Adrien Brody’s Intense Car Driving In Peter Jackson’s $556M Epic Movie Received Huge Applause From Crew

Adrien Brody recalls how one of his collaborations with acclaimed director Peter Jackson saw him earn praise for his driving skills in a tense, tightly-packed shoot for a stunt. The actor is recognizable from his roles in Predators, See How They Run, as well as his frequent collaborations with Wes Anderson for The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, and Asteroid City. Brody recently starred in The Brutalist, a period drama focused on a Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor trying to achieve the American Dream.

After starting his career working on dark and horrific comedies, Jackson’s 1994 biographical drama Heavenly Creatures launched the director into wider recognition in Hollywood. In 1997, the director embarked on a once-thought-impossible journey to adapt The Lord of the Rings to the big screen, producing the acclaimed trilogy in the late ’90s and early 2000s before returning to The Hobbit trilogy throughout the 2010s. To this date, Jackson holds the title of fifth highest-grossing film director of all time, with Jackson’s filmography having earned $6.5 billion worldwide.

Brody’s Third Act High-Speed Chase In King Kong Earned Him Praise

The Actor Performed The High-Speed Stunt Himself

In 2005, Brody starred in Jackson’s retelling of the 1933 monster movie King Kong as screenwriter turned unexpected action hero Jack Driscoll, who is swept up in both a whirlwind romance with Naomi Watts’ Ann Darrow, and a battle with prehistoric creatures across the terrifying landscapes of Skull Island and the streets of New York. Marking Jackson’s first post-Lord of the Rings movie, his King Kong remake was a smash hit, grossing nearly $557 million and garnering widespread acclaim, including winning three Oscars.

When looking back on the movie’s climax when speaking to Vanity Fair, Brody revealed one of his favorite days of his career was filming Jack’s attempt to lure Kong through the city’s streets in a 1930s taxi cab, due to his own past interest in muscle cars and street racing:

Man, Peter Jackson does that stuff so damn well. I mean, wow. The original, the thirties one with Fay Wray in black and white and stop-motion, was the movie that made Peter Jackson wanna become a filmmaker. And it was such a big deal for me, just remarkable, like, to be a part of Peter’s dream project after doing Lord of the Rings, and it just was very, very exciting.

As this scene progresses, it leads into this whole Times Square scene where Kong is just wreaking havoc on everything and Jack knows he needs to pull him away from this densely populated area. And he hops in an old thirties taxi cab and a chase ensues. And that was one of the most fun days I’ve ever had on any movie set ever in my life. I grew up in New York, in Queens, and drag racing, and street racing, my whole youth and my teenage years and building muscle cars and I bragged to Peter about my driving skills. And I showed up on set, and he surprised me, and he said, “You’re driving today.”

After bragging to the director about his driving skills, Brody was surprised to learn that he had been chosen to drive the car himself in a specially modified car for both filming and stunt work. After conducting several maneuvers involving a chase and quick moves through a tight alleyway involving an extra, the cast and crew came out to praise Brody’s work with loud applause. Check out the rest of what Brody shared in the quote and video below:

And they had a souped up, completely rigged, like, racing transmission, racing engine in the body of a thirties taxi with side-mounted cameras, a rear-mounted camera, a front-mounted camera and I did the entire stunt driving sequence in that movie and in that scene. And in one moment, I’m driving through these narrow alleys, there were literally inches on the side of either of the cameras that were side-mounted, there are stuntmen and extras, and the stuntman fell in front of me, and I averted him and a door opened on the taxi and I cut right and cut left and shut the door and kept driving. And the entire crew came out of the building. They were all hiding behind and applauded. And it was just this epic moment. It was so fun.

Our Take On Jackson’s King Kong Remake

The Retelling Added New Depth To The Eighth Wonder Of The World

Alongside Brody’s impressive skills behind the wheel of a 1930s taxi, King Kong still remains one of Jackson’s standout features despite drawing critiques for its runtime and still unfortunately partaking in racist stereotypes from the original work. The director once more called on the talent of Andy Serkis to provide the motion capture performance for Kong, which gave the creature an incredibly emotional portrayal. When paired with the impressive visual effects, the feature is a worthy reimagining of the classic tale for a modern generation.

With Brody’s work in The Brutalist earning acclaim, many viewers may be invested in seeing the actor’s past works to see the actor’s journey. As such, with the actor mentioning his praised driving skills, viewers who may not have given Jackson’s epic King Kong retelling a chance yet may be keen to give it a viewing upon hearing his recollection.

Source: Vanity Fair