January 17, 2003/Shevat 14 5763, Vol. 55, No. 21
'The Pianist': a survivor's story
GERRI MILLER
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 Adrien Brody stars in Roman Polanski's "The Pianist," a Focus Features release. Photo by Guy Ferrandis |
Adrien Brody ("Summer of Sam," "Liberty Heights") gives an indelible performance as the Jewish musician who survived - thanks to a combination of sheer will, luck and the kindness of others - defying astronomical odds to become one of roughly 20 Jews still alive in Warsaw after World War II. On screen in nearly every scene, Brody communicates, often wordlessly, the physical and mental devastation Szpilman endured while Polanski, himself a Holocaust survivor, makes the unfathomable horrifically real, and very personal.
Brody had never heard of Szpilman before signing on to play him in "The Pianist," which was adapted from the musician's memoirs and adapted for the screen by Ronald Harwood. His immersion in the role was total, commencing prior to filming with intensive piano instruction and a physical transformation. "I had six weeks to lose a lot of weight, grow a beard, work on the dialogue and dialect, and learn the piano," says Brody, who has a musical background and in fact composes electronic music via keyboard and computer but needed extensive coaching for the difficult Chopin pieces he plays in the film.
Learning by memory, he practiced four hours a day to prepare for several performance scenes, but was doubled by a professional in places due to the difficulty factor. At the same time, Brody fasted to depict the starving Szpilman in scenes that would be shot at the beginning of the six-month shoot on locations in Poland and Germany and at Studio Babelsberg in Berlin. "It was very difficult but in retrospect it allowed me to really get to know what this man was made of and who he really was," says Brody. "It had to feel bad to look good."
Hunger and long, exhausting hours were compounded by pervasive loneliness for Brody, who was the only American and often, the only English speaker on the set - and sometimes the only actor. "Six days a week, me in a room with Polanski and the Polish crew. In between scenes I had to stay isolated to stay focused so I'd go back to my trailer. I would be immersed from morning to night and go home and have nightmares about it and then get up and go to work again," he recalls. "I never left it."
Nevertheless, putting his life on hold (and giving up his New York apartment) was worth it to Brody for the role itself and the chance to work with Polanski, "one of the few people that I would categorize as a brilliant director," he praises. "He was definitely the most hands-on director that I've ever worked with. He's so focused on the details and has such clear vision that it's really inspirational. He lived through this so he provided a level of guidance that no one else could have given me. It was a personal thing for both of us."
Brody grew up with an understanding of both Judaism and Catholicism from his Jewish father, a retired teacher-turned-painter and mother, photographer Sylvia Plachy, and has vivid memories of a family visit to Dachau. Discussion of that leads to the difficulty of depicting Holocaust history for an audience, especially young people. "The Pianist," however, "isn't attempting to be a history lesson and recreate all the atrocities of the Holocaust, yet it depicts man's inhumanity to man and by focusing on an individual it allows people to connect. It personalizes it."
Brody discovered acting at age 12 when his mother astutely surmised that it would give him a good outlet for his imagination and discipline for his mischievousness. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and within a year was cast in the PBS movie "Home at Last," and began shuttling from his junior high school to the New York stage. "I embraced it and never let it go," he says of his craft, which has led him to what he calls moderate success in mostly independent movies, two of which are forthcoming. He'll appear as a ventriloquist in the comedy "Dummy" and a thief in the tragic romance "Love the Hard Way," though he'll also play a gangster who torments Robert Downey Jr. in fantasy sequences in the big-budget "Singing Detective."
"I go for the material," says Brody, who'd choose a great indie role over a mediocre one that offered more money or exposure. He would like, however, to work with such directors as the Coen brothers and Hughes brothers, compose film scores, "and play a real leading man with a powerful romantic involvement. Hopefully, I can have an opportunity to have more inspirational roles in larger pictures, which hasn't really been an option until now because I wasn't marketable enough or I wasn't known enough," says Brody. "Hopefully, this will change that."
It no doubt will. "The Pianist" won the prestigious Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and is earning critical raves, as is Brody's performance. There's Oscar buzz, too, but although a nomination would be sweet recognition, "that wasn't my motivation," he underlines. "I've already been given a lot from this film. It's been very rewarding already."
Sadly, Szpilman never had the chance to see it. The pianist died in July 2000.
"The Pianist" is currently playing in Valley theaters.