Actors are their own brands. The roles they play help to reinforce or change these brands. Adrien Brody decided he no longer wanted his brand to be synonymous with Cure albums and questionable sexuality, so he took the leading role as a badass, bowie-knife fellating mercenary in the upcoming Predators film.
A lot of people think that Brody is a terrible choice for the film. The consensus is that Adrien Brody, Oscar award winner for his ability to convincingly play a character in a motion picture, won’t be able to convincingly play a character in a motion picture named Predators.
I think Brody will do fine, but I’m more interested in how this new role can help Adrien Brody’s brand.
New Audience
It’s difficult to pinpoint the classic Adrien Brody fan. If forced, I would say that Adrien Brody fans are the group of people keeping Zima in business. But I’m sure his fan base also extends to people who frequent salons and women who fantasize about gentle guys because they’re afraid that a rougher looking star like Gerard Butler would choke them out during sex.
This Predators role could help Adrien Brody expand his audience to the rest of America, and by “rest of America” I mean people who schedule blocks of time to play first person shooters. Coincidentally, this is the group still reeling from Terminator:Salvation.
To attract this new audience, Adrien Brody needs to make sure his character is designed for the audience. The character is already part of a movie where intergalactic hunter aliens travel the universe in search of quarry, so that’s a good start. The appearance of the character is also important.
Here’s a picture of classic Adrien Brody. This is an example of the type of picture that men and women suffering from rape trauma carry around in their wallets.
Notice the doe-like eyes. I'm not sure why his finger is near his mouth, but it probably has something to do with fig juice or a scratch he received brushing a unicorn's mane.
That image won’t help attract Adrien Brody’s new audience; he’s too harmless looking, he doesn’t have any facial hair, and he has no genetic imperfections that people can relate to, like an eyebrow scar, one eye that lists to the left, or carpal tunnel.
Going through some Adrien Brody pictures while I let my penis do the clicking, I found one that comes close to my idea for Adrien’s new image.
He's got a beard in this one. Unfortunately, he's wearing some kind of bonnet. He could salvage this look if he cut his hair, replaced that bandanna with a necklace of molars, and wrung out a couple infants over top of that shirt.
To see my ideal look, we’ll have to settle for this artistic rendering.
He's crying blood because he just got done beating an incredibly attractive Predator to death with her brother's dismembered arm.
New Endorsements
To date, Adrien Brody’s most meaningful endorsement deal was with Diet Pepsi. His new badass persona should help him expand his list of endorsements to previously unattainable brands like Monster Energy Drink and Rockstar Energy Drink.
Acting in Predators also makes it possible for Adrien Brody to star in his own video game. Prior to Predators, it was hard for Brody to break into the market because all the female leads in games are traditionally played by females.
The production value of the box is so low because everyone is afraid Predators will have at least one scene where Adrien's character is crying.
I’m assuming that Adrien’s character in Predators will use guns, unless the producers want to expand on Brody’s ability to defeat evil by playing the piano. Do gun companies work with celebrities? I can only remember examples of guns working against celebrities.
New Roles
If this whole Predators thing goes well, directors will line up to hire Adrien Brody for starring roles in action movies. That Species franchise could use a reboot. It has aliens in it and, more importantly, sex with aliens — something Brody’s post-Predators audience can appreciate. Speaking of aliens, what’s to stop Adrien Brody from bringing the Aliens franchise back from the dead? He could star alongside Sigourney Weaver. It shouldn’t matter that Weaver is taller and has more upper body strength. If there’s a tough fight in the movie, Sigourney can pick Adrien up and let him kick with his legs.
Animated features could also be big for Brody. I hear that Pixar is thinking about making an action movie for a more mature audience. Rabid Robots Getting Their Nails Done should have huge crossover appeal with Adrien involved.
Conclusion
Adrien Brody is taking a risk with Predators, but risks have worked for him in the past if we don’t count The Village, The Darjeeling Limited, Hollywood Land, or King Kong. There’s no reason why Predators won’t be a success.
I don’t think Adrien Brody will win another Oscar for his acting in Predators, but that was probably never going to happen anyway. If he does somehow manage to win an Oscar or get nominated, expect Elijah Wood to replace Hugh Jackman in the next Wolverine movie.
This is a great opportunity for Adrien Brody to expand his brand and take his career to the next level.
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I’m excited to see him in Predators. Just watched this interview with Robert Rodriguez and Adrien and it actually looks like it’s going to be good – http://www.fearnet.com/videos/b19514_robert_rodriguezs_predators.html