The Brutalist honours my ancestral struggles, says Adrien Brody

The Brutalist tells the story of Hungarian immigrant and holocaust survivor László Tóth, who is trying to rebuild his life in post-war America through his work as an architect.

Oscar winner Adrien Brody delved deep into his own family history for his portrayal of the character, reflecting on his mother and grandparents’ experiences in fleeing their native Hungary, which after World War Two was becoming a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

“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.

“[It’s] very moving to be reminded of the details and hardships that they experienced that very much parallel the lived experience of my character,” Brody says.

The actor says his character’s drive to create also reflects his own path as an actor.

“Any artistic person, I think, can relate to the struggle and yearnings to leave, create a body of work and leave behind something of great meaning,” he says.

The relationships in the film might be intimate and personal, but they’re set against a backdrop that is in so many ways epic – not least its running time. It clocks in at over three-and-a-half hours – something that might put off some moviegoers.

But director Brady Corbet believes The Brutalist’s length really shouldn’t deter audiences.

“For me, I think that the length of a movie is similar to the length of a book, a double album, a painting with a big canvas.

“I love small portraits and I love Anselm Kiefer (a German artist known for his large-scale installations). There’s a space for both of them, you know. And at the end of the day, especially because the film has an intermission, it’s only 100 minutes on each side, so it’s not so bad.”

Felicity Jones, who plays his wife, Erzsébet, says she spends a huge amount of time looking for realistic female characters who are more than just weak offshoots of their husbands.

“I spend most of my life foraging through scripts, trying to find decent characters to play. That’s a huge part of it,” she explains.

“I have to find someone who has some kind of spunk, or has some fight in them. Some sense of defiance is so key, so when I read the script it was an absolute no-brainer.

“I thought this woman is tremendous. But… they are few and far between, for sure. When you get something like this, you just grab it with both hands.”

In the film, Tóth is hired by rich industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren to design and build a vast project as a tribute to his late mother. Van Buren, played by Guy Pearce, is a man who is in awe of the architect’s talent. A useful parallel, then, for the actor.

“I suppose so,” admits the Australian. “I really admire Adrien and his work. I think he’s an extraordinary actor.

“It was really interesting the way Adrien played his role. He plays a man who has almost more sense of self than Van Buren does, which was a great thing for me to work off because I think Van Buren, even though he admires László, he probably is patronising of him.

“He probably expects him to be more subservient than he is, so it was a great dynamic between the two of us.”

On Thursday, the film was nominated for 10 Oscars, including a best-actor nomination for Brody. Even before the Academy Awards shortlists were announced, Brody said how thankful he was for the reception the film had received from awards bodies.

“I’m just really grateful and I’m very appreciative of having had a chance to flourish in a work that I’ve dedicated a life towards. And when that is received with respect and appreciation. It’s very rewarding.”

The Brutalist is released in cinemas on 24 January