14 DAY TRIAL // When Adrien Brody’s involvement in the Robert Rodriguez-produced “Predator” reboot, “Predators,” fans of the genre and of the franchise were skeptic he had what it takes to pull it off. At the same time, critics said that, in accepting the offer, Brody was blowing away his chances at ever winning an Oscar again, because this was not a movie to allow him to fully display his skills. As it turns out, it wasn’t so.
And Brody is the first one to say so: in a recent interview, the actor says that, in order to make his character more real and believable, he refused to sleep in a fancy hotel and enjoy all the comforts of the good life. Instead, even before the film went into production, Brody went to sleep in the jungle in a hut open to the fury of the elements – because this was the only way he could live the life of his character and thus make him “real.” In the end, it was all worth it, the actor says in a new interview cited by AceShowbiz.
“We shot in a thousand acres of lush tropical rainforest, a location of prehistoric dimensions with giant leaves and jungle canopies. I stayed in a hut in the jungle. I isolated myself in a damp room, with screen doors, not an air-conditioned hotel room. I studied meditation techniques. My nightly reading consisted of military training books, paramilitary manuals, field guides and special-operation manuals. I had no mobile phone reception... The only time I would leave set was to exercise... I would get food, but otherwise I was on my own in one of the rainiest place in the world,” Adrien says.
Granted, all this meant a great deal of discomfort, but the idea was not to have any distraction from understanding and finally becoming the character on paper, in the script. When he saw the finished product, he knew his efforts had not been in vain. “I felt the need to stay focused and for this period of time and just be disciplined. It is an effort to be faithful for a character and convey something truthfully and I know I can subject myself to severe discomfort,” Brody explains.
Speaking in another recent interview, Brody stressed “Predators” would be a film that, contrary to expectations or common belief, would set a new standard for films of the same genre. When asked if he’d seen it and how he’d describe it, Brody said only two words he could think of would best sum it up: “outrageous” and “epic.”