''The Brutalist'' is an upcoming

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Brady Corbet Brady James Monson Corbet (; born August 17, 1988) is an American actor and filmmaker. Corbet is known for playing Mason Freeland in the film ''Thirteen'', Brian Lackey in the film ''Mysterious Skin'', Alan Tracy in the 2004 film '' Thunderbirds ...

from a screenplay by Corbet and

Mona Fastvold Mona Fastvold (born 7 March 1981) is a Norwegian filmmaker and actress based in Brooklyn, New York. Her feature directorial debut was ''The Sleepwalker'' (2014) at Sundance Film Festival, Sundance. She has directed music videos for several music ...

. The film stars

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Acto ...

Felicity Jones Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is a British actress. She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing in '' The Treasure Seekers'' (1996) at age 12. She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series of the tele ...

and

Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire in England, and raised in Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in Australia, he started his career portraying Mike Young (Neighbours), Mike Young in ...

. The

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

includes

Joe Alwyn Joseph Matthew Alwyn (born 21 February 1991) is an English actor. He made his feature film debut as the titular character in Ang Lee's 2016 war drama, '' Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk,'' and has since played supporting roles in films such as ...

, Isaach de Bankolé,

Raffey Cassidy Raffey Camomile Cassidy (born 12 November 2001) is an English actress. She has had roles in films including ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' (2012), ''Mr Selfridge'' (2013), ''Tomorrowland'' (2015) and ''The Killing of a Sacred Deer'' (2017). Ea ...

Stacy Martin Stacy Martin (born 20 March 1990) is a French actress. Her breakthrough role was playing Joe as a young woman in Lars von Trier's 2013 drama film ''Nymphomaniac''. Early life Martin was born in Paris, where she spent her early childhood. She m ...

Alessandro Nivola Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award ...

Emma Laird Emma Laird is an English actress and former model. On television, she is known for her role in the Paramount+ series ''Mayor of Kingstown'' (2021–). Her films include ''A Haunting in Venice'' (2023). She was named a 2021 Brit to Watch by ''Var ...

Jonathan Hyde Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King (born 21 May 1948), known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-English actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the 1994 comedy film '' Richie Rich'', Sa ...

and

Peter Polycarpou Peter Polycarpou is an English-Cypriot actor, best known for playing Chris Theodopolopodous in the television comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' and Louis Charalambos in ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies''. Early life Polycarpou w ...

. The film is an

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...

between the United States, the United Kingdom and Hungary.

Plot

The film chronicles 30 years in the life of László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he emigrated to the United States with his wife, Erzsébet, to experience the " American dream". László initially endures poverty and indignity, but he soon lands a contract with a mysterious and wealthy client that will change the course of his life.

Cast

as László Tóth *

as Erzsébet Tóth *

as Harrison Lee Van Buren *

* Isaach De Bankolé *

Production

Development

On September 6, 2018, ''

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a Britis ...

'' reported that director

had chosen the period drama ''The Brutalist'' as his next project following the world premiere of his second feature film, ''

Vox Lux ''Vox Lux'' is a 2018 American musical drama film written and directed by Brady Corbet from a story by Corbet and Mona Fastvold. The film stars Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin and Jennifer Ehle. ''Vox Lux'' had its wo ...

''. New York-based Andrew Lauren Productions (ALP) developed the screenplay with Corbet and financed the film. Corbet co-wrote the screenplay with his partner

, with whom he co-wrote the 2015 film '' The Childhood of a Leader'' and the 2018 film ''Vox Lux''. The film was originally announced as a co-production between Andrew Lauren and D.J. Gugenheim for ALP, Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon for

Brookstreet Pictures Brookstreet Pictures is a film production company with offices in West Hollywood, California and Ottawa, Ontario. Founded by Trevor Matthews in 2004, the company produces and finances films. Filmography * '' The Brutalist'' (TBA) * ''O.G.'' (2 ...

, Brian Young's Three Six Zero, and the Polish company Madants, and executive produced by Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, and David Hinojosa of

Killer Films Killer Films is a New York City-based independent film production company founded by movie producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler in 1995. The company has produced a number of the most acclaimed American independent films over the past tw ...

. On September 2, 2020, ''Deadline'' announced that

Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his appearance in the ''Star Wars'' films ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as a young Owen Lars, a role he reprised i ...

and

Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress, film producer, singer, and environmentalist who is widely known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters in both European and Hollywood productions. She has received ...

had been cast as the film's leads, László Toth and Erzsébet Toth, respectively, and that

Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurenc ...

was cast in the role of László's mysterious client.

Sebastian Stan Sebastian Stan (born August 13, 1982) is a Romanian-American actor. He gained recognition for his role as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe media franchise beginning with the film '' Captain America: The First Ave ...

Vanessa Kirby Vanessa Nuala Kirby (born 18 April 1988) is an English actress. She has received several accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Born in London to urologist Roger Ki ...

, Isaach De Bankolé,

and

were also announced in unknown roles. Corbet described ''The Brutalist'' as "a film which celebrates the triumphs of the most daring and accomplished visionaries; our ancestors", and the project which is so far the closest to his heart and family history. Filming was scheduled to begin in Poland in January 2021. Protagonist Pictures presented the project to buyers at the

2020 Toronto International Film Festival The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online stream ...

. The film takes place in Philadelphia and will be shot in English, Yiddish, Hungarian and Italian. Director of photography

Lol Crawley Laurie "Lol" Crawley (born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire), is an English cinematographer. His works include ''Ballast'', ''Four Lions'', and ''The Crimson Petal and the White (TV miniseries), The Crimson Petal and the White''. In 2013, Crawley sho ...

, editor Dávid Jancsó, and costume designer Kate Forbes were announced on March 9, 2023. Production designer

Judy Becker Judy Becker is a production designer. Becker, along with set decorator Heather Loeffler, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Production Design The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in f ...

was announced on April 11, 2023.

Daniel Blumberg Daniel Blumberg is an English artist, musician, songwriter and composer from London who works between drawing, improvisation, song form and film. Music career From 2005 to 2009, Blumberg was a founding member and lead singer for the band Cajun ...

will compose the film's score. On April 11, 2023, it was announced that

, and

would star in the film, while Edgerton, Cotillard, Rylance, Stan, and Kirby were no longer attached. It was also announced that the film would be co-produced by the US-based companies Andrew Lauren Productions and Yellow Bear along with the United Kingdom's Brookstreet and Intake Films, and Hungary's Proton Cinema, and financed by Brookstreet UK, Yellow Bear, Lip Sync Productions, Richmond Pictures, Meyohas Studio, Carte Blanche, and Cofiloisirs. Protagonist Pictures handles international sales with CAA Media Finance handling domestic sales.

Filming

Filming was originally set to start in 2020, but it was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. It was then scheduled to start in January 2021, but it was postponed to August 2021, then it was postponed again to late spring 2022. In an interview for the podcast ''The Sync Reporter'' on August 11, 2022,

said that filming was postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also because there were pregnancies and deaths in the families of the film's cast and crew in the meantime. Corbet also said that filming would begin in the fourth quarter of 2022. In an interview for Italian magazine ''Muse'' on February 22, 2023,

said that her next project with Corbet would begin in March 2023. After several delays, filming finally began in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary on March 16, 2023. Production then moved to the city of

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, west-northwest o ...

in Tuscany, Italy on April 29, 2023, and wrapped on May 5, 2023.

References

External links

*
''The Brutalist''
at Protagonist Pictures {{DEFAULTSORT:Brutalist, The Upcoming English-language films 2020s American films 2020s British films Hungarian drama films Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in Philadelphia Films about immigration to the United States Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust Killer Films films Brookstreet Pictures films Films directed by Brady Corbet Films with screenplays by Brady Corbet Films with screenplays by Mona Fastvold American multilingual films British multilingual films Hungarian multilingual films English-language Polish films Hungarian-language films Italian-language American films Yiddish-language films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic Films shot in Budapest Films shot in Tuscany