For Adrien Brody, Houdini is 'a superhero'

NEW YORK — As an actor, Adrien Brody has never allowed himself to be put in a box. Unless, of course, he's escaping one as master illusionist Harry Houdini.

Since winning the best-actor Academy Award in 2003 for The Pianist at age 29, Brody has flirted with blockbusters (King Kong, Predators) and shined in close friend Wes Anderson's movies (The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel), but has flown under the radar in the past few years, appearing in smaller features that haven't gained traction with critics or audiences.

But his career is getting a second wind as he tackles the title role of Houdini, History's two-part miniseries chronicling the life of the legendary escape artist (Sept. 1 and 2, 9 p.m. ET/PT). The TV movie is not only his chance to reintroduce himself to a much wider audience, it also has inspired him to take a firmer grip on the reins of his career — starting his own production company, Fable House, earlier this year, which did not produce Houdini, but will develop projects for the actor to direct, produce or star in.

"Even though as an actor I push myself outside my comfort zone often, I want to go further creatively and really be more hands-on from the inception of the project," Brody says, sipping a Coke as he sits in a leather chair that's nestled in the corner of the modest Houdini Museum of New York, with Houdini's wooden escape coffin towering behind him. "That was partially from my experience on this, and a reminder that I really need to keep pushing harder and not just wait for something to happen."

After all, Houdini was never one to let others dictate how to live his life. Freeing himself from handcuffs and straitjackets, prison cells and water-torture tanks, the famed performer was always driven by his morbid fascination with death, particularly in his later years after his mother's passing, when he sought to debunk fake spiritualists and mediums.

His drive "is something I can relate to," Brody says. "You push the envelope of things that intimidate you, and that's why I take a lot of the roles I take, because they're the ones that people tell me, 'Be careful with that one' or 'I don't know if that's the best career decision,'" he says. Houdini's "much more obsessive than I could ever be, and much more than most people can ever imagine, but it comes from not wanting to fail."

In his mind, Houdini's triumphs over adversity – poverty, anti-Semitism and the stigma of being a European immigrant at the turn of the 20th century – make him "the superhero we all look for in every Marvel movie," but one grounded in reality, he says.

"I hope that would be something that young people gain from this film, because let's face it, there are people who we admire in our generation – rappers, maybe some actors and people who have gotten some celebrity – but there isn't someone that comes to mind like that," Brody says. "He was much more mysterious, which made him more impressive."