Current:Home > MarketsAdrien Brody reveals 'personal connection' to 3½-hour epic 'The Brutalist' -AssetScope
Adrien Brody reveals 'personal connection' to 3½-hour epic 'The Brutalist'
View
Date:2025-04-12 16:33:07
NEW YORK – Adrien Brody is back with a career-best performance.
Twenty-two years after his Oscar-winning turn in “The Pianist,” the 51-year-old actor could very well pick up a second golden statue for his towering work in “The Brutalist,” which bowed at New York Film Festival Saturday. The haunting historical epic clocks in at 3 ½ hours long (with a 15-minute intermission), as it traces a Hungarian-Jewish architect named László Tóth (Brody) who flees to America after World War II and lands in rural Pennsylvania. He struggles to find work that’s worthy of his singular talent, until he meets a wealthy tycoon (Guy Pearce) who commissions him to design and build a lavish community center.
The film is an astonishing excavation of the dark heart of America, showing how people leech off the creativity and cultures of immigrants, but rarely love them in return. Speaking to reporters after an early morning screening, Brody opened up about his “personal connection” to the material: His mom, photographer Sylvia Plachy, is also a Hungarian immigrant.
Join our Watch Party!Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox.
“The journey of my grandparents was not dissimilar to this,” Brody explained. As a girl, Plachy and her family fled Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution and took refuge in Austria, before moving to New York in 1958. Like László, her parents had “wonderful jobs and a beautiful home” back in Hungary, but were “starting fresh and essentially impoverished” when they arrived in the U.S.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“It’s a sacrifice that I’ve never taken for granted,” Brody said. “To be honored with the opportunity to embody that journey that does not only reflect something personal to my ancestors, but to so many people, and the complexity of coming to America as an immigrant – all of these things are so meaningful. I just feel very fortunate to be here.”
“Brutalist” is directed by Brady Corbet (“Vox Lux”) and co-written by Mona Fastvold (“The World to Come”), who drew from a variety of real-life architects such as Marcel Breuer, Louis Kahn and Paul Rudolph as they crafted the character of László. Corbet wasn’t interested in making a biopic of any one person.
“It’s a way of accessing the past without having to pay tribute to someone’s life rights,” the filmmaker said. “There’s a way of evoking the era where you’re less of a slave to those details. And I also think for viewers, it just gets them out of their head, so they’re not going, ‘Is this how it really went down?’ ”
Although the story is massive in scope – spanning multiple decades and continents – the ambitious film was made for a shockingly thrifty $10 million. During the post-screening Q&A, Corbet discussed how he balanced “minimalism and maximalism” through Daniel Blumberg’s arresting score and Judy Becker’s lofty yet severe set designs. Brody and Felicity Jones, who plays László‘s wife, also shared how they mastered Hungarian accents and dialogue.
“My grandparents had very thick accents, not dissimilar to my character’s,” Brody said. “I was steeped in it through my whole childhood. … I remember very clearly the sound and rhythm of speaking beyond the dialect, and I think it was very helpful for me.”
Following the movie's critically lauded debut at Venice Film Festival, where it won best director, “Brutalist” is now shaping up to be a major awards season player in categories such as best picture, actor and supporting actor (Pearce, a deliciously funny yet terrifying scene-stealer).
The film will be released in theaters Dec. 20.
veryGood! (697)
Related
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Hop on Over to Old Navy, Where You Can Score 50% off During Their Easter Sale, With Deals Starting at $10
- In first, an Argentine court convicts ex-officers of crimes against trans women during dictatorship
- MLB's five most pivotal players to watch for 2024
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Pennsylvania train crash highlights shortcomings of automated railroad braking system
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to announce his VP pick for his independent White House bid
- Trader Joe's raises banana price for the first time in more than two decades
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Missouri attorney general is accused of racial bias for pinning a student fight on diversity program
Ranking
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Court tosses Republican Pennsylvania lawmakers’ challenge of state, federal voter access actions
- I've been fighting cancer for years. I know what's in store for Princess Kate.
- 5 takeaways from the abortion pill case before the U.S. Supreme Court
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- Utah women's basketball team experienced 'racial hate crimes' during NCAA Tournament
- A shake, then 'there was nothing there': Nearby worker details Baltimore bridge collapse
- Finally: Pitcher Jordan Montgomery signs one-year, $25 million deal with Diamondbacks
Recommendation
The city of Chicago is ordered to pay nearly $80M for a police chase that killed a 10
Suspect's release before Chicago boy was fatally stabbed leads to prison board resignations
'No ordinary bridge': What made the Francis Scott Key Bridge a historic wonder
Sean “Diddy” Combs Breaks Silence After Federal Agents Raid His Homes
Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
Jason Dickinson scores twice as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames 3-1
Fired Jaguars Jumbotron operator sentenced to 220 years for child sex abuse
Influencer Jackie Miller James Shares Aphasia Diagnosis 10 Months After Aneurysm Rupture