Adam Brody is best known for many of his TV roles early on in his career, including Gilmore Girls and The O.C., and several films like Scream 4, Seeking a Friend For the End of the World, CHIPS, Ready or Not, and his foray into the superhero genre in the Shazam! movies. But he would have been a superhero long before playing Super Freddy Freeman if plans had gone his way.
The actor recently sat down with the Just for Variety podcast to promote his Netflix film, River Wild, a remake of the 1994 thriller of the same name. He got to talking about the roles he has missed out on over the years, and he mentioned a few, including the Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s infamous bomb, Gigli, for which he auditioned for a role that went to Justin Bartha.
“I remember liking the script. I remember in the end, [Affleck] died in a way that it still stays with me. It’s like he’s sitting on the beach, he’s bleeding out and the sand just comes up and buries him… It was a nice image that they did not use in the movie at all.”
At about that time, he was also very interested in landing a role in the Dumb and Dumber prequel, 2003’s Dumber and Dumber: When Harry Met Lloyd. “I’m like, ‘I don’t give a f*ck. I would love to just be Lloyd Christmas,’” Brody says.
More recently, he read for Peter Quill/Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. “I wanted that one,” he says, adding that he agrees that Chris Pratt was a “better” fit. “He is bigger, stronger, but tonally, I really dug it.”
I can kind of see Brody in the role, but Chris Pratt is Star-Lord, and he did a great job. Plus Brody was a perfect fit in the Shazam! movies. Maybe we will see him in a different Marvel role one day.
River Wild is available on Netflix and on digital, Blu-Ray and DVD.