American actor Adrien Brody spoke about how he deals with the toll of “difficult” shoots like Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which won him his second Best Actor Oscar earlier in the year, just over two decades after his first win for “The Pianist.” Speaking at the Red Sea Film Festival, which he is attending for the second time following a brief stint in Jeddah in 2023, the actor said that the 23-day shoot for Corbet’s epic meant the whole cast and crew were “very depleted.”
Still, even when working under stressful conditions, the actor said he never “holds back” when performing. “But there is no way to say, ‘I’m going to hold back today,’” he said. “The way I hold back is, I have no personal life when I’m filming. Inasmuch as I love the people I work with, I don’t hang out with my actors or crew when I have heavy lifting or emotional work.”
“I have my own techniques to have the space to give it when needed,” he added. “You have to hope you’re able to. It’s not a science, you’re not a machine. Some days you’re not gonna be the best, and you have to find ways of being able to snap yourself out of whatever the personal distractions are, whatever the complexity is on the set that day. Whatever you are, you have to deliver work. That is the responsibility of the actor.”
Asked about how he feels about having two Oscars, Brody said that “receiving an accolade like that is the pinnacle in an actor’s career,” calling it “incredibly rewarding.” “Especially to share it with your parents who’ve been supportive of you and understood the hardships and decades of work leading to that triumphant moment.”
Still, reaching that level of recognition has not dimmed Brody’s hunger for more. Bringing up fellow multiple-Oscar-winner Meryl Streep as an example, the actor said: “I’m sure she’s quite moved by the level of appreciation and acknowledgment she’s gotten, but she still yearns for more exploration in the work. That does not go away.”
“There are different pressures and criteria,” he added of his career following his award wins. “There are new doors that are open, which is wonderful, but the journey continues. I love acting more than ever. I yearn to act more than ever. I yearn to be a storyteller more than ever, in that I have a lifetime working with the finest directors ever, wonderful producers, amazing actors, and I know how to interact and give actors the space so that they can shine and feel most comfortable. And I know a great deal about narrative storytelling, so there’s a degree of evolution that I hope to add value to.”
Still on “The Brutalist,” Brady mentioned “the parallels” between Corbet’s acclaimed drama and filmmaking itself. The actor said his journey in the film is “primarily about the struggle for driven artistic people to persevere and have their vision endure despite the wants and needs of the benefactor.”
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“There are a lot of parallels that obviously Brady Corbet felt in his journey, aspiring to make the caliber of work that he wants,” he added. “If you’re going to do any big work, if you’re an aarchitect or a filmmaker, you require the means to make that work. You need a whole machine to build together. Sometimes you are blessed with the support of your financiers and benefactors who believe in your vision, and sometimes you’re not and they have their own vision that differs. The film really delves deeply into the oppressiveness.”
Briefly speaking about the growth of AI and new technologies within filmmaking, Brody said, “We are living at a time where there are immense shifts in every field.” “There are also shifts in the way we view content and what our children are exposed to as content.”
“There are new tools that are now available that will definitely enhance all our abilities to do great work, but there is nothing to replace emotion,” he emphasized. “Even if you can fabricate it or whatever, we really should always cherish and support the creative process and the beauty of filmmaking, but that’s not to say that an evolution of that which is inevitable is bad. We have choices in what we choose as individuals to agree to ingest.”
The actor said audiences nowadays have a “lot of options at content,” which makes it harder to find “gems” that “do not have marketing support.” “If you have an appetite for that, you have to discover that and push for that and, as a producer, make those films.”
From Variety US