Adrien Brody may be known for his intense and emotionally heavy acting, but he’s keen to show that he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
The Oscar-winning actor, who most recently played tortured architect Laszlo Todt in The Brutalist, is poking fun at his reputation for playing shady characters in TurboTax’s new Super Bowl spot. In the 45-second ad, which will air during next month’s Big Game, he plays a caricatured version of himself, a tax expert, rehearsing his lines from the trailer (“I can handle it!”) with dramatic weight.
“I really liked the idea of making fun of myself as a very serious theater actor and playing with my own concepts,” Brody told Variety. But while he jumped at the chance for this comedic role, he added, “He loves doing dramatic work and has no intention of not doing it.”
His next dramatic role will be in the fall, when he will make his Broadway debut in “Fear of 13,” co-starring Tessa Thompson. The play, which he originally starred in in the West End, tells the true story of Nick Yarris (Brody), a Pennsylvania man who spends more than 20 years on death row for a rape and murder he claims he did not commit. Through a series of prison visits with a volunteer named Jackie (Thompson), Nick shares the impulses and consequences that shaped his life.
Ahead of “Fear of 13” and his Super Bowl ad, Variety interviewed Brody about his Broadway debut, working with Thompson, and what he and Timothée Chalamet talked about during last year’s heated Oscar race.
It’s been 15 years since he last appeared in a Super Bowl ad. How did you get involved with TurboTax in this spot?
I literally laughed out loud when TurboTax presented this concept to me. There’s a lot of great parts and the idea of making fun of yourself for being a very serious drama actor who takes on the responsibility of playing a character as a TurboTax expert and assumes there’s going to be tons of drama and anguish, but the real gag is that there’s no drama in TurboTax, and that’s really fun. I love doing dramatic work, and I have no intention of not doing it, but I also like funny and comedic work.
What are your plans for game day?
I can’t wait to see it and I want to be in the room with my friends when it surprises them. I didn’t tell anyone in the group that this spot was coming because I really wanted them to be excited about it coming. But I hope they were paying attention and didn’t eat any slices of pizza or anything.
On the spot, the director says, “Don’t take it too seriously.” Have you ever received a note like that on a real set?
No, but I don’t usually play less intense roles. Sometimes they even say, “Can you make it more intense?” Life is full of complexity, not just your own qualities, so you have to find humor in it.
You haven’t signed on to another film project since The Brutalist. Will we see you in comedy next?
Well, definitely not. I live up to my reputation. As you may know, I have signed on to perform The Fear of 13 on Broadway. I was waiting to find something very challenging and meaningful.
What was the process of talking to Nick Yarris to prepare for your role in Fear of 13?
I played a rendition of this in the West End about a year and a half ago. I spent a lot of time with Nick. He has had a very difficult life. This is his story as he endured more than 20 years on death row. But it also speaks to the pervasiveness of injustice, and even when there are systems in place to protect us all, there are abuses of those systems and great tragedies. I think it’s really important to be able to represent characters who have gone through that kind of hardship, and hopefully shed some light on that.
This is your and Tessa Thompson’s Broadway debut. What was it like working with her?
I love Tessa’s work and I think she will be great. I can’t wait. We both can’t wait.
We’re in the middle of another awards season. Last year you beat out Timothée Chalamet to win Best Actor, which was especially ironic since if he had won he would have broken the record for the youngest actor to win. Did you talk to Timothy at all during that race or after the win?
Yes, we all interacted quite a bit. It was a great time and we were all very immersed in our work. We all had a responsibility to support our films. And I was so excited. It was a very exciting time.
