Adam Brody: George Miller's 'Justice League Mortal' script was 'really good'
By Kevin Polowy, Yahoo Entertainment
While his surprise casting was kept under tight wraps until release, Adam Brody can finally talk about Shazam!, in which he showed up in the final minutes as a super-fied Freddy Freeman.
As we pointed out around the film's release, the cameo marked a return to the DC Comics film world for Brody and as well as D.J. Cotrona, who were once upon a time in Hollywood set to play The Flash and Superman, respectively, in George Miller's Justice League Mortal, which was scrapped by Warner Bros. in 2008. The superhero ensemble would have also starred Armie Hammer (Batman), Megan Gale (Wonder Woman) and Common (Green Lantern).
Brody reflected on the experience — and delayed disappointment of it not panning out — in Yahoo’s BUILD Series interview Monday where he was promoting his new thriller, Ready or Not (watch clip above).
"In hindsight, I should've been more bummed [at the time]," Brody said. "I really liked it. But I just kind of felt like, 'No big deal. The next thing will come.' And it kind of did, but it kind of didn't. But nothing like that came along again."
Since breaking out on the CW fan favourite The O.C., Brody has worked steadily in films like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Thank You for Smoking, Scream 4 and CHIPS, but to his point he has not starred in another surefire blockbuster like Justice League Mortal had the makings of becoming.
"The script was really good," he said of Mortal. "It's not that it was revolutionary, and I'm pretty objective about this kind of thing, and I think I have a pretty good gauge of scripts. I thought the casting was right. Not just me, but everyone, tonally, was going to fit right."
Brody said it wasn't until he saw Mad Max: Fury Road, Miller's awe-inspiring, Oscar-winning resurrection of his post-apocalyptic film series from the late-‘70s and early-‘80s, that it set in what Mortal could've been.
"I was so excited to work with George Miller, because he was a legend, and he was very nice. At the same time, nobody — I didn't have any idea, I bet Warner Bros. didn't have any idea — what a f***ing badass he still was. Because he hadn't made a live action movie in like 15 years. He had made Babe 2 and Happy Feet. Yeah, he's like the Australian Spielberg, but who knows?
"Then you see Mad Max: Fury Road and you're like, 'Oh my God, he's as fresh as anyone. He's ahead of the curve. So in hindsight it hurts more, actually. Like that would've been a classic movie after seeing what he did."
Brody will get another crack at playing a supes if (when) a sequel to Shazam! gets off the ground.
"I've heard enthusiastic rumblings and more so," he said about the potential of Shazam! 2.
"I definitely don't know anything official. But I would say that it seems likely and warranted, and I'm very excited. Hope we do."
Watch our full interview with Adam Brody:
Ready or Not is out in the U.K. on 27 September.