Episode 1606 - Adrien Brody

Summary

WTF with Marc Maron – Episode 1606: Adrien Brody

Release Date: January 6, 2025
Host: Marc Maron
Guest: Adrien Brody

Marc Maron welcomes Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody to discuss his illustrious career, personal experiences, and his latest film, The Brutalist. This in-depth conversation delves into Adrien's artistic journey, the challenges of the acting profession, and the profound impact of his work both on and off the screen.

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1. Introduction to Adrien Brody and Career Highlights

Marc Maron begins by introducing Adrien Brody, highlighting his achievement as the youngest actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor in 2003 for The Pianist. Adrien's versatile roles in films like King Kong, Midnight in Paris, and multiple Wes Anderson projects, as well as television series such as Succession, Peaky Blinders, and Winning Time are acknowledged. Marc also mentions Adrien’s recent work in The Brutalist, an epic film praised for its stunning visuals and complex narrative.

Notable Quote:

“Adrien came over. He's actually the youngest person to win the Oscar for Best Actor back in 2003 for his performance in The Pianist.”
— Marc Maron [00:00:35]

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2. The Intimate Podcast Experience

Marc emphasizes the unique, audio-only format of WTF with Marc Maron, conducted in his home’s converted garage. He contrasts this with the trend of multi-person TV studios, highlighting the intimate and honest nature of one-on-one conversations.

Notable Quote:

“There is something about the nature of audio that is very intimate. And it's one of the reasons why we still do it this way.”
— Marc Maron [00:03:15]

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3. Discussing The Brutalist

Adrien provides insights into his latest project, The Brutalist, commending director Brady Cobert for creating a cinematic space that rivals masterpieces like There Will Be Blood. They explore the film's themes of power, greed, and the immigrant experience, especially within the context of post-war architecture influenced by Jewish heritage.

Notable Quote:

“I had a lot of faith in Brady. He had done Vox Lux and Childhood of a Leader, which are very cool movies.”
— Adrien Brody [20:28:10]

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4. Personal Background and Artistic Influence

Adrien delves into his upbringing, shaped by his Hungarian immigrant mother, a renowned photographer whose work is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection. He discusses how his family's traumatic history during World War II and his mother's artistic legacy influenced his desire to portray complex, outsider characters.

Notable Quote:

“My mother is a Hungarian artist immigrant... Her work is a beacon of inspiration for me.”
— Adrien Brody [21:48:50]

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5. The Acting Process and Emotional Depth

Adrien shares his method of deeply immersing himself into his roles, often experiencing significant emotional and physical changes. He reflects on his Oscar-winning role in The Pianist, where he endured an eating disorder and severe depression to authentically portray Lazlo, a Holocaust survivor.

Notable Quote:

“I was pretty much clinically depressed for a year after making that [The Pianist].”
— Adrien Brody [37:16:45]

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6. Challenges in the Acting Industry

The conversation touches on Adrien’s frustration with the industry’s tendency to typecast actors. He advocates for being seen as a protagonist rather than being pigeonholed as a character actor, emphasizing the importance of bringing unique sensibilities to every role.

Notable Quote:

“The protagonist should not be homogenous. They should be as interesting as the nemesis.”
— Adrien Brody [71:18:30]

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7. Experiences with Renowned Directors

Adrien recounts his experiences working with iconic directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Spike Lee, and Wes Anderson. He highlights the collaborative nature of these projects and the invaluable lessons learned from such creative environments.

Notable Quote:

“Working with Wes is a privilege. His sets are fantastic, and his movies are unique.”
— Adrien Brody [66:40:15]

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8. Balancing Multiple Creative Outlets

Adrien discusses his passion for painting, describing it as a solitary yet fulfilling endeavor that complements his acting career. He explains how painting provides creative autonomy and serves as a personal outlet amidst the collaborative demands of filmmaking.

Notable Quote:

“Painting quenches the creative yearnings and gives me creative autonomy.”
— Adrien Brody [76:48:20]

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9. Reflections on Success and Personal Growth

Adrien reflects on the impact of winning an Oscar, expressing mixed feelings of gratitude and discomfort with sudden fame. He emphasizes personal growth and the importance of maintaining authenticity despite external recognition.

Notable Quote:

“I rigidly adhered to not changing in the wrong ways, partially because all this attention felt incongruous.”
— Adrien Brody [69:10:27]

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10. The Making and Reception of The Brutalist

Adrien shares anecdotes about the film's premiere in Venice, including a humorous interaction where the audience was asked to leave during a prolonged standing ovation. He praises the film’s reception and encourages listeners to watch it in theaters.

Notable Quote:

“The Brutalist is now playing in theaters. It’s a special movie, a big movie.”
— Adrien Brody [34:21:38]

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Conclusion

Marc Maron wraps up the episode by reiterating Adrien Brody’s impressive career and the significance of The Brutalist. He highlights the depth and honesty of their conversation, encouraging listeners to engage with Adrien’s latest work.

Notable Quote:

“Adrien and I are talking one on one alone in this space that was once a garage built in 1957.”
— Marc Maron [20:20:00]

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Additional Resources:

• Watch The Brutalist: Now playing in theaters. Experience Adrien Brody’s compelling performance in this epic film.
• WTF+ Subscription: Access full archives and weekly bonus material at WTF Plus.

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Notable Advertisements Skipped:

• Peloton fitness classes
• BetterHelp therapy services
• Cozy furniture upgrades

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This episode offers a profound exploration of Adrien Brody’s dedication to his craft, the intersection of his personal history with his professional work, and the enduring challenges faced by artists in today’s cultural landscape. Whether you’re an avid fan or new to Adrien’s work, this conversation provides valuable insights into the life of a true artist.

Transcript

[Marc Maron]

Life is busy, people. And if you're like me, no matter how busy you get, you've got to get your fitness in. Peloton has a variety of challenging classes and programs that fit into your schedule. Whether you're a new parent or traveling for the holiday or training for something big or just busy like everyone else. From four week strength building classes to running, cycling, and everything in between, Peloton can adapt to any goal and need during your busiest times. Find your push, find your power with [e-mail] Lock the gate. All right, let's do this. How are you? What the. What the Buddies? What the Nicks? What's happening? I'm Mark Marin. This is my podcast. Wtf? One of the originals, audio only. All interviews done in person, one on one, no one else in the studio. We're analog, baby. This is old school. Yeah, that's the way we do it and we always have done it. I don't know, man. You know, I guess the trend is to build a TV studio and have several people in there operating things, making sure that people are situated properly and they have to make sure that they look all right. And I think it's kind of a deterrent to a type of intimate conversation. But, you know, what do I know other than this is what we do. This is the organic audio only. Picture it, feel it, just take it in like that. You can kind of do other things and just sort of focus on the voice. There is something about it. There is something about the nature of audio that is very intimate. And it's one of the reasons why we still do it this way. And for those of you who don't know, I am in my home in my sort of converted garage, the new one, not the original one, riding my own faders here. No one else in the studio with me, surrounded by these sound panels that some kid made me. Few pictures, few guitars, some leftover bits and pieces from the original. The original garage, which was cluttered with all kinds of shit and it's just one on one here. I don't know. For me, it's very engaging and sort of honest for me in terms of how we go about doing things with this show. And today I talked to Adrien Brody. He came over. It's a very odd thing, the way people come over here and it always has been. I mean, now everyone's very adept to the podcast landscape and everybody kind of has a podcast, but there is still something interesting and disarming and I think genuine about coming over to A guy's house, seeing where he lives, using the bathroom over here in the garage, Maybe having me make you a cup of tea or something. It's still a very kind of personal environment. But Adrian came over. He's actually the youngest person to win the Oscar for Best actor back in 2003 for his performance in the Pianist. He's been in movies like King Kong, Midnight in Paris, and five Wes Anderson films, as well as a television series like Succession, Peaky Blinders and Winning Time. He's now in the new epic the Brutalist, which is out now. Pretty stunning movie. A pretty kind of confounding premise and scope of a movie. I. I mean, the thing I had no idea came out of nowhere. You know, hopefully I'm going to get to talk to that director. I like talking to directors. I had Mike Lee in here a few days ago. You'll hear that on Thursday. Mike Lee, truly one of the greatest directors. Totally unique in his process and what he's able to capture and what he's able to get out of actors and in the collaborations that he makes. There's a real honesty to it and a real pathos and a real comedy to it. Yeah, I guess I'll talk more about him on Thursday. But geez, what an amazing honor it is to speak to actual true artists. You know, there is still a world for that. There is still a significance to doing fearless art. And it's a shame that the. The work of true artists is largely underappreciated. And it really packs the big. The biggest sort of wallop in terms of connecting to your humanity, in terms of being challenged in a way that's provocative and accepting that challenge. I think we're entering a time and we're kind of living in a time where the thrust of culture is about ridding the culture of people that the dominant culture feels make them uncomfortable or are challenged by their presence or their life or their being or their personal expression, because it interrupts the mediocrity of what is ascendant. It's not a great time, difficult time for artists in terms of, you know, finding the courage and also delivering their art in a pure way that they want. Want it to be taken in and then to have it confronted or wrestled with. And on that note, someone I knew not well, a kind of singular guy and. And I believe a real artist, he'd been on the show and. And we had had lunch a couple times. Jeff Baena has passed away. He died by suicide. He was a film director and a thinker. He's married to Aubrey Plaza and it's a devastating, sad event. I didn't know him well, but I was very impressed with him and I had a couple of nice conversations with him. I enjoyed his movies and we had lunch, I can't remember when it was. And he knew my partner who passed away, Lynn Shelton. And he brought me a book. I didn't get to it, but he brought me a book called the Work of Mourning by Jacques Derrida. And it seems to be essays about friends and acquaintances and people that had impact on Derrida and his process of grieving them. And I, I, I just, it was a little dense for me at the time, but I've sort of been re engaging with dense material and in, in light of the tragedy that's happened in relation to Jeff, I, I, I'm going to take a look at this book. But, but you know, my heart goes out to the people in his life. It's very difficult, it's very difficult, confounding in some ways to people about that. And I don't know, you know, as somebody who is overly sensitive, you know, built a bit self centered, who lives his life in a creative pursuit and a pursuit for something new and, you know, original and trying to generate things and reflect on life and culture in my chosen forms, you know, the weight can get pretty hard. The weight can get pretty heavy. I really don't know, you know, his situation other than it is now, tragic and sad. But there's a lot of people out there that, you know the weight of this stuff, it's very hard to compartmentalize. If you have some kind of inability to control your empathy or even if you're empathetic a bit, or even if you're sensitive and nervous and scared and, and you have a hard time compartmentalizing everything that's coming at you, it can get pretty bleak. And as somebody who has, you know, been through periods of suicidal ideation, you know, I used to do a joke about it which is, you know what I do, you know, it's important to know that there is help out there and there are people to talk to because many times the feelings that you're having will pass and you know, a bad day is a bad day, a bad hour is a bad hour. And sometimes, you know, depending on, you know, how isolated you are or in your feelings or in your life, you know, the inability to let those things pass and take tragic action is fairly common. But know that there are people that care about you and there are people that are willing to help you. And there are places you can go. I mean, you can just call 988. That is the suicide in crisis lifeline. I don't know, you know, I just find it's important to be honest with this stuff. I mean, you can be cynical about it, you can frame it however you want, but it's. It's nothing trivial. Whether it's depression or, or, or just you've had enough. I, I don't know, but I know it's. It's common. And as things become more frightening and people become more isolated, that this is. It's going to increase. And I know that a lot of times I get emails from people who, you know, who get some comfort from me talking about this stuff publicly. But know this. You are not alone. And I guess this is as good a time as any to say that. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. What do you want your 2025 story to be? There are a lot of things that are out of our hands, but there's plenty you can do to be the author of your own life. And you don't have to write the story alone. A therapist can be like a good editor. You write the story, and your therapist helps you make connections and refinements so you can get from one chapter to another. Right now, it feels like I might have some writer's block when it comes to my story. Or in the real world, we call it burnout. It's probably a good time for me to hit up a therapist so I can work on removing some of the things that are keeping me so jammed up. And if you need that kind of attention from a therapist, BetterHelp is a great place to start. It's fully online, affordable, and convenient. More than 5 million people worldwide have been able to take advantage of the benefits of therapy. Through BetterHelp, you get access to a diverse network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties. And it's easy to switch therapists anytime at no extra cost. Write your story with better help. Visit betterhelp.com WTF to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E L p.com WTF yeah, I do believe I am in some sort of burnout. I do believe that, you know, I've hit a wall. I have a lot of work to do. I have many jobs of my own choosing, which is good. But I'm not one of these people that ever really acknowledges or acknowledged or even understood what burnout is. But apparently it's a real thing. And you, you know, you can't just snap out of it. You know, I've been going pretty hard for a lot of years in a lot of different ways. And, you know, on top of the way my brain works anyways, it's a. It's a little difficult. And in the face of what we're heading into culturally and politically, it's a little difficult. And. And I'm old. I'm an old man. So on top of just the regular kind of challenges of doing what I do in the many areas that I do it in, there is this feeling of, like, not being able to keep up. And then there's the feeling of, like, why would I want to? And then there's a feeling of what would I do? And then there's a feeling of like, well, maybe I should just exercise more. Maybe I should eat something. Maybe I should, you know, do more nicotine. Like, at some point something's got to give, but that's a choice one has to make. I mean, Jesus Christ. I. I'll be honest with you. You know, my brain is overloaded for a lot of different reasons. I hit. I hit two parked cars the other day. I'm not proud. And it wasn't like, I wasn't texting, I wasn't driving. I was parking my car and I hit two parked cars. I mean, gee. And there was this moment where it's this parking lot that's always a problem. It's at my gym. And the spaces, they're like an illusion. They're not quite big enough for regular sized cars. And it's always a hassle. The lines aren't set right, the spaces in between the cars aren't set right. And I want to park as close to the door of the gym in the enclosed lot as possible. It's just the nature of my brain. So I'm trying to get into this space and I kind of swing into it and I bump the car to my right in the space to the right of the space I'm trying to take. But it wasn't just a bump, it was a crunch. And I'm like, oh, fuck. And I. This car, I mean, I've had it a long time, but I would say that I hit the curb turning into my driveway. 80% of the time. I just don't have. I don't quite navigate this car properly. I don't know why. It's just a 2019 Avalon. It's not difficult, but it's just the nature of it. And it's always been that way. I've scraped up cars before like this, but I bought this car, and it's hard, and I know it's not nothing, so I back up, and I try to, you know, re. Angle and drive into the space again. And as I'm driving in, you know, I'm looking to the right to make that spot, and then to the left, you know, there's a car right there who. Someone has just parked. And I just see my. My rearview mirror kind of drag, you know, gently across a bit of the surface of that car next to me, leaving a mark. And so that's two. That's two down. And then I back out, and then the woman who's. Who's in that car, who was just parked it, gets out, and for a minute there, I think she's the parking lot attendant coming to monitor the situation. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I know. I got to leave a note or whatever. And then I realized, oh, it's a woman in that car who's. My. My rear view has just scuffed her paint job a bit. And then I tried to pull into that space again. I'm like a idiot. The stubbornness involved that I'm like, and what is wrong with my brain? And I back out, and she's like, well, you can just turn your hazards on and give me your insurance. I'm like, for. You know, for that. There's barely anything there, but fine. I said, oh, I'm just going to park over there. She goes, I don't think you're going to get into this spot. And I'm like, yeah, that's clear. Thank you. And then I drove it around. I parked across from where we were, and she wanted my insurance, so I gave it to her. And then, you know, I looked at the other car that I hid, and it was. It wasn't dented, but it was scuffed pretty bad. And I thought, well, the right thing to do here is leave a note. So I left a note, and that guy got back to me in a couple hours. It was his wife's car. And I told him, look, you know, I could just pay for the damages if you figure out what they are. If you want to go through insurance, we can do that, whatever you want to do. And then I went to my guy to see the damage on my car. My bumper just cracked right off, just about. And you know what that says about my car? I don't know. But, you know, the whole undertaking of having my head up my ass. It's going to cost me like, you know, two, three grand. Point being, where the was my brain? You know, granted I didn't sleep well that night. I was going to the gym. But this thing about burnout or about kind of, you know, losing control of your sense of sort of space and time and self because you've got so much overloaded in your brain is a real thing. And now I'm gonna, you know, it's gonna cost me a bumper. And apparently I've got, you know, pretty good bumpers in place in terms of plowing through life. But man, I, I just, it was one of those moments where like this is a relative bottom in terms of hitting one in relation to being a little bit detached from being, you know, overwhelmed or, or just, you know, having your brain on fire. So I gotta, I gotta deal with that and I gotta get my bumper fixed. A lot of New Year's resolutions are about self care or self improvement. But what about where you live? How about some care and improvement for your living space? You can get a perfect furniture upgrade with our new sponsor, Cozy. Cozy brings adaptable, high quality furniture to everyday living spaces. They have modular sofas and sectionals, stylish and innovative storage units, customizable tables, washable rugs, and much more. And with their focus on customization and versatile designs, co Cozy furniture will evolve and grow with you. And don't worry about the size of your place. Whether you're in a house, an apartment, a loft, whatever. Cozy ships in easy to cart boxes that can be delivered to wherever you live. Plus, you get your stuff in two to five days. It's easy to assemble so you can quickly start the new year off with a refreshed living space. And also, shipping is free. So not only will you get your furniture fast, it won't have some giant marks markup that you weren't expecting. Give yourself some new style and comfort for 2025. Transform your living space today with cozy. Visit cozy.com that's C O Z E Y dot com to start customizing your furniture. Did I mention my tour dates? Yeah, I got a lot of dates coming up. You can go to wtfpod.com tour I'm going to be in Fort Collins, Colorado on the 17th of January. In Boulder, Boulder on the 18th of January. I'll be in Santa Barbara on January 30th, San Luis Obispo on the 31st of January, Monterey, California on February 1st. Then I've got gigs in Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, Illinois, Michigan. Go to wtfpod.com tour for all of my dates and links to tickets. So this movie that Adrien Brody is in, that we talk about, among other things in his life, the Brutalist, is definitely worth seeing. It's a special movie. It's a big movie. It has an epic feel. It was shot in a big format on film, and it's a very surprising and powerful film. And I'm a fan of Adrian's. I'm happy he came by. The Brutalist is now playing in theaters. And this is Adrian and I talking one on one alone in this space that was once a garage that was built in 1957. The house is older, but anyways, this is me talking to Adrian Brody.

[Adrien Brody]

This looks like. I don't know if you've seen my movie clean, but this looks like. This looks like my spot. But it's inspired by me, but it looks like Cleen's little workshop thing.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. Cause these look like shotgun shells almost. And I always got red and some earplugs in the knife. And the WD40. Yeah, I mean, but he was like. He was like. He could make improvised weaponry. And this looks like a little bit of a setup. Like you could turn this into a ye.

[Marc Maron]

I'm not quite doing that.

[Adrien Brody]

I know. I appreciate that you're not, but.

[Marc Maron]

Well, when you do something like that, do you.

[Adrien Brody]

You do a ton of research on it?

[Marc Maron]

Is that what you do?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. So, like, I made up all kinds of wonderful. I'm not wonderful, but pretty intense weaponry.

[Marc Maron]

Did you. Did you actually make some weapons before you did the thing? Did you any. Any functional weapons that you did that you made?

[Adrien Brody]

I don't want to incriminate myself.

[Marc Maron]

No, it's not a. I'm not insinuating that you. You have them.

[Adrien Brody]

I don't have them any longer, but I've made things. Yeah. When I was a kid, I learned how to. I taught myself how to make.

[Marc Maron]

A lot of this stuff is just remnants from the old studio, which was a very sort of deeply cluttered garage that was basically the history of my life. So there was stuff everywhere.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it's my life. I relate to this. My house is very much like.

[Marc Maron]

Well, that now it's upstairs in the office room, what was in the old garage. But I can't let go. What do you keep? Mostly books?

[Adrien Brody]

No, I have an art studio. And so I paint a lot and do a lot of quite layered textural work. So I accumulate a lot of materials, found materials and inspiration that sometimes never even Gets used and lots of paper bags and. Sure, it looks pretty intense.

[Marc Maron]

When you say layered, are we talking.

[Adrien Brody]

Like, schnabbling a bit more? Yeah, I mean, very lived in. Not quite. Like plates. No, not plates. They're amazing. I love the plates, but not layered.

[Marc Maron]

They are amazing.

[Adrien Brody]

Not layered in the sense that although they're quite strategically layered, they're not evident as such. They feel like they're very lived in. So while I'll be working on canvas, I don't want it to really look like it's a canvas. I want it to look like it's something right off the street.

[Marc Maron]

Right. So. So do you, like, kind of like paint the bags and stuff into the surface?

[Adrien Brody]

Paint bags. Draw on them. Do separate works on them Sometimes. Do. Do, you know, do add materials to.

[Marc Maron]

The surface, like some early Jasper Johnsy kind of shit?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so some of that Rauschenberg kind of layering, they're very. And. And more Rauschenberg. More Rauschenberg. And, you know, Basquiat's a big influence as well, you know. Did you know that written text? I didn't. My mother photographed him.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And she has this wonderful photograph of him in his studio. My studio. I shared a. I was roommates with an artist friend of mine for years on. On Great Jones, which was the block that that Basquiat studio was. We were just down the street by the Bowery.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah, by Jones.

[Adrien Brody]

That's where it was.

[Marc Maron]

Those are good.

[Adrien Brody]

Was. It was so great. I had a studio there on the Bowery as well, which I ended up becoming really good friends with a wonderful artist, Alfredo Martinez Good, who's a New York artist who. Who actually ironically forged Basquiats and sold them as Basquiats and ended up being incarcerated and served quite a bit of time in Rikers Ford and suffered immensely. I mean, he. He went on a hunger strike. And did he make it through? He did. He's not around now, unfortunately. He had a bunch of complications. But he, by the way, is another inspiration. This all comes full circle because he was a master at weaponry and obsessed with weaponry. Guns, machine guns. He used to have, way back in the day, a studio in soho. And in the basement, it was some. Some wealthy. I. I don't remember the whole story, but I think some wealthy patrons set up. But he had converted this lower level in the basement to a shooting range. Everybody would go down there. I'm sure they were all pretty lit. Yeah. And then just go Shooting machine guns.

[Marc Maron]

Reminds me of.

[Adrien Brody]

Alfredo is an amazing Guy and a wonderful artist. I have a bunch of his work.

[Marc Maron]

And I wonder what made him. I guess it was just money to decide to get into the forgery racket.

[Adrien Brody]

I think he was broke. Yeah, it was. I mean everything comes down to that ultimately, especially for artists. I mean he, he. He wasn't selling his works for nearly that kind of. So. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Desperate. And. And he was very talented.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Well, guns on the Lower east side. I think that Burroughs was down there with the shotguns and hands.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, he was exactly. I remember. Yeah, I remember.

[Marc Maron]

Do you like.

[Adrien Brody]

But you're very inspired by him. When I was. When I was younger.

[Marc Maron]

Oh yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Which.

[Marc Maron]

Like one.

[Adrien Brody]

You know what, you know what it is because it kind of resurfaced. But I had this. An lp. I had a record with Laurie Anderson.

[Marc Maron]

And John Giorno on it.

[Adrien Brody]

Maybe. I don't remember. I was very young. It was early days in LA of him reading. Of him reading. Yeah, you know that one.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Adrien Brody]

I love it. I don't know where it is, but. Yeah. And I loved. I would listen to it again and again and I loved it sound. The way he talking about whatever.

[Marc Maron]

And they were like comedy bits.

[Adrien Brody]

They were. I don't remember him being that humorous. I remember finding him. You know. I did a beatnik, A beat era movie. I. Which one I played a. It was called the Last Time I Committed Suicide was actually with Keanu Reeves.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And Tom Jane.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And Claire Fani. And it was. It was a very interesting movie. And I played a character that was kind of loosely based on.

[Marc Maron]

On Burroughs?

[Adrien Brody]

No, on Ginsburg. Yeah. Keanu was based on Kerouac and I guess. Oh, Tom played a Neil Cassidy esque character. They were all kind of fictional characters.

[Marc Maron]

The romantic hero of all of them. Well, yeah. But you know those Burrows. I think it's either they Call Me Burroughs is one record and then there's a triple record with him. Lori Anderson and John Giorno and they each have a. A record of their own in this three album set. But yeah, he just. It was his voice that blew me away too.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Because. But I saw I. I grew to realize that they were kind of bits like he. Like you know, that whole Dr. Benway business with, you know, get me a new scalp.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, for sure. He was aware of what he was doing.

[Marc Maron]

But.

[Adrien Brody]

But he. But he.

[Marc Maron]

Menacing.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But like let's talk about this new movie first. Which I don't usually do.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Because I think it could probably get us other places.

[Adrien Brody]

Sure.

[Marc Maron]

In that. I don't know that I'VE seen a movie like it in a long time, if ever. But when I talk about it, I seem to only be able to compare it to There Will Be Blood.

[Adrien Brody]

That's, I mean, that in and of itself is such an epic compliment.

[Marc Maron]

But it's an epic movie.

[Adrien Brody]

And it's an epic movie. But I, I, I do see those parallels as well. Right, Absolutely.

[Marc Maron]

About, you know, sort of power.

[Adrien Brody]

Yep, yep. And the greed and corruption of that. And how. Yeah. It's the dream of overcoming this and then ownership. Ownership and dominating him. He's very similar in a way. He turns into Van Buren in a lot of ways.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

I thought that cinematically, too. And the music feels very, kind of very emotionally evocative and then jarring and very much a character.

[Marc Maron]

There's such a space. There's something. It takes some, like, I don't know where this guy came from, this director, but, you know, and I know he hasn't done a ton, but to have the confidence to create that kind of cinematic space is just this rare thing, man.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And when you were. And going into that, I mean, did you know that he was capable of doing that?

[Adrien Brody]

I had a lot of faith in Brady. Yeah. Brady Courbet is the filmmaker and he had done two films prior. One was Vox Lux, which is a very cool movie. And Childhood of a Leader, which is also very, very interesting film. And you can tell in his earlier work, which, you know, as an actor, you can definitely tell that you're in the hands of someone who's going to give you space to do interesting choices and that has a style and an understanding of film.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

So I felt very confident that. And he'd also co written the Brutalist, the screenplay to his wife.

[Marc Maron]

Where does that even come from?

[Adrien Brody]

I mean, he, no, he wanted. They found the idea of writing a film, making a film about an architect and architecture very interesting in particular because there aren't many films of that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Because, like, you don't think, like, man, this is gonna be, this is gonna be riveting. You don't think an architect.

[Adrien Brody]

Right. But he's. I think there's something. Yeah, I think.

[Marc Maron]

No, this is.

[Adrien Brody]

That the film is completely epic. I'm blown away by it. But I do think he knows how to delve into. I think he understands the psychology of all of this very well. Also being an artist, being striving and the hardships of being a filmmaker in this business and being an auteur filmmaker, and the obstacles and the complexities of having a benefactor, having to be, you Know, raise money to do the work. And then everything you want to do and desire to do cannot be compromised if you have a vision. But ultimately.

[Marc Maron]

So that's how it's personal.

[Adrien Brody]

I think that's very personal to him.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, but it's very interesting what it speaks to in terms of class, in terms of the immigrant experience. The immigrant experience how, you know, and the arts in general. But also antisemitism.

[Adrien Brody]

That's right.

[Marc Maron]

You know, how the WASPy aristocracy saw the bohemian sort of. And the envy there. I mean, like. And it unfolds very slowly.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. The cachet and kind of bartering on the. The artistic contributions of immigrants, yet never really including them or making them. Even if they do assimilate, they're never treated as equals.

[Marc Maron]

Never. Yeah, I mean, like, I read a biography of Rothko once and it was crazy what those guys would do to pass. But, you know, they, you know, when he was at wherever it was, Yale, I think. Yeah. They, they weren't even letting Jews in. Really.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And, but, but, but they're like. I think there's some sort of parallel between like his life. I mean, Rothko's like the best, right?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Marc Maron]

But when you're preparing for this role, I mean, what are you doing? Like, you know, because you were a research guy and I, like, I didn't realize. I thought the guy was a real guy. But it must be based somewhat on the idea, because modernism in and of itself. And then at the very end, when you kind of, you know, there's an award presented to you or a tribute, you know, the interpretation of why the. Your character created those spaces and the way he, you know, he doesn't. You see him as an immigrant, not necessarily as a survivor, but it seems that in his family the Holocaust looms large.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, yeah, right. Yeah. It is not just physical surviving, but his tenacity to just pursue this goal and life's work to leave behind something of great meaning. And that, that the influence. And this was a theme that. And Brady speaks about this quite a bit about how post war psychology has deeply influenced post war architecture. And brutalism in particular is quite an antithesis of the eras prior and resulted. Many of them were of Jewish descent and also came as the result of cities having been bombed out through World War II. London, parts of London were massively rebuilt with government sanctioned works and Czech Republic and et cetera.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, it just unfolds, you know, so there's a slowness to it which just builds the intensity. It was a difference Between a slowness where you're like, oh, fuck, when's this going to end? And a slowness that somehow resolves itself and maintains the tension. And then it all builds, you know, to, you know, I don't want to. There's no way to spoil the movie, but there are parts of the movie that are profoundly surprising in, you know, in a violent way that, that I found that to be insanely jarring.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. I think it's intentional. I mean, I did, too, but you.

[Marc Maron]

Don'T see it coming. But, you know, you, because usually you don't. But metaphorically, that, that, you know, that serves. It is for, to, to sort of illustrate the dynamic between classes and wealth and judgment.

[Adrien Brody]

Sure.

[Marc Maron]

And that guy's own repression, of course. Oh, man.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it's.

[Marc Maron]

And I, I didn't, I didn't feel the time go by and, you know.

[Adrien Brody]

That'S, that's, that's great.

[Marc Maron]

And it was about right for the intermission. You got to pee. Yeah. Yeah, it worked out.

[Adrien Brody]

Pee or think or do both. But it's nice to have a moment. It's nice to have a, have a chapter close.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Adrien Brody]

And give you a little bit of time. And then.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Comes a new face. It's really, I think it's a wonderful. I, I hope people take advantage of that and, like, try and see it on 70 millimeter in a theater.

[Marc Maron]

I did. I saw this, the Vista.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, that's great.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, that's great. I regret not watching that screening. I, I, I, Yeah, I, I didn't realize how, first of all, that theater is beautiful, but I just should have.

[Marc Maron]

I've become a big fan of the imax. I, I hope they give people an opportunity to go to imax, because they will. Because, like, that's really, you know, IMAX as a device. I don't, I don't. Whatever the technology, it doesn't matter to me. But that, to me, when you go to an iMax, it feels like the movies we saw when we were kids when. One movie, when it was one screen.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

At one theater. Yeah. And you go in and you're like.

[Adrien Brody]

Also, you were a kid. So everything was.

[Marc Maron]

I knew that.

[Adrien Brody]

Right. Yeah. Just that I remember those days, too. It did feel like imax. You watch an action film in, like.

[Marc Maron]

Did your folks ever take you to Radio City?

[Adrien Brody]

I don't know. I think, yes, I have been, but I don't have.

[Marc Maron]

That's why I'm pretty epic.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I felt the first time when my grandmother took me, like, we're going To Radio City. And to see a movie that large.

[Adrien Brody]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

It was crazy.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. I would just go sit in the front row with my homie, my little homeboy friends, and we cut school and sit literally in the front row. Which gave you that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That. That effect.

[Adrien Brody]

Poor man's IMAX perspective. Because you just be right there in the front where it's just. Your whole peripheral vision is screen. It's wonderful. So.

[Marc Maron]

But this is like the second way. How many roles have you done that were kind of Holocaust adjacent?

[Adrien Brody]

Well, one was not adjacent. One was. One was the Pianist. The Pianist, yeah. One was. I mean, that is a very different film. I do, in retrospect, feel that the work that I had done to prepare for that character, all the research, all the actual shifts and body weight and learning and the sacrifice to understand that time in history and the sense of loss of so many individuals of that time in history definitely gave me great insight into what Lazlo is leaving behind and having the character.

[Marc Maron]

Has he lived it?

[Adrien Brody]

He lives it in a way. And it's all the past. And now this movie is this coming to America, immigrant struggle, the clash between the American dream and what the reality is of that and drug addiction. And drug addiction. So it's a very. It's a much more contemporary film.

[Marc Maron]

But you had that. You had that.

[Adrien Brody]

But I had all of that to draw from. I found that invaluable. Honestly. It was so helpful when you did.

[Marc Maron]

That movie, though, like. Because I've been trying to talk about. Well, I do jokes, but the capacity to even widen your sense of empathy to a place where it's big enough to really take in what fucking went on during that time. It's almost disabling.

[Adrien Brody]

I was pretty much clinically depressed for a year after making that. Yeah. I had an eating disorder. I was.

[Marc Maron]

I. I mean, once you lost the.

[Adrien Brody]

Weight, you're like, well, I was starving all the time. Yeah, I was insatiable.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

I really, you know, I. Oh, so you.

[Marc Maron]

You wanted to eat constantly.

[Adrien Brody]

I was. Yeah. I was eating even on the shoot, which they wanted me to gain the weight back rapidly because we shot in reverse chronology so I could lose it all before we started.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Adrien Brody]

And then kind of at one period, gained quite a bit back, so. But I was. I was. I was starving.

[Marc Maron]

I was. It's interesting, the range of Jews you've played, like, because I forgot, like, I was going through this stuff and I remember watching.

[Adrien Brody]

Played a lot of other characters, too.

[Marc Maron]

No, but like. But very specific, like Leonard Chess.

[Adrien Brody]

That's Right. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, because I. I watched that movie. I remember that movie because I'm a big fan of that period. And, you know, that's.

[Adrien Brody]

You know, I forgot he was Jewish, to be honest. You know. Well, I'm not. No, I know. No, I got you. But it's interesting, but.

[Marc Maron]

And Houdini, too.

[Adrien Brody]

That's right.

[Marc Maron]

You know, but. But both. All these characters come from a sort of similar Jewish experience, right?

[Adrien Brody]

That's right. Well. And, you know, many Jews have come from similar Jewish experience, but you had.

[Marc Maron]

The opportunity to time travel. We don't all get to do that. I mean, generationally speaking, you were like either immigrant or just post immigrant, but you're not fully Jewish.

[Adrien Brody]

You know, the other connection that's wonderful on the Brutalist is that my mother is a Hungarian artist immigrant. And my mother and my grandparents, her parents, they fled through Vienna under a bed of corn, on the back of a cart or a truck. And at that time, it was already a bit late. A lot of people had fled already and they were keyed into it. And they were shooting. They had to wait till there wasn't a full moon, I believe, so there was too much light. And they were shooting flares at the border to illuminate the sky, to shoot people crossing the border. And then she didn't get passage to the US for another two years. She was 13.

[Marc Maron]

Wow.

[Adrien Brody]

She had to leave her friends and does she, like.

[Marc Maron]

Does she have. What's the trauma impact?

[Adrien Brody]

I mean, I think it's. I think it's quite substantial. I mean, I think it shaped her very much. In some ways, very moving ways. In some ways it's shaped me and my. My yearning to represent characters who are outsiders and. And whose circumstances are much harder than not only my own, but most of our own. My mother has become a very beloved photographer. The Museum of Modern Arts acquired her work. She's studied by photographers, and she used to work for the Village Voice for many years, but she is. Numerous books and really, she's a. A beacon of inspiration for me, honestly, and has directly led me down a path to discovering acting and being comfortable in front of a camera. Being the subject of.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Adrien Brody]

My mother's lens the whole life. And it was a very safe place. Yeah. I'm really so grateful for.

[Marc Maron]

And.

[Adrien Brody]

And her. And I think it shaped her. You know, if you look at her imagery, it's quite haunting. And does she do that full sensitive.

[Marc Maron]

Full spectrum of stuff?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, I mean, it's very hard to describe. It's largely black and white, but Wonderful portraiture. But really, she's captured New York and the New York of my youth, the 70s, the New York that. Yeah. That inspired filmmakers like Scorsese and, you know, Coppola.

[Marc Maron]

Broken New York.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. Broken gritty. Well, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Like. Like where was. Anything was possible.

[Adrien Brody]

Nostalgic. Yeah. It was very rough and dangerous. I'm very happy to be out of that time. And the trains were really.

[Marc Maron]

And all those, like. But, like. But down where you had your studio, that was like, up for grabs. I mean, all those people that bought those buildings back then.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, man.

[Marc Maron]

Who still live in them.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

The artist.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. Well, we didn't have the resources for it, but they. They. I wish my mom had gotten an amazing studio.

[Marc Maron]

Did you. Did you live in.

[Adrien Brody]

We lived in Queens. Yeah. We lived in Queensland.

[Marc Maron]

What part of Queens?

[Adrien Brody]

In Woodhaven.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. I was in Astoria for a few years. Yeah. I like Queens.

[Adrien Brody]

Nice. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You're a little out of it.

[Adrien Brody]

It's a real.

[Marc Maron]

Close enough.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it's a little. Yeah, it's. But it's. It's a real melting pot. Queens. Queens still retains that New York.

[Marc Maron]

Does it?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it. It hasn't shifted. It's changed, but it hasn't shifted. Like, areas of Brooklyn have become unrecognizable.

[Marc Maron]

I never thought Queens would do that. Like, even. Even.

[Adrien Brody]

It's the final. It's the final frontier.

[Marc Maron]

I think it's weird.

[Adrien Brody]

Maybe Staten island, but, I mean, that's going to be.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, well, gentrify Staten island. But they wouldn't let it.

[Adrien Brody]

Queens hasn't quite.

[Marc Maron]

When I was in Astoria, I was amazed. I mean, block to block, it was like, where am I? And I would get off the train at 2 in the morning. There'd be whole family shopping for vegetables. I'm like, are there no rules about putting kids to bed in other countries? No. No, there aren't.

[Adrien Brody]

Probably work nights and.

[Marc Maron]

I don't know.

[Adrien Brody]

I don't know.

[Marc Maron]

But it was always, like. It was always sort of kind of electric with a lot of international energy, which I found to be pretty great.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And it's not real.

[Adrien Brody]

People really, like, real real in the sense that they're. They're good, good working people that contribute to the city to contribute to the.

[Marc Maron]

The real immigrant. Immigrant experience.

[Adrien Brody]

And that's. I relate to it. There were all these Italian kids I grew up around. Like, everybody, you know, was trying to be. Some were affiliated, but they were all acting like they were. It's like everybody's seen every Scorsese movie. I grew up in.

[Marc Maron]

It's like they all themselves after.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. And.

[Marc Maron]

And, you know, it was like, I watched that documentary on. On David Chase and the Sopranos when they were trying to do. They did an open casting call, you know, for one of the parts. I can't remember which one. And every Italian guy in the fucking New York area. Oh, yeah, came in and they were all real guys.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. No, they are. Yeah, they are.

[Marc Maron]

So how did. Was your father artist, too?

[Adrien Brody]

My dad is actually an incredible artist. He taught public school. Like, we didn't have any. We didn't have the means for anyone to indulge in just being an artist. My mom. My mom, fortunately, built a career as a photographer. But she went. Yeah, a photographer, right.

[Marc Maron]

But, I mean, she was not just.

[Adrien Brody]

Journalism, but she was able to work art. She's an artist. Yes, exactly. But she was able to have a staff position and work. But, you know, she received a Guggenheim fellowship very young. That was the only way they could even afford the down payment on the house. Like, they had not. They had nothing.

[Marc Maron]

And what does her work tell you in terms of, you know, what you were talking of earlier in the tone of it, that there was something haunting or something.

[Adrien Brody]

Well, it's. She has this enormous capacity for. She has tremendous empathy and she has this wonderful sense of humor. And I. For these incongruous things that are. That speak to the complexity of life or something incredibly dangerous is happening, there'll be another element in the frame that shows something that's the antithesis of that, that's, you know, wonderful. Or she, you know, she has just very dreamlike images, but they are very much her language and they are her vision. And I grew up steeped in those imagery liter. You know, negatives hanging in the shower, film canisters in the tub, rinsing the chemicals, the smell of the fixative and all those chemicals in the darkroom. And old record racks filled with sheet after sheet of 8 by 10 test prints. And I'd be crawling around looking at all these images my whole life and going on assignment with her. And it was really wonderful. Really, really special.

[Marc Maron]

It also teaches you that there is a way to have an understanding of photography as an art form in that, not unlike an auteur director, that there is so much more to it. If you have the eye and you have the depth and you have the impulses to generate a point of view. Yes, because anybody. It was always sort of the argument of photography. Once they introduced the. The Brownie camera, it's like, well, if everyone can do It.

[Adrien Brody]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

How do we establish it as an art form?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. That's what's happened now with the, with the phone. With the phone and, and technology to improve upon and the. Just the data that's on. On an image that you can.

[Marc Maron]

But when it.

[Adrien Brody]

Infinitely.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. But when, When a real photographer shoots a shot.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, there's a singleness.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. What was, what was that wonderful war photographer who, who made movies? Spielberg, actually. I can't believe. I can't think.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it's all right. Yeah, it happens. It's gonna happen more.

[Adrien Brody]

I know. I just finished doing a play, doing eight shows a week in London, dude. And I didn't know if I would be able to. To retain. And I. I can do a, you know, 14 page scene. I didn't know I'd do an hour and 45 minutes every night without going up on my lines.

[Marc Maron]

And you did. All right.

[Adrien Brody]

I did. I didn't, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't fall once more. I mean, I spun a couple around here and there, but. But they were all good saves and they were really. It was really quite a lot of pressure.

[Marc Maron]

Have you done a lot of theater?

[Adrien Brody]

I did when I was young. I did quite a bit early on, and then I hadn't. I hadn't done. I hadn't been on the stage since I was a teenager.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, wow.

[Adrien Brody]

It was really something. I actually, I play a man who's incarcerated for 22 years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. It's a true story, right? And as he meets this abolitionist, this woman who is working with an abolitionist group, she comes in and he's asking her if she's a lawyer, and she says that she's a poet. And he found that amusing and disheartening. They're not gonna get here exonerated. And he had a line about, yeah, I like Charles Bukowski as much as the next guy. And I couldn't remember it for a second. And the fact that I hadn't remembered it just before that, six seconds before I had to go on it, locked it in that I didn't know it. And I went on there and I flipped the line around that one day and I was like, yeah, I like poets as much as the next guy.

[Marc Maron]

But yeah, man, I couldn't do it.

[Adrien Brody]

But I couldn't get in. And it didn't come back until I got out of the. Off the stage. I was like, oh, man.

[Marc Maron]

Wild.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You just locked it in that you.

[Adrien Brody]

Weren'T Gonna get it? Yeah, because I panicked. I felt it shut the do. It was awful.

[Marc Maron]

So you said your mom got you into acting?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, she had an assignment to photograph the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. And while she was there, they had a program, a youth program. And she saw all these kids doing what I do every day. And I was always. I'd come home. I'd come home from the train and encounter something. I'd reenact it, tell some story, had some problem with this guy. And I was always. Every guy I had beef with, you know, it was like. It was something. I tell the story pretty animatedly.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And I think most kids do, but there was something that she. She keyed into that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And thank goodness, honestly, because I just loved it.

[Marc Maron]

And when did you really start it?

[Adrien Brody]

I. Well, this was. This was around 11 or 12 that I started taking some classes. And then a friend of hers is a photographer, and his wife was an actress, and that's the only actor I think we knew. And she was kind enough to get me an audition for the children's department at her agency, and I went with a monologue audition. And then I. They wanted to represent me, and I went out and I booked some work. I did a. I got a. My dad took me. I waited around the. Around the block on this long open call, literally around this factory building block. I remember it. Standing on the street for a day player role with Coppola on New York Stories.

[Marc Maron]

I saw that. Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

I mean, yeah. It was a long time ago. And I booked it, and so I worked with Francis. That was, I think, my first gig. I thought I'd turn this off. It's on. Silence. Got a problem on my phone. I have no idea who that is, but they keep calling. It's an unknown, but I bet it's not spam.

[Marc Maron]

You don't know.

[Adrien Brody]

I don't know who it is, but I've seen that number enough, and I don't pick it up. I don't know who it is.

[Marc Maron]

I don't. I don't pick up those usually, unless they're local. Because then I'm like, what's going on near me?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

No, but if it's a private number, then it's fine.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, I got this. There's a. There's a reggae song I like, and the guy's like, gangster. No answer, no unknown number. And I'm always like. Every time I see it, I'm like, yep, you never know.

[Marc Maron]

Pick it up.

[Adrien Brody]

Never know.

[Marc Maron]

So you worked with Coppola? You were 12.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, yeah, it was amazing.

[Marc Maron]

Do you remember him?

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, I do, yeah, I do. And you know, I'm friends with Roman Coppola, his son, and also with his nephew and with his nephew and yeah. And I've been friendly with Nick Cage, but I loved that. It was memorable. He poured a bottle of cheap cologne all over me because the girls in the scene had to react to my character coming into this kind of party scene. And I joke because it was like he forced me to like do some like method acting like for them. So the girls weren't having to act. They could just literally smell me waft across.

[Marc Maron]

So they didn't know it was coming.

[Adrien Brody]

They knew it. I think they knew it. But I, he was, that he had the understanding that that can only help.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And he didn't give a shit if it humiliated me as a, you know, 12 year old boy walking into a bunch of girls smelling like, you know. Yeah, bollock perfume broke on me.

[Marc Maron]

Do you find that the impact of the directors you've worked with has changed the, the way you approach things? I mean.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, absolutely. Like every time my whole understanding of, of, of film and, and acting and hopefully if I ever direct, I've, I have so much, so much that I've learned from Masters.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, well, I mean, what you got?

[Adrien Brody]

Polanski, Malik, Spike, Barry Levinson, Ken Loach. Oh, yeah, yeah. Many, many, many really amazing film.

[Marc Maron]

What was it like to be on that set of that Malik movie? That was crazy.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it was crazy. It was, it was, I learned a lot. Yeah, a lot. Yeah, it was, it was a 22 week war movie with a, just the boot camp alone. We did, you know, seven, eight nights in the jungle eating nothing but MREs.

[Marc Maron]

Oh yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And was that too much though? I, I, no, that wasn't, I mean it was, it didn't have a wonderful end to it all, but I did have an amazingly enrich, enriching life experience. And I loved the guys and I got to make friends with all these wonderful movie stars and they were good to me. And you know, I thought Sean Penn, you know, had a real pivotal role in the movie and I, I thought, oh, he's gonna really be a hard ass with me. You know, I'm new guy. New guy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

The military advisors who they had for the boot camp did, did do a number on me just because they, they thought it would be helpful, I think. So they ostracized me and played all these mind games and I, I did it. I ate all of it. I knew I knew it was coming. I knew it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And all these, like, Australian extra. They put me in. They took me out from the group of the core actors that I was with, and they put me in with these Australian extras, and then they ostracized me and I slept in a tent alone with poisonous funnel webs and just did it. Did it all. Did it, did it.

[Marc Maron]

And it helped your people put your weapon.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. I mean, you wouldn't know it because I'm not in the movie at the end of the day, but, yeah, it did help my.

[Marc Maron]

You didn't get any screen time?

[Adrien Brody]

Not. Not much. Not compared to what it was. I mean, I was playing the. I was playing James Jones's Persona, the author of the novel, and then they just made a different movie in the end. Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

That. See that. Like, I don't.

[Adrien Brody]

That doesn't happen too often. It does happen. It does happen if you work with him, but it does. It doesn't happen too often.

[Marc Maron]

Well, he doesn't work that much, so.

[Adrien Brody]

But I think it did happen with other. I think it happened with Mickey Rourke. Came down to Guadalcanal and shot for three weeks and he's not in the Solomon Islands. He doesn't even appear.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I don't know how you guys handle that, because I, you know, I'm doing some acting and, like, you know, I don't. I have no idea. You have no idea? I mean, I know I just did a lead in an indie, but I know I'll be in that one. But I don't. You don't know.

[Adrien Brody]

I was a lead. I was the lead of a major movie, you know, for Fox, and I wasn't in it. Come on. Yeah, it was based on. Yeah, it was based on. It was. It was based on James Jones, you know, the novel. The second epic novel after From Here to Eternity that won Montgomery Clifton Academy Award and Sinatra. I don't know if they won, but they were. These were epic. Epic.

[Marc Maron]

And you just.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it's all right. It's old news.

[Marc Maron]

It's all news. But, like, going forward, I mean, it's valuable.

[Adrien Brody]

It's good. Sure. It made me understand the. It made me understand a lot of things. First of all.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Don't believe. Don't believe anything you read.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Because I was already in print as the lead of this, but it made me understand. I felt I really related with. As I played a soldier in the movie who's struggling with his own sense of inadequacy or witnessing other young men having more Courage and the trauma of war, again in a very different context. But the psychological impact of all of that, of witnessing, you know, your friend getting blown up and feeling guilty from being discharged and all these wonderful things, kind of survivor's guilt even for a soldier to get out and really feeling like he's leaving his men behind and desperate to get out earlier and the whole shift and none of that's, you know, in the final product, but it is very much a big part of Jones's novel and what I portrayed and I. In the fact that I was cut out of this movie and it wasn't something anyone could really understand or know the circumstances or know what I'd given for six months of dedication and the biggest coup I've ever had in my life for the most meaningful thing that I've devoted my time to. It was. It was pretty harrowing and publicly humiliating. And I felt, wow, this gives me just a little bit of insight into what it must be like for these poor guys who come home giving everything, you know, for our country or for what they've. Handling the responsibility they've been given.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Adrien Brody]

And then they come back and, you know, they have to act like everything is normal. They have to re. Acclimate, go to a. Go to their work, get another job, deal with the kids, find, you know, and no one could quite understand that sense of loss or struggle or ptsd. And that's a very real thing for so many people. And So I was 23 at the time and it gave me that, gave me that. And I cherished that quality about being an actor. And over. Over most other things, of course, we. We all want a career and we all want to be respected for our work and.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Be able to earn a living doing what we do and. But that's the. That's the crux of the journey. That's the contact that we're all trying to make. To walk away from it with a sense of understanding, to open others hearts and minds, to perhaps being more understanding or more aware of their own complexity and maybe a bit more. And that's what this movie's about. I mean, really for me to think of how disadvantaged so many people are just by being foreign, English being a second language. I remember my grandfather, he was so smart and cool and handsome and charismatic and he could hardly get work because he sounded so. His English was poor and he sounded like Laszlo. I built that character around the sounds I remember of him from my youth.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And I remember how hard it was on him to pick up again. And try and support my. My. My grandmother and my mother.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And how hard that was, how financially they were so strapped because of these obstacles.

[Marc Maron]

But also that's like the way you're describing the actor's job. That there are people that approach it as a job and are okay at it and good enough to work. But the difference between a guy who's doing a job and an artist is relative towards. To your personal pursuit of the truth of a character. So it seems like your experience, that's the essential part of your approach to acting is to put this thing into a context of a real person and feel the feelings that are that guy's personal truth. And then you come out of that exhausted or changed forever. But I do think it's a choice to approach the job of acting like that.

[Adrien Brody]

It's a joy. It's a privilege. First of all, if you can. It's taken. I have lots of. I've done so many very meaningful and interesting projects. But even that. Even when we talk about Thin Red Line. But those are epic things to experience, especially as a very young man, like, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

All of those were big lessons. And by the way, I often refer to that understanding of loss from my own personal loss in my career at that time and the potential risks and the pressures I was under. That gave me also insight into. Into not taking things for granted and an understanding of loss that paved the way for the groundwork I began doing in the research for the Pianist. Because I wouldn't have been the same person had. You know, getting that movie was like getting Titanic. It was a big, big come up and then it wasn't. Anyhow, we don't need to harp on. How long is that? Half my life ago. It's over half. It's half my.

[Marc Maron]

No, but it had. It had a hell of an impact. And then you go on to work with Spike in the next movie. Yeah, that was the whole.

[Adrien Brody]

Partially. Partially I think I got. Because I was going to be the lead of the Thin Red Line and there was a lot of hype.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But then. But then you're in New York. You would Spike.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You're doing like.

[Adrien Brody]

Must have been like very exciting. Yeah, yeah, it was very exciting.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Although it was a character, I never. Nothing about punk culture, which was amazing to research. You know, my character was a punk rocker.

[Marc Maron]

And you had a guy dig into that.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it was great fun. New York at that time. We did a show at CBGB's.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, you did?

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, I had a blast. That was so Fun.

[Marc Maron]

That's exciting.

[Adrien Brody]

It was really very exciting. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But it all kind of like. But over the cause, you know, I have to assume. Like, was there a point. Cause, like, I feel like I don't see you. Like, this movie is the first time I've seen this in succession. But before that, I mean, like, was there a point where you had enough of it?

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, yeah, definitely. I think a lot of people have. I mean, we can all relate, if we're going to be honest. We. Sure. I also have been doing this my entire life, and I have my own expectations and criteria.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And what are that? Cannot. Well, you have to give everything you can give to any role. I think as an actor. I mean, you, you, you know, you have to be willing to put all that you have. You know, it was wonderful doing this play. And right before we'd go on, one of the. They were wonderful actors. My. The. The whole group of guys and they're. My. My fellow performers on. On the play were really wonderful, wonderful people and very talented. And Michael Fox, one of the actors would. Would always say, leave it all on the stage.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And I do that in. In. In every movie I do. And in some movies, it's less apparent or less a.

[Marc Maron]

It.

[Adrien Brody]

It's not held up in the same way that Brady presented the opportunity for me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And the breadth of the character and the. The humanity is. Is apparent. We chronicle 30 years of his life, and I have a lot to offer, and it is to offer. It's not just for me to, you know, I don't choose work for any other reason than I think I have something to give.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And I have something on that journey would be very enlightening in some respect or has some social relevance or has. You know, it could be just comedic and fun and whatever. But I have something to give. I won't take it just because, hey, that's a great job. I, you know, I'm very fortunate and I'm. I'm fortunate. I've been working long enough that I don't have to do that. But I, I. Anyhow, so I.

[Marc Maron]

So that's.

[Adrien Brody]

I had not found something like this in just so long.

[Marc Maron]

What, since like the Pianist?

[Adrien Brody]

I would say, on this level. Yes. Yeah. For sure.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And that's not a lack of interest on my part.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Adrien Brody]

And it's not a lack of interest on other people's parts. It's just the nature of things. And even this movie had several iterations. It was possibly going to be with another cast. It took Brady seven years from its inception. I read this five and a half years ago. It's just not easy to get there. And then when you get there, it is. It is very meaningful.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And these kind. Well, it's not like these movies are made that often.

[Adrien Brody]

Right, right, right. No, they're not. And that's part of Brady's struggle and part of the storytelling of the film about the quest of an artist and this relationship.

[Marc Maron]

But you do choose to do, like. You like to work with Wes.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, well, Wes is, first of all, he's a genius and he's very fun to work with. And. Yeah, and those sets are fantastic. And. And, you know, especially that in reflecting upon Darjeeling Limited, which was the first film that I had done with Wes and talking with Jason about it, you know, we traveled all through India together. We worked on a moving train. We shot four or five hours each way on a train on an active train track. If you didn't get to the track by, whatever, 5, 36 in the morning, you missed the set. I mean, it was a very exciting.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Life experience. And. And all of his movies are quite unique. And I'm grateful for him to have given me so much love and. And the ability to do all these comedic roles.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Quite fun. Even if they're villainous or. Or even emotional. I mean, I think. I think Darjeeling Limited is quite an emotional film, but it's hilarious and a lot of broad comedy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but he's just. In terms of what makes a difference on a set, to be working with him versus somebody where there's more pressure or more ego.

[Adrien Brody]

There is a lot of pressure with Les. There is pressure. And everybody knows their responsibilities because just the precision. They're quite elaborate, choreographed, moving, master shots. It's a big responsibility. It is. And there is a certain style and tone which everyone knows they have to live within the same universe that he's created. And there's a specificity and there's pressure to remain honest and find things and do something extremely precise at pace. But it's a fun challenge, and he does it very, very well. And beautiful and unique. So unique to him. But he also surrounds himself with wonderfully creative people like Francis Ford Coppola showing up. You come home from set and Francis is there at the dinner table with Wes. Yeah. Waiting about to have dinner. But we're there because Roman Coppola is a frequent co writer and collaborator with Wes, and he'd be on set and, you know, Bryan Cranston and Scarlett Johansson on the other side, on the Meteor movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just on any of them. Asteroid City. Meteor movie. Yeah. And yeah, just.

[Marc Maron]

That was a really funny movie.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, it was cool. Really fun.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

I played a play, a played director.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. It was interesting because it seemed like the movie was originally about the actors theater in a way. And then it may be. It kind of gets. It's a. It's an interesting movie for him, I thought.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So when you, like, how did the winning an Oscar affect your whole sense of self? Did it make a big difference? Because that's like the Pianist.

[Adrien Brody]

It's a big question. I mean, I. I think growing up in Queensland, it was very important to me not to change in the wrong ways.

[Marc Maron]

You were aware of that.

[Adrien Brody]

I rigidly adhered to that partially because all of a sudden all this attention and praise and access to things felt very incongruous and I didn't recognize it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And so it didn't feel. I don't know, didn't feel accessible or deserved or authentic. There was something that I didn't trust about it, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Whether people newly discovered me and loved me or were moved by me, it was a bit too much to take because I had spent 17 years kicking around as a working actor and I was still pretty young and it was diff. It was vastly different. And. But it's given me great joy and perspective and access to a lot of wonderful opportunities and roles and I've worked with. I've met so many amazing creative people as a result of that that I never, ever would have met.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Adrien Brody]

So I'm very grateful. My goodness.

[Marc Maron]

Do you consider yourself a character actor?

[Adrien Brody]

I don't know what that means.

[Marc Maron]

Me neither.

[Adrien Brody]

You know what that means? I feel like there's a. I'm an actor, and my responsibility is to bring a unique sensibility to all the roles that I play. And I feel that to call someone a character actor somehow diminishes their value or potential as a movie star, as the protagonist, because the character actor is not the protagonist. And I feel the protagonist should be very much a character and definitely as interesting and as much of a character as the nemesis. So it.

[Marc Maron]

I've always been. I. I feel like I have, like they. They hold equal spaces for me.

[Adrien Brody]

Well, that's good. Sure. But you don't get hired, you know. You know, so tell me a name of some, Some. Some people or an actor or two that you think are great character actors. Like what. What comes to mind?

[Marc Maron]

Ned Beatty.

[Adrien Brody]

Okay. Wonderful.

[Marc Maron]

Harry Dean.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. Okay.

[Marc Maron]

Like, I can picture many in My head.

[Adrien Brody]

Is Gary Oldman a character actor now?

[Marc Maron]

It becomes a little different. You know, like, it's an interesting thing because some people get more interesting as they get older because the roles are different. I mean, I saw De Niro do a little part in that movie. Ezra and De Niro in a supporting role is the best fucking thing in the world. Because that's really what you're talking about, I think, generally when you talk about characters.

[Adrien Brody]

But is, is, is.

[Marc Maron]

I'm not taking it.

[Adrien Brody]

No, no, no, no, I know, I know. I'm saying, but is De Niro in Godfather Part 2 not a character?

[Marc Maron]

No, no, no.

[Adrien Brody]

Isn't that like a character?

[Marc Maron]

I guess what the difference is.

[Adrien Brody]

But there is something about. You say Ned Beatty, you know, how often has Ned Beatty had his opportunity.

[Marc Maron]

To really shine, like in every movie?

[Adrien Brody]

I'm not saying I didn't quite complete the thought. No, it's no problem. I'm just saying he does shine, but to shine with the level of the space, to be honored as a protagonist and it's less so.

[Marc Maron]

So you're saying that the.

[Adrien Brody]

And I don't like to. Nobody should be relegated to a position because they're interesting looking, feeling, giving, you know, the lead should not be homogenous. Homogenized. Right, right. And that's all I'm saying.

[Marc Maron]

So you're saying that I don't. The classification of.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, don't you pigeonhole me.

[Marc Maron]

Right. You got a movie star and then you got the funny looking guy.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. Or, or. Well, you went, you went pretty far with it. But, but the, the, the movie star cannot. He has to carry the movie.

[Marc Maron]

Yes. Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

That's the definition.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Adrien Brody]

Does that individual man or woman.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Carry the film?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And are you committed and invested in that individual's journey?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Then that person is the movie star.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Adrien Brody]

And the business will come up with a lot of terminology other than that. But that's the movie star for sure.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I mean, I get, I think it is sort of, now that we've talked about a dated classification, but I, but I always say it with reverence. I, I never. I know you.

[Adrien Brody]

I know you do. I, I just, when you asked me a question.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And I thought that's something you've thought about. That's the answer. Oh, yeah, of course. Well, because I, I get offered many interesting parts because I, I can come in and, and bring that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

But I, and I'm very experimental in my work and very open hearted in my work. I don't need to be the movie star.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Adrien Brody]

And I never have acted that way.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

But I. I sure would not relinquish my yearnings as an actor and an artist to have access to the roles that should not be precluded because of an idea of what a style or a kind of work that I am capable of doing.

[Marc Maron]

Right, Right.

[Adrien Brody]

I get it. That's the way the definition of that or the way I would quantify why that's a.

[Marc Maron]

Is this a source of frustration?

[Adrien Brody]

Is it.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, in your career?

[Adrien Brody]

Is it.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, is it something that.

[Adrien Brody]

It's a part of the. It's a part of the journey. Look, we. There's in excess of 100,000 talented people in the union alone that are desperate to have opportunity. So.

[Marc Maron]

Big number.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah. Yeah. And there's a lot of hardship, a lot of sacrifice.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Adrien Brody]

So for me to sit here and talk about my frustrations isn't important.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And. Or relevant. I've been kicking around a long time. I paid a lot of dues and I don't really have to prove much to myself. And I'm so grateful that I've earned that. And so whether others see me clearly or not isn't as frustrating as it used to be. But it was a source of frustration because look how long it's taken even to get this role. And this role is remarkable.

[Marc Maron]

Totally.

[Adrien Brody]

But you know, it's not like. And it's not like the role that might be written for what you might think is a blonde haired, blue eyed superhero might come my way as easily either.

[Marc Maron]

Right, Right.

[Adrien Brody]

And I'm not frustrated by that. But it is something to consider.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

That's all.

[Marc Maron]

That's the nature of the business.

[Adrien Brody]

Exactly.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Adrien Brody]

Exactly.

[Marc Maron]

So do you find that when you paint, which seems to be something you put a lot of time into as.

[Adrien Brody]

As it quenches the thirst, it quenches the creative. Creative yearnings and it gives me creative autonomy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

In a. In a. Which is very nurturing. Because the only way an actor gets opportunity is through collaborative work.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

You know, and unless you're creating that, you're really reliant upon the material and others to employ you and also bring something incredibly special to get out of the sea of content that we are inundated with. And so it's a different path, but it is. It is access from the same. Well. And I feel very content immersing myself in any real creative endeavor.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And whether it's solitary or in a team sport like making a movie or.

[Marc Maron]

A play, I have to assume that like with the painting like the, the just the groove of it is completely dictated by you and your impulses and your vision as it evolves and it, you know, you could do a little today.

[Adrien Brody]

Exactly. I was gonna say what you're prepared to give.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Is. Yeah. You open that tap.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

When you're prepared for it or when it calls. You don't have that luxury as an actor. You can be dealing with some pretty heavy. And you've got to be really funny at 6:45am yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, not so much with a canvas.

[Adrien Brody]

My humor might not be a very funny painting that day. It may not even be a painting that day.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I thought, I like all your work, but, but this movie was, was great and it's fresh.

[Adrien Brody]

This is. Thank you. Yeah. This is, I'm, I mean, this is, this is special. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm in awe of the movie and the, the response and.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I got to see it again.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, man, me too.

[Marc Maron]

Because I, I love it.

[Adrien Brody]

I love it that much. And I don't say that too often. Not that I, I am self critical, but I don't go, oh, I really would love to see my movies, the movies I'm in often.

[Marc Maron]

But do you see, you see all your movies?

[Adrien Brody]

I've seen everything that I've done. Yeah. Pretty much.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And I've never seen my work in Thin Red Line. It was never, it was never offered to me to see. I actually was thinking about it yesterday because unfortunately someone asked me about it as well. But I, I thought how interesting it would be to see footage. Footage from that. Because we shot a whole movie.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And what are the possibilities of that happening?

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, no.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Wow. That's kind of a weird mystery because you wouldn't believe how many actors I talked to that don't watch their stuff.

[Adrien Brody]

I, I've spoken to actors who say that I find it really interesting. And what do you recall? What do they. Why, why wouldn't they want to at least see it? To understand or learn from.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I mean, you gotta learn from it.

[Adrien Brody]

It's like I don't want to look at the monitor unless I really distrust something. I don't want to see the monitor because I have a vision of how I feel.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And how I feel I look as the character. I don't want to go see something.

[Marc Maron]

That will take away from, yeah, it.

[Adrien Brody]

Looks like me or. Oh, I didn't think I carried that quality in this moment. And I don't want to become self conscious. But after the fact you owe it to yourself to process the good and the bad. Yeah, I would think so somewhat objectively.

[Marc Maron]

I just think maybe because of the notion that you don't really know how, how it's going to cut together or you don't really. But to me, it's like the question is, is the work enough to. Where whatever it becomes doesn't necessarily matter.

[Adrien Brody]

No, it's not. I mean, sorry, for me, I mean, I can only speak from my own personal taste and experience. I mean, the work, the experience is enough, yeah, for a personal growth for sure, but it's not enough to navigate without perspective, I feel.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, I see.

[Adrien Brody]

Right. It's not, it's not to go. And sure, it's lovely if people really respond to your movie, but I am actually very introverted. After seeing a movie. I don't really like to get up and I wouldn't like. I have a q and A to go to later, but I don't like getting up and speaking or even seeing the movie at a premiere and then speaking to everybody in an after party. I'm much too sensitive because each finite moment of that film, each scene, each certain things, they all stem from a ton of personal discomfort, usually.

[Marc Maron]

So you're reliving the trauma.

[Adrien Brody]

Reliving. Yeah, you are reliving the pain it took to expose that vulnerability or expose the horrors that you had to feel. So you're not just objectively witnessing a scene. You're. You know what you went through and you know what you studied and you know, what you tapped into in the recesses of your heart and soul and mind to get there and that comes flooding back. And then the lights come up and you have to like go to dinner with your agents or you gotta chat with the producer and then some. Lovely. And you're dis person that. And you're there shell shocked. And they're, they don't think you're very grateful.

[Marc Maron]

That's interesting. So maybe that's why some people, like just show up for the q and A. Oh, yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

I, I don't, I don't, I don't really enjoy. I like. Venice was remarkable. We had. The film premiered in Venice. The Brutalist premiered in Venice and had a wonderful ovation. And it seems everybody. Yeah, sure.

[Marc Maron]

Like no one knew what was coming.

[Adrien Brody]

They didn't know. They didn't know it was coming. Yeah, they, they ushered us out. You know, it's so funny because someone just brought up. Oh, you got a 12 minute standing ovation. I think whatever it may have been a little Longer, whatever. But they made us leave because it was such a long movie and that they had some other bigger movie stars in with another movie right after us. And the typical thing at those, especially Venice, is they count the minutes as some kind of bragging. Right. For the director and the film. They actually had us leave as they were applauding like, it wasn't like people stopped and.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

Moved on. He just asked us to get out. I thought I was laughing.

[Marc Maron]

So they lowballed it with 12.

[Adrien Brody]

They lowballed us.

[Marc Maron]

It's funny.

[Adrien Brody]

It was really funny.

[Marc Maron]

Well, great work, man. Good talking to you.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, I appreciate it. This was fun.

[Marc Maron]

There you go. It's quite a. Quite a career that guy has had. Seems a little. A little. Still a little miffed about the Thin Red Line situation and Terence Malik, but. But that guy works, and he's good. So go see the Brutalist. It's now playing in theaters. Hang out for a minute, folks. A year ago this week, we had our 1500th episode of WTF, and I had one of the best conversations of the year with Paul Giamatti. The thing about those books is, like, oh, look at these books. Oh, and I'll underline, dude. Oh, I'll underline, sure. But, like. But I retain nothing. Nothing. And it's almost like just having the thing itself. I'm somehow gonna absorb something from it. Well, that's what I realized, is that when you're reading it, it feels like you're thinking it. Yes, that's true. And then it's over. Not totally. Then it's gone. It's gone. It's gone. And I have that. I have a ton of science books, physics, and all the quantum shit. But I understand. And I try and talk about a bookmark at about 10 pages in, and I'm done. You try with physics? Oh, I try with all kinds of science. I remember when I was younger, when Chaos theory was. Yes, exactly, exactly, exactly. All of that kind of shit. You got to get that.

[Adrien Brody]

Love it.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, this is fascinating. And I get the gist of it, and that's sort of good enough. Yeah. But I have the gist of a lot of things. Yeah. And just so you can. When people bring it up, you can at least nod in agreement without lying knowing that you read it, but you can't really engage in the whole conversation. Yeah. Yeah, that's really interesting. You can listen to that episode for free in whatever podcast app or platform you're using to get all episodes of WTF ad free. The new ones and the archive ones. Sign up for WTF plus Go to the link in the episode description or head over to wtfpod.com and click on WTF Plus. And a reminder before we go. This podcast is hosted by acast. Here's some of the guitar that I do Boomer Lives Monkey and La Fonda Cat Angels everywhere.