Adrien Brody Wins Oscar for Best Actor for ‘The Brutalist’
After twenty-two years since his initial Academy Award victory, Adrien Brody secured his second Best Actor Oscar on Sunday evening for his performance in Brady Corbet's grand film "The Brutalist." Brody stood as the predicted frontrunner in the competition against nominees Timothée Chalamet ("A Complete Unknown"), Sebastian Stan ("The Apprentice"), Ralph Fiennes ("Conclave"), and Colman Domingo ("Sing Sing"). Director Corbet rushed to embrace his visibly elated star, who expressed gratitude to him and his co-writing partner for giving him this "triumph of a work."
"Thank you, God, for this blessed life," Brody stated upon reaching the podium, before acknowledging the film community for "the tremendous outpouring that I've felt from this world" regarding his performance. When the orchestra attempted to cut short his speech, Brody responded with "I've done this before," prompting the music to stop. He then voiced his worries about growing "anti-semitism and racism and othering" in society today, expressing hope for "a happier and more inclusive world." He concluded with a timely message: "If history has taught us anything, it's not let hate go unchecked. Let's fight for what's right... let's rebuild together."
In the A24 production, Brody portrays László Tóth, a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor (inspired by designers Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn, and Marcel Breuer) who moves to America seeking artistic fulfillment and better prospects for himself and his wife (played by Oscar nominee Felicity Jones), but encounters further hardship instead.
Following its celebrated Venice Film Festival debut last August, the 215-minute epic (including a 15-minute break) became an awards season favorite, garnering 10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, acting nominations for Brody, Jones, and supporting actor Guy Pearce, plus numerous technical category nods.
Brody dominated the awards circuit, collecting trophies at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and festival honors from Palm Springs International Film Festival (Desert Palm Achievement for Best Actor) and Santa Barbara International Film Festival (Cinema Vanguard Award).
For Brody, finding another Oscar-caliber role—let alone a winning one—has been challenging. After his 2003 "Pianist" victory, when he became the youngest-ever Best Actor winner at 29, Brody struggled to secure roles matching that Holocaust drama. In December, he told IndieWire about making the Roman Polanski film: "It was such an awakening for me to do that movie at that relatively young age."
The impact, pressure, and duty I carried for that film during 22 weeks of six-day work weeks was immense," Brody reflected. "I had to portray someone whose individual experience represented the deaths of 6 million people and those historical atrocities—the unimaginable suffering, vile hatred, and societal transformation—all on my shoulders for coming generations, as told by a Holocaust survivor, while also physically transforming myself."
"'The Brutalist' essentially starts where 'The Pianist' finished," he explained to IndieWire. "It follows a Jewish immigrant's survival journey. Those particular difficulties and grief, and desire to start over, and the fantasy of America—where the ideal of the American dream, particularly in the 1950s—suggests the chance to escape that persecution and possibly build a new life."
He told IndieWire's Anne Thompson that creating "The Pianist" transformed his existence, providing him stability that "makes me grounded every single day," he remarked, "and I owe it to that experience. There is a natural comprehension I possess that allows me, when embodying a character, the emotional depth visible in my eyes as I convey a story about hope and aspirations."
Regarding his second Academy Award journey, Brody added, "I value the affection I've received, and it has taken 22 years to experience this level of appreciation again. That means so much to me, because this work is my entire life's focus, and it's not as if I wasn't searching for material of this quality or a role with this significance."
