We’ve probably all seen the “Predators” sneak footage from SXSW, way down Austin, Texas way. I’m hopeful. It looks promising. What is also promising is the quality of the acting talent Robert Rodriquez has assembled for director Nimrod Antel’s reboot of the original Arnold Schwarzenegger tale of one beefy man, alone in a leafy hell hole save for a beady eyed, quad tusked death machine.
Adrien Brody was a bit of a surprise for the reboot. To this point he’s displayed some serious chops but his roles haven’t been the most physical. Robert Rodriquez saw the Michael Keaton in the eyes of this batman and Adrien is obviously hungry to demonstrate that he’s up to the job.
Io9 tracked Adrien down at the sneak screening in Austin and got his take on things.
A highlight:
I know I’m not the obvious choice, i get that. I probably wouldn’t have even been on the studio’s list, even near the bottom. You can ask Robert, I’m very persistent. I’m very focused. I give my word that I know what I need to do to deliver a level of truth and authenticity with a role like this. I put on 25 pounds for this role, but that wasn’t the point — they didn’t hire me to be a body-builder. But in order to playful with it as well I should be strapped, but it’s not the physical strength that outsmarts an alien with energy-based weapons and higher tracking skills, and a culture of hunting and trophy-hunting, you have to outsmart them.
On getting in character:
I approached this with the kind of level of focus I would approach any of the roles that I’ve been given an opportunity to play… I think my intention, and the intention of hiring me to play Royce, was to delve into the kind of flawed tragic hero and not this kind of typical … overtly physically imposing character… I did put on a substantial amount of muscle mass for the role, and the physical training was a big part of building to that character, [but it was also important] to prepare psychologically. We shot in Hawaii, and we shot in thousands of acres of tropical rainforest, and I had gotten permission from the owners of the estate to stay in the property… I didn’t stay in a hotel… [Instead,] I isolated myself… My nightly ritual was poring over survival manuals and military and paramilitary training books. I was reading Sun Tzu. I was studying meditation. I was on a very strict diet. I wasn’t drinking. I wasn’t eating sugar. I wasn’t having sex. I had to kind of go there, for me, because this was a tremendous opportunity.
Adrien has sacrificed many things to bring this character to us. Let’s keep an open mind. Of course, ridiculous bad ass himself, Lawrence Fishburne, is also around to further street cred up things. Lawrence plays a guy brought to the human hunting ground that forgets he’s supposed to be a target and instead hunts a little himself, surviving long enough to teach the assembled new crop of runners how to get a little themselves. Expect a full theatrical trailer soon. “Predators” looks like a good one.
This is gonna be a win… well the pic given really looks like a fail, but the movie will be a win.