Film awards: Celebrating The Brutalist’s Adrien Brody & Guy Pearce
Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half-hour marvel The Brutalist has raked in a monumental 10 Oscars nominations, second only to Emilia Perez with 13.
Two of the numerous nominations went to lead Adrien Brody as Laszlo Toth and supporting actor Guy Pearce as Van Buren, and neither can be argued with.
Film News Blitz’s Joe Matthews celebrates the central performances of Brody and Pearce.
What is The Brutalist about?
The Brutalist is the story of Laszlo Toth (Brody), a Hungarian architect who is forced to relocate in the harsh landscape of his post-war nation.
He settles in Pennsylvania and is taken under the wing of businessman Harrison Lee Van Buren (Pearce), who sees a wealth of potential in him.
Brody captures family story in exceptional performance
Upon receiving his Oscars nomination, Brody said (via Entertainment Weekly): “Portraying László Tóth, and representing the hardships and yearnings of so many, including the very struggles of my own family, has rekindled my own sense of being and belonging, and believing again.
“Sharing this profound experience with our talented and dedicated cast and crew on The Brutalist has been a rare gift that I am endlessly grateful for.”
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The Actor’s filmography is stunning, boasting The Pianist, for which he became the Academy Awards’ youngest-ever Leading Actor winner, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Thin Red Line to name but a few, but this commanding of the screen immediately sits up as one of Brody’s greatest ever performances.
His physical acting, combined with his deliberate delivery of his dialogue, makes for a harrowing and, at times, devastating watch.
Brody strives to capture the ups and downs of a flawed American Dream, as Toth begins to develop a certain purpose in his work.
The American actor, whose father is of Polish descent, and whose mother was raised a Catholic and grew up in Budapest, makes the story of direct relevance to his own life.
Brody told the BBC, "The wonderful thing is, it's an opportunity for me to honour my ancestral struggles - my mother and my grandparents' hardships and loss in fleeing Hungary in the '50s and emigrating to the United States.”
Should he take home the Oscar, Brody would become only the 10th actor to win two Academy Awards in the Leading Role category, and it would most certainly be well deserved.
Pearce receives first Oscars nomination
For Pearce, it’s his first time breaking into the Academy limelight.
He said: “I’m so humbled by this Oscar nomination and truly grateful to be sharing it with so many of our brilliant Brutalist collaborators!
“All I’ve tried to do over the past 40 years is hone a craft and I thank all those who’ve helped me do so along the way.”
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The dynamic between Van Buren and Toth is a key element of The Brutalist, making Pearce’s performance capturing the complex and ever-shifting nature of their relationship crucial.
Pearce is sure to keep you guessing, making it rather ‘intellectually stimulating’ as one might say.
His portrayal feels somewhat reminiscent of the famous interview scene from American Psycho where Willem Dafoe and Christian Bale’s characters face off.
Dafoe was famously filmed doing the scene in multiple different ways, in order to keep the audience guessing as the plot developed, and Van Buren has a similar effect upon us throughout The Brutalist, thanks to Pearce’s masterful input.
Similar to Brody, should Guy Pearce walk away from the Oscars trophy in hand, it will have gone to a much-deserving winner.
When are the Oscars?
The 97th Oscars commences at 4 PM PST on Sunday, March 2 (Midnight, Monday, March 3 GMT).
This year’s host will be television present, podcaster and comedian Conan O’Brien.
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