There are some actors and actresses I have a hard time accepting in any role other than the one that made them famous. Adam Brody is the perfect example. For four seasons he played the lovably sarcastic Seth Cohen on The O.C., and I highly doubt I'll ever be able to envision him as anyone else. Even in his (admittedly small) parts in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Thank You for Smoking, he was still that skateboarding geek from California (...Californiaaaaa.... here we cooommme! OK, I'll stop now) to me. Since I've been steering clear of Meg Ryan films lately, I can't comment on Brody's performance in The Land of Women. (Although perhaps I should make an exception and check it out as it also stars a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart.) But from what I remember of the trailer, he was still embracing an emo-guy persona.
The good news for Adam is that he has two big opportunities to break out of the Seth Cohen mold in the near future. The role that may do it for him is that of Nikolai, a Satan-worshiping rocker in Jennifer's Body, Oscar®-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody's follow-up to Juno. Nikolai assists in the demon possession of Jennifer (Megan Fox), a popular high school cheerleader. That definitely doesn't sound very Seth-like.
Further, today it was announced that, along with Seann William Scott, Adam will be joining the cast of Kevin Smith's A Couple of Dicks (which Locke wrote about here when it was originally called A Couple of Cops). He'll play a no-nonsense detective who doesn't want to cooperate with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan's search for a stolen -- and very valuable -- 1952 baseball card. Shooting begins on Monday, with a release date currently planned for January.
As Jennifer's Body premieres this September, we'll probably get to see a trailer for it soon and can then judge whether or not Brody successfully pulled off his stint as a nefarious cult leader. If I'm still feeling an O.C. vibe from him at that point, however, then all hope is lost that he'll come off any differently in Smith's buddy-cop film. He will forever be Seth Cohen, self-proclaimed creator of the holiday "Chrismukkah." There are worse things to be remembered for, right?
Oh, I loved Adam Brody in the OC, and also will always view him as lovable Seth Cohen. Thanks for the news though on his new roles!
PS, found this blog after reading your wonderful Long Live Locke blog.
Posted by: donya | May 30, 2009 at 01:00 AM