Adrien Brody chats about Houdini and his inspiration

Adrien Brody, wrapped in chains and canvas straight jackets, dives deep into the stormy waters of illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini's personal life and public crusades in the television miniseries Houdini.

The two-part series, which debuted on Sept 1 on US cable network History channel, charts one of America's first international superstars in an existential drama about death, spirituality and the charlatans who prey on people's fears.

The 41-year-old Oscar-winner for 2002's The Pianist spoke to Reuters about how Houdini influenced his own acting career, the illusionist's deep rationalism during the early 20th-century spiritualism movement and why a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant helped defined the modern American dream.