Marching to his own beat

Oscar-winner Adrien Brody picks passion projects over prestige

PROFILE. Everybody remembers Adrien Brody as the relatively unknown actor who took the Oscar at only 29, the youngest male ever, for his performance in Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist.” Or, rather, everyone knows Brody for his bravado in planting a Don Juan-style kiss on presenter Halle Berry when winning said Oscar.

The 35-year-old, it seems, is full of surprises. He isn’t just the intense star of “King Kong,” “The Darjeeling Limited” and “Cadillac Records,” opening this week. He’s also a music lover who produces beats.

“I make hip-hop tracks, but not solely,” says Brody, who, when the New York Times profiled him in 2002, was delivering one of his homemade CDs to P. Diddy.

These days the actor is too busy to spend hours composing in front of a keyboard. Instead, he found a project to fuse his two passions — in his latest role, the Woodhaven, Queens, native plays Leonard Chess, co-founder of the legendary Chicago blues label Chess Records.

“John Lee Hooker, B.B. King ...” the lanky, 6-foot-1-inch star calls out, scrolling though his BlackBerry for blues artists he listened to even before portraying the man who launched the careers of some of the most influential musicians of our time — blues pioneer Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), rock ’n’ roll godfather Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and soul songstress Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles), to name a few.

“I met Etta James [for the first time] at the premiere last week,” says Brody. In a sassy tone he re-enacts their meeting: “Leonard and I did not do those things.”

James was clarifying the fictionalized scene written by writer/director Darnell Martin which portrays the music icon and Chess as possible lovers. It’s raised a few eyebrows among purists, as well as ruffled the singer.

Just what do you say to someone who calls you out? Especially when that someone is a legend?
“I said, ‘Oh, really?’ and I laughed,” says Brody. “She said I had more style than Leonard.”

Then falling back into his James impersonation: “‘He would have liked your hair, too.’”  These days, the actor wears his locks — both on his head and face — long, in a surfer-meets-lumberjack way. It’s the carefree look of someone who doesn’t have a boss or is worried about getting one.

And why not? Achieving the highest recognition in your field early on must diffuse at least some career anxiety. Still, Brody insists that post-Oscar he’s not just cruising.
“If you want to continue to work and find inspirational material, that challenge is always present,” says Brody, who just wrapped a mystery (“Giallo”) and a stoner comedy (“High School”). “I try to be truthful with myself. What is a journey that I want to go down?”
We bet there’s an awesome soundtrack to that adventure.