FIELD GOALS
‘Brian Banks’ star on portraying falsely imprisoned linebacker who made an incredible comeback in the NFL
AFTER his first audition for the film “Brian Banks,” actor Aldis Hodge wanted the meaty title role badly. So before going in for a callback, he began preparing for the part as though he’d already landed it, hitting the gym to bulk up to the real-life Banks’ size.
“I was just like, ‘I hope things work out the way I want them to, just one time!’ ” Hodge, 32, tells The Post with a laugh. “And it happened.”
“Brian Banks,” in theaters Friday, tells the inspiring true story of a rising high school football star whose life was shattered after he was falsely accused of rape and subsequently imprisoned. Following five years behind bars, Banks’ conviction was reversed with the help of the California Innocence Project. Against all odds, Banks went on to achieve his NFL dreams, signing with the Atlanta Falcons.
In preparation for the film, Hodge became close with the real Banks.
“Brian and I, our relationship started really in the gym,” says Hodge, who put on 20 pounds of muscle for the movie, working out with Banks nearly every day for over a month. “That was really some of the most valuable time that we had.”
Born in Jacksonville, NC, Hodge grew up in parts of New Jersey and New York and got his first taste of being in front of the camera at age 3, when his older brother, actor Edwin Hodge, booked a photo shoot with Essence magazine.
“I was just with him at the shoot,
and they needed an extra kid,” says Hodge. “My mom, she was like, ‘Hey, I got an extra one.’ ”
Acting gigs came soon thereafter, including on “Sesame Street” (Hodge remembers Snuffleupagus well) and as one of Samuel L. Jackson’s nephews in “Die Hard With a Vengeance.” He’s been working on-screen ever since, though his profile has risen in recent years with notable turns in the N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” and the Oscar-nominated “Hidden Figures.”
This year may very well be Hodge’s biggest yet. In addition to “Brian Banks,” he romanced Taraji P. Henson in February’s “What Men Want,” is currently starring opposite Kevin Bacon on Showtime’s crime drama “City on a Hill” and will next appear in the December awards contender “Clemency.”
“I suppose there does seem to be an elevation in awareness of me,” he says, sheepishly. “I do hope that it continues to go in a direction where . . . I get to drive more specifically where I want to go.”
That’s been his goal since age 12, when he was fired from a supporting role on a kids’ TV series (which he won’t name) after test audiences liked him more than the lead actor.
“I felt disposable,” he recalls. “And I said, ‘I will never feel like this again. So I’m going to work my ass off to put myself in a seat of control, where people don’t run me and make me feel this way ever again.’ ”
Perhaps that will come once he gets around to writing, directing and producing the fantasy epic he’s had on his mind for years.
“I need to stop being lazy . . . and get it done,” he says with a laugh.