Combing through the Barnes & Noble on Court Street the other day I was surprised to find a magazine display entitled “Magazines America Loves.” One of the magazines we love, it seems, is Men’s Health but we don’t love it as much as Adrien Brody who appears on the cover of this month’s issue showing off his rock hard abs. Worse, he is standing on the deck of a sail boat, shirt opened to expose aforesaid abs.

“Scrawny to Brawny!” screams the banner that covers his pelvis. “The King Kong muscle plan” this 96-lb weakling underwent is meant to promote the Peter Jackson film (in which Brody costars with Naomi Watts and Jack Black) and nothing wrong with getting in shape, especially when one is sharing the screen with Ms. Watts, not to mention a giant ape. But Brody won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist just a few years ago. Seems mighty early to be squandering his reputation as a serious actor.

But this is a guy who already did a Diet Pepsi commercial (again post Oscar) and who is slated to appear in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday. He is not a snob. Few actors have won the best-actor Oscar as relatively early in the game as Brody ( now 32) or with as little screen experience. (Peter O’Toole and Ben Kingsley come to mind but they’re both Brits, who played famous historical figures in lavish historical dramas.) These kind of career moves seem more in keeping with the long list of supporting actors and actresses who accept a statuette and then disappear, never to be seen again.

Or maybe he just really likes Pepsi.