Patrick Goldstein
The same Adrien Brody who won an Oscar as a frail musician in “The Pianist,” the same boho hustler who was in Wes Anderson’s “Darjeeling Limited” and Rian Johnson’s “The Brothers Bloom,” the same guy who played the village idiot in M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village” and an oddball screenwriter in “King Kong” is now set to play much the same character that Arnold Schwarzenegger played in the 1987 “Predator” original.
Does this sound like a miscasting of epic proportions or what? This is no knock on Brody, who is shaping up to be the Jeff Goldblum of his generation, a quirky guy who’s good in oddball parts. But can you imagine him fighting aliens, much less shooting the gun and kissing the girl?
I don’t remember a whole lot of romance in “Predator” but Goldstein has some fun lines and I get his point. You should check out the whole piece (I especially like the comparison to casting Jack Black in “The Manny Ramirez Story“) and he’s got a snarky poll question posted so you can vote whether the actor’s selection is full of promise of merely full of, um, empty hopes.
The casting choice strikes me as a little bit odd, but it doesn’t leave me as aghast as my colleague. For one thing, Brody was fine, I thought, in “King Kong,” as he battled all sorts of beasties. And more importantly this isn’t a remake of “Predator”; this edition, to be directed by Nimród Antal, takes place off-world, so this perception that Brody is following directly in Schwarzenegger’s jungle footprints is a bit off. We’re told that Brody plays a mercenary, but that leaves a lot of room for different sorts of characters — remember Alan Rickman in “Die Hard“? He wasn’t exactly muscle-bound but there was there was plenty of menace in his performance.
There are a good number of art-house veterans who successfully sought a change-up in action and genre movies, such as James McAvoy in “Wanted,” Tobey Maguire in “Spider-Man” James Spader in “Stargate” and Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Last of the Mohicans.” Also, consider that Jeff Goldblum got buff for duty in special-effects films, as did Robert Downey Jr., so perhaps the 34-year-old Brody is simply ready to flex some muscle.
That or maybe we’ll end up filing this DVD next to — gulp — “Godzilla“ with fish-out-of-water star Matthew Broderick.
– Geoff Boucher
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Photo: Adrien Brody in “Kong.” Credit” Universal. Photo: ”Predator.” Credit: 20th Century Fox
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I don't know about Adrian though. Didn't convince me all that much in King Kong. I still have flashback of him kissing Hally Berry every time the name comes up.
James Spader? You kidding? That might be an action movie but his role in Stargate was purely not action hero. Kurt would be offended.
I have the same fears I had with King Kong – good actors, sucky movie. Why on earth are they remaking Predator? The original is fine. But Hollywood seems to have just lost any kind of imagination and just remakes and 'reimagines', etc. etc.
Personally I can't see Brody in the Schwarzenegger role. But I give him credit for expanding his horizons, but it sounds like a "I'll catch it on cable when I can or Netflix as I'm sure not paying $10 to see a retread" movie…
Oakley, what about "2 Days in the Valley"?
Imagination-challenged pundits also scoffed at the idea of Bruce Willis, who was at the time known primarily for his decidedly non-action role in Moonlighting, as the star of Die-Hard. Look how that turned out.
The casting announcements thus far are making me more excited for this film. A new predator movie is not a "go to the theater" type film for me. I'm keeping an open mind.
Oakley, don't forget that Spader saved Russell in Stargate, well with the help of several thousand other folks…but he started the ball rolling.
Spader was definitely a tough guy in "2 Days in the Valley", plus very nasty to go along with it.
I really enjoy the actors who take chances and play all sorts of characters, even ones that are perhaps a bit of a reach for their natural physiques. These guys are the true thespians…here's hoping Brody does a great job in the role and quiets all the nay sayers.
Geoff … Well…yeah…I guess…kinda…
Spader has always given me the heebies jeebies since "Pretty in Pink". Smarmy, slimy, icky thing I can't really shake off…even with Stargate. Then again, 1996's "Crash" and "The Secretary" didn't help the cause.
hey checkk out robert rodriguez's new film looks good ya http://bit.ly/919ca7
check out adrien in his new film out soon! be a fan and theres some cool apps/games here for the film http://bit.ly/8ZQAeg