Adrien Brody has confessed he’s yet to accept another role since winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in March.
The American actor, 52, won the Oscar for his lead performance in Brady Corbet’s period epic The Brutalist. The win was Brody’s second in the category, having previously become the youngest-ever Best Actor winner when he won for The Pianist in 2003.
“I’ve not taken a film since The Brutalist. It’s not because I have not had interesting opportunities, but it didn’t feel quite right,” said Brody at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival on Saturday, according to Deadline.
“I love to work and I love to collaborate with people, and I love to be immersed. I like to be creating. I like the problem solving. I thrive on that level of immersion,” he continued.
Addressing a crowd of aspiring actors and filmmakers, Brody said he became more selective about the roles he took after his first Best Actor win in 2003.
“I assumed that I had less to prove, that I am a good actor and that I can take work that felt interesting and you have a responsibility to a career trajectory. I was quite young, and it takes time to understand that,” he said.
Brody admitted that he often kept to himself and could be quite solitary while on set.
“I have no personal life when I’m filming. As much as I love the people I work with, I don’t hang out with my fellow actors and crew when I have any heavy day… or any emotional work,” he said.
“I sometimes won’t eat lunch so as to not be tired as your body has to then digest… I’ve been doing this my entire adult life. I have my own techniques, self-preservation and emotional protection to have the space to give when needed.
“You have to hope that you’re able to. It’s not a science and you’re not a machine. So some days you’re not going to be your best. You have to find ways to snap yourself out of whatever the personal distractions are, whatever the complexity is on set that day.”
After accepting the trophy from the 2024 Best Actor winner, Cillian Murphy, Brody went on to speak for a record-breaking five minutes and 40 seconds, earning criticism from viewers who accused him of being “self-indulgent.”
His lengthy speech saw the actor tell the Oscar showrunners to “turn the music off”, before he continued speaking for a while longer. “I’ve done this before. Thank you. It’s not my first rodeo, but I will will be brief,” he said.
Speculating about the future of Brody’s career earlier this year, Louis Chilton wrote for The Independent: “Whether The Brutalist is followed by a run of acclaimed, buzzy hits, or more indies in cinematic Siberia, it doesn’t really matter – in another 20 years’ time, you’d be a fool to bet against him doing this again.”
