For ‘The Brutalist,’ Adrien Brody Called On A Lifetime Of Work: “I Was Energized”
Before he turned 30, Adrien Brody played what could surely be called the role of a lifetime, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a Holocaust survivor in Pianist. In the more than two decades since, the New York native has built a rewarding career as a versatile actor, emerging as an integral member of Wes Andersoncompany and hijacked footage in smaller roles on HBO series like Winning time And Succession (which later earned him an Emmy nomination). This Sunday Venice International Film Festival the premiere of Brutalist, However, it promises to put Brody back in the cinematic spotlight in a major way. It’s no surprise that in his first interview about this massive undertaking, he mentioned Pianist pretty quickly. He knows what it takes to anchor a project of this scale.
You may ask, how big is the intensity? For starters, Brutalist, directed by VoxLux manager Brady Corbet (and co-wrote with his collaborator, Mona Fastvold), boasts a running time of 215 minutes—the longest film in this year’s (and most years’) festival competition. (The film, which is seeking U.S. distribution, is also scheduled to screen in Toronto and New York.) But then there’s the matter of the story: a poignant immigration tale that follows the extreme ups and downs experienced by Brody’s László Tóth, a successful architect who flees Hungary during World War II to settle in Philadelphia and rebuild his entire life while his wife (Felicity Jones) was waiting to join him. He was hired by a rich man’s son (Joe Alwyn) to build a large library for his erratic father (Pearce guy)—marks the beginning of a decades-long saga of a talented, desperate artist controlled by the American government, struggling to thrive or maybe just survive.
Rooted in its roots of brutalist architecture and designed with dramatic specificity, the film nevertheless takes on the shape of a classic epic, one that Brody tackles with deep commitment. He had just a few months to shoot. Brutalist, but like Pianist, It feels like the work of a lifetime—and this time, its impact on Brody is deeply personal.
Vanity Fair: This project started putting together a cast before COVID, and has gone through a lot of changes. When did it come to you? Was it easy to say yes?
Adrien Brody: About four years ago, I received the script and had the opportunity to meet Brady and discuss it. I was very moved when I read the film for many reasons. It’s a very personal story. My mother was a Hungarian immigrant and had fled wartime Europe. Her journey as an artist, coming to America and how the trauma of war, running away from home and all of that impacted her work as an artist, was really a guiding light for me as an artist—my measure of not only staying grounded but staying true to my artistic pursuits.
So I tried my best, and obviously shared my feelings with Brady. It was gone for a while. It was like a loss, but there are roles that sometimes you don’t even get to compete for. Then it magically came. I’m really grateful for that.
When you were cast, were there any rehearsals before filming? What was the preparation like?
Brady and I talked a lot, but I don’t remember a lot of practice. I had a lifetime of practice for this role in a lot of ways. I had a lot of work locked into me from Pianist. A lot of that really stayed with me…. Here we are 20 years later, and it still shapes a lot of things that shouldn’t be taken for granted and how the little things in life that I took for granted before become obvious. It makes me more focused and more conscious. Age or getting older really affects your understanding of time and the value of what you spend your time on. Those efforts are rare. Making a film like this is rare. I worked on dialect and talked a lot with my mom about her time there. We talked a lot about it over the years. She came to visit me there while I was in Budapest, working on dialect and all that.
It sounds like a special opportunity to talk to your mom in the context of something emotional.
A lot. Both my parents went to see it. They had a press screening in New York, and they were really excited to see it. I think it was quite profound for her. They seemed really impressed with Brady’s work; it was just an inspiring film. It’s interesting: My grandfather, her father, always dreamed of being an actor. He actually had a brief stint and got hired to do Zorba, the Greek on Broadway, in a supporting role. I think I gave the director notes and he was fired. [Laughs]
How does that personal element change your equation as an actor? Do you approach your work differently?
The whole joy of being an actor is tapping into truth, whether it’s your own experiences or the experiences of others that you’re researching and hoping to understand or empathize with. There are very few moments where you can get there without having to take a lot of it and make it up. You still have a responsibility to do that, but you have the truth at your fingertips. It’s just a matter of connecting to those things, opening them up, and looking at them from the perspective of the character you’re playing.
