How the British fashion designer brought troubled Hollywood star Adrien Brody back from the brink of Oscar glory
When Adrien Brody became the youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor at the age of 29, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars was supposed to be born.
But a series of controversies — including an unexpected landing on guest presenter Halle Berry when she handed him a 2003 pianist’s gong — brought his career to a halt.
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In fact, about a decade ago, it became so difficult to land the right role that the 51-year-old American – whose successful films include The Grand Budapest Hotel and Peter Jackson’s King Kong – gave up acting to become an artist.
Now in a relationship with Harvey Weinstein’s ex-wife, British businesswoman Georgina Chapman, Adrian is the favorite to take home his second Oscar, for the three-and-a-half-hour epic The Brutalist.
He credits meeting 48-year-old fashion designer Georgina – a rising star whose fans include Jennifer Lopez and Kate Middleton – in 2019 for helping get him back on track.
Earlier this month, Adrian picked up a Golden Globe for The Brutalist, and said in his acceptance speech: “To my beautiful and amazing partner, Georgina.
“Your generosity of spirit, your resilience, and your immense creativity are a daily reminder of who you are meant to be.
“I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you if it weren’t for you.
“There was a time not long ago when I felt like this moment might never be given to me again, so thank you.”
It was undoubtedly an emotional moment, not only for Adrian, but also for Georgina, who was facing personal turmoil when they met.
Her world came crashing down in October 2017 when her then-husband, 72-year-old film producer Weinstein, was accused of rape and sexual assault.
Georgina, who has two children with a Hollywood heavyweight, announced she was divorcing him shortly after various allegations were made by more than 100 women.
Thus ending their ten-year marriage.
She said at the time: “My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions.”
In The Brutalist, which opens in theaters on Friday, Adrian plays a Holocaust survivor, just as he did in the award-winning The Pianist.
But this time it is a fictional story that focuses more on the aftermath of World War II.
It also didn’t require the immersive acting style of his previous similar role, which left Adrian with PTSD.
The star revealed that losing 30 pounds and giving up everything – including living with his then-girlfriend – for his stunning 2002 performance in The Pianist left him depressed.
“There were physiological repercussions of this starvation regime that lingered and were very difficult to counter,” he said.
“I gave up where I lived. I didn’t live with my girlfriend anymore. I sold my car. Everything was in storage.
“I didn’t even have a phone number. I really went to a lot of extremes at that time.
“I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year. Then I got depressed for a year.”
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It could have been too much, too soon for Adrian, when his Oscar win left him in a state of confusion.
He got on stage at the awards show, grabbed Halle, gave her a long, sexy kiss, then joked: “I bet they didn’t tell you that was in the goodie bag.”
It sparked laughter at the time, but Adrian has since been criticized for not getting the actress’ approval.
A few months later, his lack of judgment led to him wearing a braided wig on Saturday Night Live while hosting reggae star Sean Paul.
Adrian recently admitted that he “wasn’t asked to respond” and that the series’ creator, Lorne Michaels, “wasn’t happy with my cameo.”
That same year, he befriended music mogul P Diddy, making rap tapes for him and partying on his yacht.
None of that seemed to have hurt his career at the time, as he landed the lead romantic role in the £500m blockbuster King Kong.
If a director wants an actor who will give his all, Adrian is the man.
He dined on ants and worms while making Wrecked, learned to ventriloquize for Dummy and joined a strike in preparation for Ken Loach’s Bread And Roses.
Off screen, he didn’t do things by half-assed either.
“It gave me satisfaction.”
When his then-girlfriend Elsa Pataky turned 31 in 2007, he ignored traditional romantic gifts like jewelry and flowers to buy her a 19th-century New York farmhouse, which he turned into a mock castle.
The actor said Hello! Magazine: “She blindfolded her.
“Right in the castle, there is a giant, beautiful church bell.
“And I said: When you hear the sound of the bell, you can open your eyes and you will see your amazement.”
Italian fashion legend Giorgio Armani helped with the design work, while Adrian did much of the renovation work himself.
Two years later, the couple split and the Spanish actress is now married to Thor star Chris Hemsworth.
Despite his preoccupation with acting, few of Adrian’s roles have received critical acclaim, with the exception of Wes Anderson’s 2014 comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel.
In an interview with the latest issue of Vogue, he said he put his acting career on pause shortly after that, adding: “To be honest, I just couldn’t find the material that spoke to me.
“Drawing has come back to life. It has given me fulfillment.”
Between 2017 and 2021, Adrian’s only acting job was as a Don Corleone-style mafia boss in the hit BBC series Peaky Blinders, before quietly disappearing under the radar.
But during this time he met London-born Georgina, who appears to have helped get his film career back on track.
The talented actress and designer, who founded the fashion brand Marchesa in 2004, is a rising star in her own field.
“How it works”
Celebrities from Helen Mirren to Rita Ora have shown off their dresses on the red carpet, while the Princess of Wales wore a dazzling pink gown from the brand during a state banquet with the royal family in Spain.
Following her divorce from Weinstein, Georgina gained primary custody of their 11-year-old son and teenage daughter.
These days, Adrian, who has never had children before, has become a big part of their lives.
They share a house in upstate New York, which includes two donkeys, three horses, four cats and a dog.
With a stable home life came a new break in Adrian’s career.
The Brutalist, which also stars British Rogue One actress Felicity Jones, was perfect for him in many ways.
The film tells the story of the Jewish architect Laszlo Toth, who fled Nazi persecution in his native Hungary. In the United States, he discovered the land of opportunity but not necessarily the land of tolerance.
It reflects the family experience of Adrian’s Jewish maternal grandmother, who escaped the clutches of fascists in Hungary during World War II and headed to New York.
“It’s unfortunately taken me decades to find something like this,” Adrian said of The Brutalist. “It’s ambitious.”
“But it also immediately tapped into my mother and grandparents’ struggle to come to America.
“Even though you have assimilated into American society and become American, you are still a foreigner.”
Adrian’s mother is award-winning photographer Sylvia Blatche, 81, and his father is Elliot Brodie, a retired history professor.
“A new lease on life”
Fortunately, his role in The Brutalist did not require Adrian to lose weight, as he did when he played a starving ghetto survivor in The Pianist.
But he had to learn the Hungarian language.
“We never left the character when doing these scenes,” Felicity said of the film.
“We completely immersed ourselves in those moments, and for the duration of the shoot, we truly became those people.”
Style acting does not necessarily mean staying in character.
It’s the idea of exploiting someone’s emotions – a technique that often left Adrien drained.
In recent years, the star seems to have found a new lease on life, moving away from Hollywood blockbusters.
He delighted fans of the HBO drama Succession with a brief appearance in 2021, playing a scheming billionaire.
Last year, he received five-star reviews for his “magical” stage debut in London in The Fear Of 13, in which he appeared as an innocent man wrongfully imprisoned for 22 years.
Perhaps that’s why his popular Instagram profile is now filled with gratitude and positivity, as he urges his 1.7 million followers to “illuminate the path to unity and fulfillment.”
For the next six weeks, Adrian’s life will be a whirlwind of award shows, with him being nominated for a BAFTA after taking home a Golden Globe. It all leads up to the Oscars on March 2.
If his name were drawn from the golden winner’s envelope, he would certainly stand out on the night.
Few comebacks in Hollywood will be as emotional as this one.
