Adrien Brody in ‘Clean’, as Pat Riley in ‘Winning Time’ – The Hollywood Reporter

Adrien Brody revolves around the idea of Clean for at least a decade, but the crime drama really started to move while the Oscar winner was acting on set. Peaky Blinders in 2017. Clean tells the story of Clean (Brody), a garbage collector actively trying to make amends with his dark and tragic past, and Brody co-wrote, produced, and scored the film alongside. Directed by Paul Solet. The duo previously worked together in 2017 Warheadsand when Solet needed to do an ADR session with Brody for the latter, he visited Manchester, England, where Brody was filming. Bluish season four. Have inspiration from Bluish creator Steven Knight and an all-star cast led by Cillian Murphy, the hit series spurred Brody to introduce his passion project to Solet on the spot.

“[Peaky Blinders] basically led to Clean because I’m so inspired and in an area,” Brody said The Hollywood Reporter. “It gave me a level of confidence I needed to be assertive and engage Paul [Solet]and say, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s get to work on building this because it doesn’t just come. ‘ So the writing process started right at that moment [while shooting Peaky Blinders season four]. ”

Brody is also eyeing the role of Pat Riley on HBO’s Time of Victory: Rise of the Lakersmuch-anticipated miniseries from Adam McKay, Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht.

“It was fun and very challenging,” Brody said. “It is an incredible thing to portray someone you find so heroic and learn about the times in their life that before they became the man you thought you knew. What a wonderful thing to start touching the journey [Pat Riley’s] and understand the similarities even in me. It’s the feeling that you have a lot that you can give the game and you have to build on those opportunities. So that’s what he’s done in such a short time, and I’m very impressed with him and what he’s achieved in life. ”

In a recent conversation with CHEAPBrody also explained his Oscar-winning role in Pianist affect his own initial score for Clean. He then shared his impressions of Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn Monroe biopic, Yellowin which he played Arthur Miller, the respected playwright and the third husband of Monroe (Ana de Armas).

Crime dramas are my favorite genre so Clean was right there in my garage.

I love it too. I’ve been dreaming about this for so long and here we are.

So what had the ball rolling?

What makes the ball roll is the endless quest to find the right role in this space. It didn’t come to me. No one wrote it for me. I didn’t see this the way we tried to describe it, and I have longed for it on many levels. I want to honor all the influences in my life growing up in Queens, in New York, through the 70s, 80s and 90s and the influences on my film and the screenplay I admire. tomb. So I really can’t wait any longer. I haven’t officially directed a screenplay, and I’ve had this idea in mind for a decade, at least. I worked with Paul [Solet] a few years ago, and while I was filming Peaky Blinders in Manchester, he visited and did several ADRs. So I told him this had to be and what I felt like I was craving to do. I said I wanted to start and actually make an indie film from scratch with my production company, and I asked if he would help me tell the story. And he loves it and has great ideas right away. He, too, has a lot of the same influence and it’s very personal to him in many ways. So we cracked. It was a very long process that led to so many other creative discoveries for me with music. I had to attract the wonderful people I worked with and loved. All the actors are amazing and everyone has given so much to this. So I’m really grateful for that. It was an incredible thing to watch it come to life, and finally give myself the chance I’ve been craving for so long.

I was taken aback when I saw your name credited as a composer, but I shouldn’t be surprised when I review your previous work in Pianist.

Well, I’ve been doing beat and hip hop music since I was 19, so it’s interesting that you’ve made that connection. I can play a little bit, but there’s a lot of influence from that movie in my music. In the depiction [Władysław] Szpilman and giving up my love for hip hop and my connection to the style in which I make music, I have found a similar melancholy longing in a more complex way, especially in Chopin’s work that Szpilman was playing and which I had to study. play. So that affects me quite a bit. But I’ve never had an opportunity quite like this. When I started making this movie with Paul, I had the idea, but actually I was going to hire another friend of mine, a classical pianist, to compose the music. It’s going to be a more austere solo piano thing because I feel that fits the landscape as well. But that voice within me parallels the same longings that I get when I tell Clean’s story. In the end, it gave me a way to create an additional character and bring out the whole symphony, not only in the original musical and compositional sense, but also in a sonic setting where ceaseless honking cars and disruptions in urban life affect society and animals and people are constantly attacked by all that hostility, so to speak.

Since you wore a lot of hats in this movie, are you any closer to directing a scripted movie someday?

That is a great question. I would be a lot closer if I had enough money. (Laugh.) I would love to direct, but the timing has to be right. As you know, it’s a very fascinating, time-consuming process. The luxury of being an actor is that you can be a character and let go of that, but the director really has to hold on to everyone and everything for a long time and really shoulder it. But I feel very ready for that, and I’m very fortunate to have worked with some of the greatest directors ever. My mother [Sylvia Plachy] is a genius artist and photographer, and I grew up in her image, which taught me a lot about storytelling and composition through images alone. I also want to help actors become excellent. I know how to communicate with actors and I understand the process very well. So hopefully one day I’ll be able to put all of that together. Clean It’s been a huge step towards understanding what I can do and what I can endure, and I have a lot of creative aspirations that I want to share with everyone. I’m so grateful I can still do it after all these years and it’s blossoming.

I’d say Clean’s backstory is fleeting up until the start of season three. You and Paul discussed a lot about how much to tease and when to let it all out?

Yes, that is a challenge. You don’t always know it at first when you’re drafting something, but what we want is to take it slow to really understand the world, the world, and his life. We want to pull the pieces one by one and reveal what Clean’s opponents are up to and what he’s up against in trying to quell the layers of failure and sheer power he possesses and suppresses in an attempt to give back and do good to the world and not fall into old destructive stereotypes. The irony is that he ends up having to resort to that to actually do good and help this poor girl [Chandler DuPont] that he is consulting. He is the wrong person to cause trouble.

Have you really learned to drive and operate a garbage truck?

OH that’s right! Travis [Bliss] is the owner of Bliss [Environmental Services] And he’s a great guy. He really took good care of us. So I spent a lot of time with some of his drivers and I did routes with them. I can pick up those giant bins, load them myself, carry them down, and dump them in the trash. Basically, I had to do it with my eyes, because we were doing dialogue scenes and I was acting. (Laugh.) This is an independent filmmaking activity; I didn’t have time to mess around in the day, so I had to learn the craft. It’s funny, I considered being a scavenger when I was very young because a friend of mine, his father, was a garbage collector, and I discovered from a very young age that it was a decent life. I wanted to be a space scientist, but I realized that my math skills were terrible and that I would never be a space scientist. So my next thought was, “I guess I could be a garbage collector,” and you have it. I actually told that story to Paul while we were working on this. I was like, “I actually dreamed about this when I was a little kid.”

Shifting gears in our closing minutes, you saw Andrew Dominik’s Yellow not yet?

I saw a rough cut a long time ago, and it was so powerful and amazing. Andrew Dominik is amazing, and god, I’m so grateful to have worked with him. He is truly a talented soul. And Ana de Armas is outrageously good. She’s so hot as Marilyn, as Norma Jeane. Really attractive.

What was your experience like as Pat Riley on Time of Victory: Rise of the Lakers?

It is very interesting and very challenging. What a wonderful thing it is to portrait someone you find so heroic and to learn about the times in their life that before they became the man you thought you knew. It was a wonderful thing to just start touching on that journey of his and understand the similarities even within me. It’s the same kind of motivated nature and feeling – that I’ve had many times in my life – that you have more to give. It’s the feeling that you have a lot that you can give the game and you have to build on those opportunities. So it’s something he’s done over and over again, and I’m very impressed with him and what he’s achieved in life.

I’m glad to see you on Bluish Curtains a few years ago, and I know that Brian Davids Steven Knight had you in mind when he wrote the character Luca Changretta. When a writer tailors a role for you like Steve did, isn’t that one of the biggest compliments in the business? Does it have anything better?

No, I guess it doesn’t get much better than that, especially when it’s someone as accomplished and talented as Steve Knight, who has written a role on par with most gangster characters you’ve ever seen. . I also dreamed of playing that character. Suffice to say, I didn’t necessarily dream of writing that, but I do dream of finding a role like Luca Changretta. And that’s a fun thing to do. I feel welcome. It’s so much fun to be on a show you love with great writing and so many main actors involved. Basically, it leads to Clean because I am very inspired and in one area. It built up a level of confidence I needed to be assertive and engage Paul, and say, “Let’s do this. Let’s get to work on building this because it doesn’t just come. “So the writing process started right at that moment [while shooting Peaky Blinders season four]. So you have it.

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Clean Now available in select theaters and on VOD/Digital from IFC Films.