NYLON - November 2007 - (Page 105)

STRANGER THAN FICTION Brady Corbet has got playing an outsider down to a science. By Fiorella Valdesolo. Photographed by Andreas Lazlo Konrath A troubled teenager who blocks out his childhood molestation at the hands of a baseball coach by insisting that he was abducted by aliens in Mysterious Skin; a transsexual in ﬁshnets, a corset, and smeared makeup shimmying through the bars of Ima Robot’s “Lovers in Captivity” video; and, most recently, a coolly crass criminal who holds a family hostage in the forthcoming Funny Games. Brady Corbet’s resume may be far from ordinary, but a born entertainer he is, by his own admission, not. “I didn’t start acting because of a passion for performance,” Corbet says, across a miniature tin-topped table in the corner of a SoHo bistro. “I mean to this day it still makes me really nervous…really uncomfortable. I do it just because I’ve been a cinephile for as long as I can remember.” Spend some time with Corbet and that fact becomes clear—he peppers his speech with mentions of Bresson and Pasolini as often as most of his peers use “like” and “um.” So when presented with the opportunity to work with Michael Haneke, the controversy-courting Austrian director he has long been a massive fan of, Corbet couldn’t believe his luck. “As classy as Haneke is he also likes to fuck with people,” Corbet says, smiling impishly. “In the sense that he’s got a totally sick sense of humor. He’s like the sweetest pervert you’ve ever met and I love that about him. I was teacher’s pet…I don’t mean that it was reciprocated, but I just wanted to be there next stylist: ken baldwin. grooming: marc anthony at exclusive artists using redken. jacket by burberry prorsum, jeans by diesel. to him and absorb everything.” Likely because Haneke has ventured where few directors have—Funny Games is a precise remake, word for word, and frame by frame, of his 1997 movie of the same name, the only difference being that the new version is set in the U.S. rather than his native Austria. And it is signature Haneke: There is no score, save for the John Zorn thrash punk song which bookmarks the movie, and many shots are uncomfortably long. “I watched so many ﬁlms growing up that I felt overwhelmed by images,” says Corbet. “So it was nice for someone to linger on an image so you can really truly appreciate it. I think the reason that these kinds of ﬁlms are considered art ﬁlms is because the only other experience one has of being focused on an image is in a gallery…there’s no set amount of time you can stare at it. So when a ﬁlmmaker allows you to do that it becomes art for a lot of people.” The exquisitely crafted but sobering ﬁlm, which explores the viewer’s reaction to cinematic violence, is most disturbing, not because of the visual bloodshed—most Sopranos episodes had more—but for the gruesome insight into the characters’ calculating minds (Michael Pitt costars). And Corbet’s ability to embody an individual so unabashedly heinous is masterful. “If I understand what a ﬁlmmaker wants then it’s easy,” Corbet explains. “And Hanneke is so clear in that way. Plus I gained weight for the role, and because I wasn’t in my own body, it became much easier to lose myself in a moment. There’s no vanity.” Inspired perhaps by the time spent working with one of his idols, Corbet is now turning his attention to directing. This fall with the help of cinematographer Darius Khondji, he will begin working on a trio of short ﬁlms he wrote for a future video installation, which will explore various perspectives on the theme of protection. But Corbet isn’t done with acting just yet. “Funny Games is impossible to top, so now I have to do something different,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’m not a funny guy…like I’ll never be in a Judd Apatow movie, as much as I love to watch them. But I also don’t want to play another asexual introvert or fucking psychopath for a few years. I just want to play somebody normal.”

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of NYLON - November 2007

Contents Editor's Letter Par Avion Behind the Scenes Contributors Stars and Stripes Forever Mass Appeal: Los Angeles Mass Appeal: Austin Mass Appeal: New York Mass Appeal: Sneakers Haute Stuff Private Icon: Slums of Beverly Hills Cult Of: Ralph Lauren Blue Label Memory Lane Nesting: Top of the Block Factory Girl: Road Rules Fashion Road Trip Fashion News Mania: The Price is Right Canned Heat Counter Culture: Universal Picture Private Icon: Jane Fonda Beauty News The Future is Now Smoke And Mirrors King of the Jet Set Rock America Country Death Songs A Fond Farewell Personal Investment Stranger Than Fiction Film Strips Culture Club En Route: The Grapes of our Content Miller's Crossing I'm Too Sexy The Perks of Being a Wallflower Tourist Attraction Star Maps: Fair Isle Shopping List Bag Check: Roam If You Want To

NYLON - November 2007

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