Adrien Brody Compares His Poker Face Character To The Godfather's Fredo
"The Godfather" is a legendary movie that spawned an entire franchise and helped revitalize the organized crime genre. Who hasn't seen impressions of Marlon Brando from "The Godfather" repeated over and over again, much like the requests mafiosi get on the day of their daughter's wedding? Joking aside, "The Godfather" has had a huge impact on the cultural gestalt of entertainment, with the Smithsonian Magazine noting that the movie forever changed many aspects of the film industry, and how certain groups of people are treated and viewed.
One of the characters in "The Godfather" is Fredo Corleone (John Cazale), the middle child of dubious status in the famous organized crime family. Although the name of Corleone commands respect, Fredo isn't considered as powerful as his siblings, nor does he have the ability to affect the family business in tremendous ways. This leads to some feelings of neglect and powerlessness in Fredo, and he fills the gaps in his heart with a near constant pursuit of women and dalliances. Of course, when speaking of organized crime, the subject of the brand new television show "Poker Face" may come up, and it seems like there is some overlap between "The Godfather" and "Poker Face," according to one of the stars of the latter, Adrien Brody.
Brody thinks his Poker Face character is in the same predicament as Fredo
"Poker Face" is a new episodic 10 part miniseries from Peacock and Rian Johnson of "Knives Out" fame. Predominantly following Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), "Poker Face" is about Charlie's rather unique ability – she can tell when people are lying to her with unerring accuracy. This people-reading power seems like it would be a tremendous boon to have, but unfortunately it tends to get Charlie into some trouble, specially since she starts off as a casino worker. Attracting the attention of the casino boss Sterling Frost Jr. (Adrien Brody), Charlie feels from her place of employment, though that doesn't mean she is off the hook with her former boss and his family.
Speaking with Screen Rant, Brody had a chance to explain what brought him to this new mystery series, and what he feels about his character. Being asked what Sterling Jr.'s relationship is like with his father, Sterling Sr. (Ron Perlman), Brody spoke about how the father probably views Sterling Jr. as irresponsible, and that Sterling Jr. feels a lot of responsibility to live up to his father's expectations. He added, "And I think he feels like there's room for him to be a real player, but he doesn't quite have the goods, and he doesn't quite have that respect, even from his own father. And that's a big challenge. It's kind of a bit like Fredo in The Godfather. He doesn't quite know how to pull himself together, and he's really yearning to be somebody and do something great for the family, but kind of can't help but ****ing up. And there is a tone of that that spoke to me about the character."
Brody thinks Sterling Jr. may think of himself as Sonny Corelone
The conversation continued, and the interviewer then brought up the notes they took while watching "Poker Face," and mentioned that they thought that Sterling Sr. looks at Sterling Jr. like Fredo, while Jr. thinks of himself more like Sonny Corleone (James Caan). Hearing this comparison, Adrien Brody agreed with this statement, and said, "That's really great! That's really great. That's brilliant. Yeah, I can totally see that."
Brody continued, "He may view himself as Sonny, but a lot of people who put on a big ego really don't necessarily feel that good about themselves, though. I think he has a lot of self-doubt that he's concealing with all that bravado. And dressing up. The costume designer and I, really went there to have him really kind of dressing up to be the man in his own way. And I thought it was really special. I tell you, it felt like we were making a film. It was just really wonderful."
These statements are interesting to consider, since the character of Fredo has a fair amount of baggage in "The Godfather." It also gives audiences and fans of "Poker Face" a bit more to understand about Sterling Jr. since he has now been compared to another famous character that has a fairly interesting arc involving rash decisions. Either way, the future of Charlie and Sterling Jr. will be fascinating to see as "Poker Face" progresses.