Oscars 2025 was a special one for Adrien Brody. After his Pianist win, he just bagged his second golden statue for his performance in The Brutalist.

The Brutalist is a complex, layered film dealing with somber themes, making it all the more surprising that it’s only the third feature-length outing for director Brady Corbet. What’s even more astonishing is Corbet’s career trajectory.

Why Brady Corbet’s 215-minute masterpiece deserves to win the Oscar for Best Picture - OSCARS 2025: The dense and stylish period epic starring Adrien Brody is going into the Oscar weekend no longer as the Best Picture

Doylestown-set drama The Brutalist netted Adrien Brody his second Academy Award for his role in the locally-set historical epic. Brody won his first Academy Award for best actor for his role in 2002′s The Pianist.

That evening, Corbet was good company: witty and intellectual, well-read and opinionated. Frequent topics of digression include his favourite writer, the German WG Sebald (“I wanted to make a film like Sebald writes,

Felicity Jones plays the role of Erzsébet Tóth, whose husband is László Tóth (played by Brody). This role earned the English actress an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The film was released on December 20, 2024, by A24 and grossed over $40 million against a $10 million budget. Here is the official synopsis as per Letterboxd:

Brody beat Timothée Chalamet to defend his record as the youngest-ever Best Actor winner, which he won in 2003 for "The Pianist."

The 3 1/2 hour-long film The Brutalist tells the epic story of Holocaust survivor and Jewish architect László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody.

Actor Adrien Brody talks backstage at the Oscars about representation during current political climate and his personal connection to 'The Brutalist'

The Brutalist earned 10 Oscar nominations at this year’s Academy Awards. Look out for wins in the best picture, production design, music, film editing, original screenplay, cinematography, directing, supporting actress (Felicity Jones), supporting actor (Guy Pearce), and actor (Adrien Brody) categories.