A new preview for Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History offers a taste of the behind-the-scenes drama that fans of The CW show can find in the upcoming book. Right out of the gate, The O.C. star and heartthrob Adam Brody comes off as a smarmy diva, which the actor does not deny. While his tumultuous on/off relationship with Rachel Bilson is well-documented, Brody apparently had a problem with the show right from the jump.
According to casting director Patrick Rush, Brody almost didn’t make it on the show because his first audition was “obnoxious” and “disrespectful” of the material, according to the New York Post. However, Brody came back and actually put some effort into his next audition and “it was amazing.”
Unfortunately, Brody’s interest in the show wouldn’t last long:
Like the other actors, Brody said that he got “bored” of the show by Season 3. He maintained that he was “polite to everyone” and would never “scream and yell” or say “anything f–king mean,” but he said he let his “distaste” for the material show, which he’s “not proud” of.
[Ben] McKenzie said Brody was “not shy” about his unhappiness and the energy became an “amorphous” thing. “[It was] a challenge, and frustrating.” Autumn Reeser, who played Taylor Townsend, said she was “disappointed” by Brody’s behavior and had hoped to find “more camaraderie” with someone she thought of as a “fantastic” actor.
Brody’s lack of effort was so visible on-screen that the writers had his character get addicted to weed in Season 3 to mask what was really going on.
“Brody just changed his delivery, his investment in it,” creator Ben Schwartz said. “His style shifted to such a degree that we felt like we needed to account for it creatively.”
Despite all of that, Bilson still feels bad about ditching Brody after a swarm of fans rushed him outside of MTV’s TRL in 2004.
“The Olsen twins rescued me and threw me in their car,” Bilson recalled. “I left Brody behind because I was so nervous and didn’t know what to do. And they were like, ‘Don’t you need to get your boyfriend?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’ve got to go get him.’ He was being mobbed.”
(Via New York Post)
