Adam Brody on ‘Nobody Wants This’ and being ‘generationally approved’
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Netflix
“I was always pursuing complicated work, it just wasn’t pursuing me.”
Netflix knows exactly what millennials want, and it’s to see Adam Brody and Kristen Bell fall in love. “We’re a generationally approved couple. There is something nice to the familiarity there,” Brody says. In Nobody Wants This (September 26), Brody plays Noah, a “modern” rabbi who falls for Joanne (Bell), an irreverent, non-Jewish woman who is hopelessly bad at love. “He’s so modern—not that rabbis can’t be modern, but still—he’s not a stereotypical rabbi.” One thing that stood out to Brody was how unconventional the story was. “I want to play someone who’s lived a full life. And I want a real accounting for somebody—a rabbi, no less, somebody who’s committed and traditional and why this person can be single and childless this late in life.” Nobody Wants This adds to a string of critically acclaimed work Brody has done as of late. “One thing builds on the next, and then a few more interesting opportunities come your way. And maybe it’s your turn for a bit. I don’t know, it’s fun. I’m down for the ups, and I’m down for the mediums. I’ll leave off the lows.”
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Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
Were you surprised at how well you played a rabbi?
I don’t know how well I played a rabbi. But I know that at least a fallback and a safety I had with this was, it’s sort of a misdirect in the beginning that we don’t think he’s a rabbi anyway. He’s so modern—not that rabbis can’t be modern, but still—he’s not a stereotypical rabbi. So I always had that to fall back on. He’s probably not what you think of as your local rabbi. That said, I leaned into it as best I could. I had gotten this job before the strikes, and then filmed it after, so I had a lot of time. I don’t know what comes across in the show or not, but for my own peace of mind and interest, I had a lot of time to do a deep dive in many things Judaism.
Like what?
Well, there’s the rituals, etc. I did a lot of, this doesn’t even factor into it [the show], except that it exists in the Jewish American psyche, the worldwide psyche, but I did a lot of Holocaust [research]. A lot of podcasts about modern Jewish culture. And I did a lot of watching and listening to things as well as reading. Probably could have done more of the straight meat and potatoes prayer stuff, but I sort of skipped that in favor of the history aspect.
Stefania Rosini/Netflix
The story being based in Los Angeles impacts that a lot, because us L.A. Jews have a different vibe from East Coast Jews.
Well, I just naturally lean that way because I’m West Coast born and bred, and yet my parents are Midwestern Jews from a Jewish neighborhood. So I have those two parts of me that coexist. So I don’t know, I just think a lot of my DNA is in Southern California, and there’s also a part farther back that is Jewish and Midwestern and maybe East Coast and certainly Eastern European. So that’s a natural fit for me.
Considering your Jewish background, do you think you’re making anyone proud by playing a rabbi?
Hopefully the Jewish people at large that watch this show will like this character and like this family and be proud or at least affectionate toward them. In my own personal family, no, I have to say, actually. Listen, they’re proud I’m on Netflix and talking to you. The rabbi of it all they could take or leave, but they’re fine with that, too. We did celebrate Hanukkah growing up, I was bar mitzvah’ed, but that was pretty much the extent of it. But I think they like the Jewish aspect in the same way that I think they probably felt a kinship to Seth Cohen [Brody’s character in The O.C.]. I think that strikes a chord for them. Did they ever want a rabbi in the family? I can only guess that they don’t put that much weight on that.
What about this story interested you?
A couple things. First, more generically, just the genre itself [romantic comedy], I haven’t really had a chance to do in a long time, and it’s a favorite. I think it’s a favorite of a lot of people. I just thought I should be so lucky to have Erin [Foster] writing and the writer’s room writing for me a romantic comedy character that I would love to go sing and dance this. And then to have such a partner in Kristen [Bell]. We know each other, we’ve worked together before, and she’s just such a talented actor and such a joy to work with. And then, I don’t want to say [it] scared me, it’s not that I run to what scares me, or any of that trope, but even the writing, to an extent, in the beginning, was like, he’s a rabbi, but he’s very cool and relatable and modern and don’t worry, he’s not uptight, he’s very loose. He’s very cool. You would never know it. And obviously I was like, “Okay, well, that’s a comfort.” I’m not religious, so that’s my speed. And I’m like, “I don’t know how I’m gonna get around this deeply held belief that he has.” And then eventually it’s obvious, and yet it took me a few weeks to come to the conclusion that no, that is what will be interesting about it, and that’s our main point of difference and what will be fun to lean into his faith. There’s no way around it. If you’re a rabbi, you’re a person of deep, deep conviction and faith in your religion, and you’ve committed your life to it and so, you can kind of make it as hip as you want, but that’s a very committed, passionate life choice. And so ultimately, I thought really leaning into that would be the fun thing.
Stefania Rosini/Netflix
You mentioned the romantic comedy aspect of this, and what stood out to me was how much of an adult romantic comedy this is. Did that stand out to you?
Yes, although, in truth, if I was ambivalent about anything going into it was that I’m 44 and the character is not 44. It’s not specific what age he is, but I think in their dreams, he’s 34, but they don’t say. I want to play someone who’s lived a full life. And I want a real accounting for somebody, a rabbi, no less, somebody who’s committed and traditional and why this person can be single and childless this late in life. And I just wanted to make sure that, yeah, he did, in fact, have a life fully lived enough and it’s not just a fantasy where, you can meet someone and they don’t have any baggage. So that was a concern, but I think we accounted for some of that.
The other thing about the series is that it feels very much like a Los Angeles story.
I love Los Angeles. I live in Los Angeles. A lot of people denigrate it, I don’t agree with that. It was such a joy, just logistically, to film at home. You get a chance to film here once every decade, I feel like, so it was just a joy to be sleeping in my own bed. But also, another thing that I’m a huge proponent of is we filmed all this on location, so there’s no set. And to me, unless you have so much money that you can really spend so much time on a set, I just feel like you don’t have that lived-in quality that a real location does. And so I think that plays a big part, too, to the look and feel of it. It doesn’t feel antiseptic in that way.
So many of your fans have grown up with you. How does it feel to have an audience that literally is like aging with you?
Lovely. If somebody was a fan of something else, then it can be, as I am a fan of many actors, and I like to see them again, and that’s helpful. I don’t want to say that people couldn’t jump into it [Nobody Wants This] sight unseen or with unknowns as well. I mean, I’m swept up in stories where I’ve never, foreign films or what have you, I don’t know the actors. But I think it is nice to kind of be attached to a specific generation and age with them. For anyone that’s been watching myself or Kristen for a while, we want to do them proud. I don’t know if you’re if you’re a fan, I want to keep you happy and engaged. And if you’re not, I want to convert you.
Stefania Rosini/Netflix
There really is the dynamics of you and Kristen together, in the same way as back in the day we had Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, you know?
We’re a generationally approved couple. There is something nice to the familiarity there. As long as it’s a warm familiarity.
Definitely a millennial hug, if you will. In recent years you’ve been in some critically acclaimed work, American Fiction, Fleishman Is in Trouble, etc. Has it all been luck, or have you been pursuing it?
It’s luck. I was always pursuing complicated work, it just wasn’t pursuing me. It’s timing. I don’t know. My tastes haven’t varied all that much. I’ve grown older, I’ve grown wiser, I like to think I’ve grown deeper. But I think I had good taste in my mid 20s, you know? At different points in my career, I’ve been able to exercise it more and less. And so, it’s not anything super conscious I’m doing now all of a sudden, it’s one thing builds on the next, and then a few more interesting opportunities come your way. And maybe it’s your turn for a bit. I don’t know, it’s fun though. I’m down for the the ups, and I’m down for the mediums. I’ll leave off the lows.
About the writer
A writer/comedian based in Los Angeles. Host of the weekly podcast Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott, …
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