Adrien Brody added a second Oscar to his mantel, winning Best Actor for “The Brutalist.”
“Winning an award like this signifies a destination and something my character references in the film. But to me, it also, beyond the pinnacle of a career, it is a chance to begin again and the opportunity to hopefully be fortunate enough so that the next 20 years of my life, I can prove that I am worthy of such meaningful, important and relevant roles,” Brody said during his acceptance speech.
When the music started playing to wrap him up, he continued his speech insisting that he be given more time. “This is not my first rodeo,” he joked.
He continued, “You know, acting is a very fragile profession. It looks very glamorous, and in certain moments it is, but the one thing I’ve gained with having the privilege to come back here is some perspective. No matter where you are in your career and what you’ve accomplished, it can all go away. And I think what makes this night most special is the awareness of that and the gratitude that I have to still do the work that I love.”
The actor also thanked his partner, Georgina Chapman adding that she has, “not only reinvigorated my own self worth but my sense of value and my values and her beautiful children, Dash and India, I know this as been a roller coaster but thank you for accepting me into your life and Popsie’s coming home a winner.”
Across a multitude of festivals and award ceremonies, Brody has won a whopping 22 awards for his performance in “The Brutalist,” including Best Actor honors at The Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and BAFTA Awards.
Courtesy of A24
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. (Courtesy of A24)
Understandably, Brody was initially deemed the frontrunner for the top prize at the Oscars, but his reign was in question when Chalamet won the SAG awards for Best Actor.
Chalamet, 29, instantly became a viable contender for the coveted prize, which would have made him the youngest person to win Best Actor. No one under the age of 30 has won in the category since Brody himself, who earned his Oscar for “The Pianist” at the age of 29 in 2003.
“The Brutalist,” directed by Brady Corbet, explores the life of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, Laszlo Toth, who is trying to make a life for himself in post-war America.
Brody says this is an experience that resonated with him personally. “You know, this story is really the character’s journey, is very reminiscent of my mother’s and my ancestors’ journey of fleeing war and coming to this great country,” he shared in his Golden Globe speech.
In another interview with NPR, Brody says that “It’s a remarkable thing to find something that speaks to a struggle, a resiliency and a sense of something so intimate like my mother’s journey of fleeing Hungary and my grandparents and having to leave everything behind and those hardships that not only speak to me personally, but to so from many different backgrounds.”
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