are.
"The funny thing is, we all think we appreciate what we have, but until you really understand how not having something will affect you, we actually can never fully be aware.
"I came back one night from filming The Pianist and I went straight to my favourite pizza place in New York. It's called Joe's and my picture is even up on the wall because I eat there a lot. I ordered my slice, handed over my dollars and stepped outside. Looking up at the neon light, something just hit me. It was a realisation that something this simple is something I take for granted. This fat-rich, carb-heavy food is available to me. I have money in my pocket. It was so simple, but it created such an epiphany I knew I'd never look at it in the same way. I cried on the street. It was an emotion which came as a result of experiencing that someone had gone through such loss. I knew there and then I'd grow from that."
Brody was born on April 14, 1973 in Woodhaven, Queens, New York. His parents tried to create distance between their son and what they considered to be "dangerous" friends so they sent him for acting classes as a distraction.
Done it all
He's played everything in his career, from an adventurous traveller in India in The Darjeeling Limited, to a playwright in Restaurant and a Holocaust survivor in his Oscar-winning performance for The Pianist. Brody won the Academy Award for Best Actor and a César Award for the role. He can now add action star to the list after starring in this summer's Predators.
"It brought a different kind of responsibility for me," he says. "I'm not opposed to studio films. There are some great film roles. But I think it's a careful balancing act."
These days, Brody is at pains to point out, he is very much keeping it real when he isn't working. "I do my own laundry and cook," he says, while I consider whether I should congratulate him.
While discussion of his roles brings lengthy answers, turn the topic to his personal life, and the sentences become more abrupt. "My parents. They have made so many sacrifices for me. In fact, I'll be bringing my mum to Abu Dhabi. I love Abu Dhabi. It's a wonderful place."
A seamless swerve gets me thinking about whether he's more comfortable being a character than himself. It must be hard finding who you really are when the thing you are best at is being somebody else.
Ironically, by the time the interview is over, Brody is just warming up as chat moves randomly onto hip-hop. "I think I would have made a good rapper," he says, before laughing so explosively it appears to surprise him even more than it does me.
"I grew up on hip-hop. It was part of my childhood. RZA of the Wu Tang Clan is my mentor. But I preferred the old stuff. It's not a criticism of mainstream music now. I guess I just don't like change."
Our time is up and, as he prepares to head into whatever meeting he dashed across the city for, Brody slips away again. He is very much back in movie-star mode. He tells me to say hi on the red carpet tonight, and then the real person that — just for a moment — started to shine through the characters he hides behind has gone again.
