With spiked hair and Union Jack top, Brody was the punk suspected of
murder in Summer Of Sam; in sensible combats and red T-shirt, he's the
union organiser in Bread And Roses. The two parts couldn't be more
different, but in both of them, he projects a kind of wired, slightly
damaged but just-about-intact integrity. It's an unusual quality for
a leading man, but it's charismatic and watchable - and in choosing to
work with directors like Spike Lee and Ken Loach, Brody shows he's got a
brain, too. With the title role in Polanski's forthcoming The Pianist,
he looks set to be big.
