Adrien Brody Defies Death in ‘Houdini’
By Mark Peikert for Backstage..
Time is not kind to legerdemain. As the years pass, magicians who once wowed thousands fall by the wayside as technology relentlessly advances, rendering their sleights of hand obsolete. And then there’s Harry Houdini.
More than a century after his heyday, Houdini remains a household name where his rivals have disappeared. And to underscore his continued relevance, History premieres its two-part miniseries Sept. 1 and 2, directed by Uli Edel and starring Adrien Brody as the man who defied death and defined the American dream.
Coaxing the Oscar winner to star on a cable miniseries was surprisingly easy. “I’ve idolized this man from as early as I can remember,” Brody says. “My first love was magic. I, as a boy, was really infatuated by magic and the concept of illusion and the potential for real magic. And I think as I got a little older, I became a bit more cynical and I lost that feeling and I found it in acting—miraculously, because it is much more unpredictable.”