Adrien Brody: actor, Oscar winner…and car designer?
Well, OK, the acclaimed young actor–whose next film project, director Peter Jackson’s King Kong is sure to be the 800 lb. (make that 8,000 lb.) gorilla of Hollywood’s holiday season–isn’t giving up his day job.
But he’s definitely dabbling in the automotive design world. Cadillac actually invited him to consult on upgrades to the 2007 model of the carmaker’s sleek signature luxury SUV, the Escalade.
Hollywoood.com ran into Brody at Chrome Couture, an elite A-list party on Rodeo Drive to unveil the new vehicle, and as fellow auto enthusiasts Paris Hilton, Frankie Muniz, Virginia Madsen, Wilmer Valderrama, Wolfgang Puck, Jadakiss, Allison Janney, Regina King and John Salley oohed and ahhed over the SUV, Brody filled us in on his car contributions, his recent trip to India, and even told us about getting behind the wheel for Kong .
Hollywood.com: We hear you contributed some ideas to the design of the new Escalade.
Adrien Brody: “Yeah, I had an opportunity to be part of that focus group, and it’s pretty remarkable, what they’ve done. I think it’s much cleaner, the ride. The interior appointments are much more luxurious, which I thought was important if they want to compete with the European car market. I also mentioned the wheel size: often people who buy these vehicles modify them, and the first thing they change is the wheels, so I said if you offer them real quality wheels and a larger rim size, that’s an incentive for people to buy your vehicle over another one, and they fit it better. These cars were built with 17 or 18-inch wheels–these are 22s. So it’s a huge difference, but very useful as well, and you might as well be in style.”
HW: Have you been an Escalade driver?
AB: “No, I don’t own an Escalade. I drive a Corvette, and I’m friendly with some people at GM and they’ve been very good to me. At one of the events were I was actually showing my ‘Vette, they had asked me to be a part of that focus group, so I contributed, and then they came back and asked me if I wouldn’t mind hosting [this event], and I’m honored. It’s cool.”
HW: Are you a major car collector?
AB: “I don’t have a lot of cars, but I love cars. I grew up racing cars in Queens. I have an affinity for vehicles, as my escape route out of Queens into Manhattan.”
HW: What’s your all-time favorite car?
AB: “It’s hard to say a favorite. I’m loving the ‘Vette. The ‘Vette is a remarkable car, it really is–and probably the best bang for the buck. I love exotic cars, but for the most part they’re impractical. But we’ll see…I ride motorcycles, too. We’ll see what happens. I’m trying to keep it together [laughs].”
HW: Have you seen King Kong yet?
AB: “No, I haven’t. I’ve seen a lot–they’re still editing.”
HW: How excited are you to see the finished film? Are you like any other moviegoer who’s dying to see it?
AB: “I’m thrilled. I’m probably more excited than most people, because a lot of the work that I did was without a large number of what will be there at the end of the day, meaning the green screen work. I’m doing car chase scenes where I was actually driving. I’m doing car chase scenes where I drove a 1930s taxi cab through the streets of New York doing stunt moves that I was able to do and that Peter [Jackson] let me do, and the finished product will have King Kong chasing me, so how cool is that?”
HW: This is the labor of love of Peter Jackson’s lifetime. What was it like working with him on the set and seeing him make that dream come true?
AB: “I’ve been really fortunate person, because I think my experience with Roman Polanski was similar. It was a much heavier subject matter, obviously, but it was very personal to him, and this is extremely personal to Peter. This is the movie, the original was the movie that made him, inspired him to be a filmmaker. It was the film he wanted make before The Lord of the Rings. And it was a big honor to have a director of that caliber, who I appreciate so much, request me to be the heroic leading man. It’s a real honor. Most people in my profession would kill for that opportunity, so I’m thrilled and excited.”
HW: You’re about to jump into the whirlwind of press for the movie–any plans for a vacation after that’s done?
AB: “I just came back from India, which wasn’t quite a vacation. I need a vacation from that vacation. I traveled, I went to an orphanage, we did a real broad exploration. We went from north to south, 11 flights in two weeks. It was a pretty hectic trip. It was remarkable.”
HW: What did you discover about the country?
AB: “Unfortunately, the most striking and difficult thing to accept is how much suffering and poverty there is in that part of the world. I’ve been to many places in my life and I’ve never seen the level of desperation that I have in a place like that. There’s no infrastructure to help the poor. There are very few laws. There’s a caste system where it’s impossible to escape your lot in life. It’s hard to accept. I’ve worked very hard in my life but the remarkable thing about countries like America is that you really have an opportunity to rise out of poverty and achieve dreams, and it’s so far from anything else. This is a fairy tale…All of this is a fairy tale, and it made me appreciate it so much more, my good fortune. The bombings that went on–people were blown up in a market where we were, and it’s such a part of their life. We’re getting a taste of it now, but they’re living with such struggle. It was a hard trip for me, but it reminds of what I have to look forward to.”
HW: What other film projects do you have coming up?
AB: “I did a film called Truth, Justice and the American Way, with Ben Affleck and Diane Lane–the George Reeves story, TV’s Superman. That’s done and will come out next year, I assume. And I’m taking it easy. I’ll do my press tour and just see what moves me. I’m not rushing into anything. I took a break after the last film, and it’s cool.”
HW: With the holidays coming up, any one you’d like to kiss under the mistletoe–besides Halle Berry?
AB: “I don’t kiss and tell.”
