LONDON — For Adam Brody, donning the padded superhero suit in “Shazam!” and the sequel to it is a dream come true.
“I always wanted to play a superhero. I grew up reading comics,” the actor recalled in a recent interview. “I wanted to be on something of that size and scale as well, to be on a set that big, to be in outfits that take so long to make and put on.”
He described “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” which opens Friday, as “simply a true full-scale Cecil B. DeMille-sized movie.”
The film revolves around a group of foster brothers juggling being teenagers and adult superheroes. Brody plays the grown-up version of a geeky, awkward character, but the actor reveals that he was a “beach bum” in high school.
“Actually, I was kind of an athlete,” Brody smiles. “Surfers are by no means athletes.”
During those teenage years, before leaving his hometown of San Diego, California, Brody worked at a Blockbuster video rental store. Add that to his decades-long acting career and you could say the 43-year-old is something of a movie connoisseur.
“I have opinions, but you know, I’m not a Tarantino. I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the movies,” she is quick to specify. although.
In recent years, his film knowledge has expanded into kid-friendly territory. Brody has two children with his wife, actress Leighton Meester.
“As many good ones as you think there are, there aren’t enough. So hard to come by,” Brody says of kids’ movies, which he says are “where values and lessons really come into play and you want to make sure what they’re watching is nourishing.”
While Brody’s filmography doesn’t include children’s movies at the moment, he says it’s a category he’d like to try.
“I am a fan of all genres. There isn’t a genre that I wouldn’t do or want to do, but I look for intelligence in writing and potentially also depth and a voice, a strong point of view, point of view,” she says.
In addition, he explains that he looks for clever scripts that present something positive in the world and don’t “glorify anything too negative.”
“Not everything has to be a life lesson,” he says. “But the smarter the project, the less it probably does. You know, I think a lot of the bad stuff that Hollywood puts out is unconscious rather than conscious, and the deeper someone thinks about their work, the more positive or enlightening it can probably be.”
Last summer, Brody finished filming a remake of the hit 1994 thriller “The River Wild,” originally starring Meryl Streep and David Strathairn as a couple on a rafting trip gone wrong.
“You know, we still have a river involved,” he says. “And it’s similar to a hostage situation on the river and a race to Canada, but that’s where the similarities end. They are new characters.”
This time, the story is about two brothers, played by Taran Killam and Meester, who embark on a journey with an old friend (Brody), who will soon reveal a dangerous side. The film will be released later this year.
This isn’t the first time Brody has worked with his wife: Killam, Meester and Brody played three points of a love triangle in the sitcom “Single Parents” just three years ago, but the script made him think twice.
“This one was interesting because we are antagonists. And so, I’m chasing her for a good part of the movie, I’m chasing her and worse,” says Brody. “And at first I was worried, and it wasn’t exactly something I was looking to do. We want to work together, but we weren’t dying to play enemies.”
“I had a little concern that, like, ‘What if we take this home? What if it feels too bad to look at her this way?’” she continues. “But your adrenaline is high on set and it worked out well.”
He says it was the “most demanding” project he’s ever worked on, both as an actor and as a parent.
“In a way, the hardest part was that Leighton and I were in almost every scene, we don’t normally work at the same time, so we brought our kids,” but nonetheless, he characterized it as “a great adventure for the whole the family.”
In fact, Brody shares that he wouldn’t be surprised if his kids like acting, too: “It’s a fun job.”