TORONTO—Playing a con man who acts his way through life shouldn’t be much of a stretch for an Oscar-winning actor. However, Adrien Brody—who won a best-actor Academy Award for The Pianist—said in a hotel room at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival that Bloom, the con artist he plays in The Brothers Bloom, finds the characters he plays before he finds himself.

“If I had nothing to connect to when the characters were gone, I would be much more like him,” he said. “I think the problem for Bloom is he had no chance to find himself. He was an orphan who was constantly involved with these cons. When I am doing a role, they affect me deeply, but when the film is done you have to crawl back into yourself and shed that skin. It is a rare thing to experience, because most people do not have to remove themselves from their own lives and influences and desires. It is a very strange life, so I can relate to him that way. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know much outside of the roles he is playing.”

In the film, which opens Friday (May 29), Mark Ruffalo plays Stephen, the older of two orphaned brothers. While still children, Stephen persuades Bloom (Brody) that they can get what they want if they can con adults. As they get older, Bloom wants to move on with his life while Stephen can’t quit. They agree to do one more con together and choose an eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz) as their mark.

Since winning the Academy Award in 2003, Brody has played a variety of roles in movies ranging from horror (The Village) to action (King Kong) and melodrama (Hollywoodland). He said in Toronto that although more scripts were sent his way after he won the Oscar than before it, his approach to making character choices has never changed. Although he admitted that there is now more pressure to take prestigious roles, his priority has always been to look at how the role worked for him and not to dwell on the perceptions of others.

“I make choices based on the fact that I don’t want to repeat things for myself. It is much more interesting for me and the audience if I am constantly changing things and finding new approaches. I think the business tends to put you in a niche and capitalize on your success as one particular type, and people then relate to you as that. I think that when you do something well, people think, ”˜That guy would be perfect for this role,’ but it is pretty obvious that you can’t continue to play those things and have a long career. Nor would they remain inspirational, and it’s unlikely you would top what you have done at that point.

“Before The Pianist, I was looking to find a leading-man role so I could transition and not be seen as a character actor. But the right kind of leading role wasn’t being offered. If I had been offered the part of the leading man in King Kong back then, I would have done it immediately because there was action involved, and yet he was not superficial. He had a depth of intelligence and sensitivity, and that is rare for an epic film. After The Pianist, I chose to do The Village, which was the antithesis of what people were telling me I should do, because it was more in line with the choices I had made before The Pianist. But I didn’t want to just change because people felt I should. I actually had to make that decision without my agents reading it because I promised Night [The Village director M. Night Shyamalan] that I wouldn’t show that script to anyone. It was a very difficult decision in that respect, because my agents wanted to read it but I had made a promise.”

So, given that he has been forced to sneak around in order to take parts that he felt would be perfect for him, was his victory a blessing or a curse? Brody says that you can’t underestimate the value of a high profile in show business.

“I am very open to trying new things, and I feel blessed receiving the recognition I did receive at a young age. It was a wonderful thing, and it doesn’t keep me from exploring new things. And that moment of winning the Academy Award made me infinitely more recognizable than did 18 years of hard work being an actor. If you want to be in studio movies or help smaller movies get their financing, you have to be recognized. It is part of the process. So it was a good thing because it helped me to get more interesting roles.”