Adam Brody 'deprives himself of sleep' before shooting sad scenes

Adam Brody "deprives" himself of sleep before shooting sad scenes to help him access that emotion on set.

During an interview with his wife Leighton Meester, The O.C. star revealed he helps himself get into a character's "miserable" headspace by having less sleep.

"If I have to be really sad in something, I deprive myself of sleep and then I'm miserable," he said in their chat for Interview magazine. "Fortunately I don't have to do it a lot, but it does make me unhappy. I'm just a little more vulnerable."

The 44-year-old actor, who has been married to the Gossip Girl star since 2014, acknowledged that Leighton, 37, is able to access sadness easier on set than he can, but he "can tap into anger pretty easily".

"I can't do that. I mean, I've been able to find it a little bit more lately. But anger is one of those things," she replied. "I think if I had to, I would get there, only because there's plenty to be angry about (in the world)."

Noting that she's never been "f**king pissed" on screen or in real life, she added, "But then again, being able to do it on screen, that's a different thing than being like, I'm angry and I carry anger with me. It would be uncomfortable to have that kind of anger.

"But when I have to access it, I certainly don't feel like I can point to any one thing and be like, 'I'm angry.' But maybe it's just I've denied access to that for so long that I can't."

Adam and Leighton, who share two children, met on the set of the 2011 movie The Oranges and have since worked together in two films, Life Partners and River Wild.