Adrien Brody has been reminiscing about some of his best-known roles to Entertainment Weekly. Brody is still the youngest man to have won the Oscar for Best Actor, as he was 29-years-old when he won for The Pianist in 2002. Since then, he’s worked with Wes Anderson several times, as well as directors such as M. Night Shyamalan, Peter Jackson, and Rian Johnson, and in television series such as Peaky Blinders and Succession.
In Peaky Blinders, Brody played New York gangster Luca Changretta. “A character like that was something that I’d been wanting to play for many years,” he says. “It had room for all of this fun stuff to honour a style in filmmaking and acting that I loved, and a style and character and lore within the foundations of family, mafia, honour and all these things. I desperately tried to persuade them to find a way to keep Luca alive to come back for revenge. I really wanted to stay. I did not want to go home.”
In Succession, Brody plays shareholder Josh Aaronson. “I thought he was somewhat civilised,” says Brody. “He just held the cards — someone else [other than the Roy family] finally held the cards.” Brody admits he drew on many real figures and tech giants to create the character of Aaronson. “It’s definitely based on reality to some degree. It’s an amalgamation of several people.”
It seems unlikely that Brody will be returning for the fourth season of Succession, but we do know that Alexander Skarsgard will be back, and will have a pivotal role in the season.
While we wait for Succession season four, check out our guide to the best drama series that you could be binging in the meantime.