“The Brutalist” co-stars Adrien Brody (L) and Guy Pearce (R) discussing their careers. (Shiuan Cheng / Daily Nexus)
“He was a bodybuilder and I was a magician,” veteran actor Adrien Brody said of fellow filmstar Guy Pearce before being met with a roar of laughter from an engrossed audience at Arlington Theatre.
The two actors took part in a career retrospective with Deadline’s Chief Film Critic Pete Hammond on Feb. 13, prior to being honored with the revered Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) Cinema Vanguard Award for breaking new ground in the film industry. From their earliest odd jobs as a bodybuilder and a magician, to their point of connection as both have portrayed illusionist Harry Houdini, to now receiving dual Oscar nominations, Brody and Pearce touched on their peculiar paths and demonstrated sheer dedication to their craft.
Brody and Pearce joined forces for the first time last year, starring in Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist.” Set in 1950’s Philadelphia, the film explores the journey of Brody’s character, a Jewish-Hungarian architect fleeing the Holocaust, when he’s hired to design a community center by Pearce’s character, a wealthy and pompous industrialist.
As they made their way down the red carpet, Pearce said the moment felt “humbling” and “rewarding” in an interview with the Daily Nexus. From his work in “Memento,” “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” “The King’s Speech” and “Iron Man 3,” the Australian star’s expansive four-decade career has been steadily building towards this point of recognition, with Pearce nominated for his first string of major association awards for acting in film this year.
Brody told the Nexus that after the ups and downs building his career since youth, he was simply “grateful” to still be recognized.
“I started when I was 12, and had a lot of beautiful moments and a lot of challenging moments and to still be here and to receive respect for my work, I’m very grateful for that,” Brody said.
Brody has been internationally celebrated for his work in “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “King Kong,” “Blonde,” “The Pianist” and more. He won an Academy Award in 2003 for the latter film, making him the youngest Best Actor winner to date at age 29. With a Golden Globe, Critic’s Choice and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award under his wing this awards season, his chances at a second Oscar are seemingly imminent.
Right off the bat, Hammond prompted Brody to speak on his magnum opus, Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist,” a true story based on a Polish, Jewish pianist in Warsaw during the Holocaust. For the project, Brody spent four hours a day practicing Chopin, “understood hunger on a level that [he] never knew” and “and gained respect and understanding for many hardships that many people endure.” He called the experience “profound” and “life-changing,” now finding its relevance in informing his portrayal of László Tóth in “The Brutalist.”
“I always look at that experience as opening a portal into understanding life as an adult and where I thought I was more mature than I was, I thought I had a sense of understanding,” Brody said.
Brody posing on the SBIFF red carpet. (Shiuan Cheng / Daily Nexus)
Other films that shaped Brody’s life include 2007’s “The Darjeeling Limited,” just one of the five Wes Anderson projects Brody has been involved in.
“I’ve had so many incredible life experiences. We filmed on a moving train in India with Wes and Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola — all [lived] in a house in India. And I bought a motorcycle there, and just amazing life experiences,” Brody said.
After doing a decade of theater as a child, which Pearce calls his “first love,” he was cast in the Australian drama “Neighbours” at age 18. After that, his standout role as a drag queen in “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” is what first pushed him to meet with agents in America.
“I think one of the nicest things is that everyone in Australia is really excited for me as well, so that sort of makes it even more exciting,” Pearce said.
From there Pearce booked “L.A. Confidential” with the late director Curtis Hanson and “Memento” with Christopher Nolan soon after. Pearce praised Nolan’s direction and spoke on finding an “emotional center” when portraying a character in “absolute emotional turmoil.”
“The film was quite simple, there’s no real visual effects or anything like that. But it was an incredible experience for me. The funny thing was, as actors, a lot of the time you are focused on what you’re doing at the moment and what you’ve done before, what leads up to it, where you’re going after this and so you’ve got the whole journey in mind. This is one of those ones where I just had to let everything go,” Pearce said.
“The Brutalist” is a three-and-a-half hour historical drama that highlights themes of the American myth, the relationship between artist and patron, immigrant struggles and a universal longing for home. Brody spoke on the necessity of finding compassion through the stories of characters on screen and applying that to issues relevant in today’s world.
“We live in a very complex world and very complex time, and perhaps it’s always been complex, but it feels very such right now. And to do work that speaks to that, and gives a degree of insight into that hardship that is so universal, this feeling of being othered, feeling of not being quite welcome, no matter what your contribution is,” Brody said.
“It is something that we can witness through seeing characters, lives in the past and what they’ve endured, and the lingering of traumas that come from those times. And to understand how as a society and community, we have to be less divided and more inclusive,” Brody continued.
The film holds a particular place of significance for Brody, as his mother, photographer Sylvia Plachy, and grandparents immigrated to America from Hungary in 1956 during the revolution. Brody told the Nexus his family was “moved” by the film, which he felt an immense amount of responsibility to undertake.
“I’m very honored to have been able to represent some of those hardships that are intimate to me and my ancestral journey immigrating to America, and the hardships that my grandparents, my mother experienced, also their resilience. And how their struggles have paved the way for me, that’s something I don’t take for granted,” Brody said.
For Pearce, stepping into the shoes of the self-loathing Harrison Lee Van Buren was about having conversations with Brody and Corbet to flesh out their understanding of a very conflicted villain.
“I think he’s a very complex man who is probably someone who feels he’s not really in control, so he tries to be controlling, he’s probably insecure so he tries to act more secure than he is. He’s quite a performative person, and he’s just trying to have power because he probably feels quite powerless,” Pearce said in an interview with the Nexus.
According to the actors, “The Brutalist” was filmed in 33 days with a “low budget” of around $10 million. Despite shooting on 35mm film using VistaVision, a vintage filming technique that operates without quiet sync-sound cameras, Pearce said he was completely immersed in the material. He applauded Corbet’s technical ambition, calling it a “wonderful irony” that “The Brutalist” was the only film he’s done that didn’t require Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR). Both Brody and Pearce said Corbet gave them space to explore their characters during filming.
“[Corbet] really offered a sort of a sense on set that we had all the time in the world, that we had all the freedom in the world to explore what it was we were doing. And I think ultimately, it’s not that either of us were looking to improvise and go off on tangents … it was just about getting to the heart of each moment and finding the most truthful way of expressing it,” Pearce said.
With dozens of accolades, rave reviews and $30 million accrued at the box office, the film’s impact is apparent. Brody said the best part of the buzz surrounding “The Brutalist” is being able to “connect with audiences” and have opportunities to promote the film with the minimal resources they have in the independent film space.
“I know that in spite of receiving accolades and having had tremendous peaks in a career, that it is very challenging to find something of great meaning,” Brody said. “And the beauty of these moments when a movie is a recipient of these accolades, or our work is being recognized, is it creates awareness for an independent film, and that reaches a greater audience.”
Pearce accepting one of the two Cinema Vanguard Awards. The other went to Brody. (Shiuan Cheng / Daily Nexus)
When it came time to present the award, SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling first took a moment to appreciate moderator Hammond for over 20 years of contribution to the festival. He announced that the award will henceforth be named the Hammond Cinema Vanguard Award.
Brody and Pearce both took a moment to pay respect towards each other as they accepted their awards. Pearce thanked the writers, directors, actors and crew from over the course of his tenure for being a part of his career.
“I find it just as exciting as I did when I was a kid. The wonderful world that we get to sort of enter with our imaginations based on the great scripts that we receive is the great testament to all those fantastic writers out there,” Pearce said.
Brody’s last words were only those of appreciation as he soaked in the “sweet night.”
“It’s hard to find the words to express this gratitude, but I have been doing this for so long, and the privilege of still loving this work and to be receiving this level of respect from so many people is a remarkable thing,” Brody said.
A version of this article appeared in the Feb. 20 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
