- Brady Corbet has shed light on the financial realities of film making
- The film has been nominated for numerous Oscars
- He said he made more money from working on ads
The Brutalist’s director Brady Corbet has said he’s not made any money from his Oscar-nominated film.
Although the film’s been one of the major successes of awards season, Corbet revealed on a podcast that it hasn’t translated into a large pay cheque.
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On the latest episode of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Corbet claimed that The Brutalist made him and his wife and creative partner Mona Fastvold “zero dollars”. The same was true of his 2018 film Vox Lux. He added that he’s recently “directed three advertisements in Portugal” which was “the first time that I had made any money in years.”
Maron asked if he was just speaking figuratively, but Corbet wasn’t. “Actually, zero. We had to just sort of live off of a paycheck from three years ago,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to many filmmakers… that can’t pay their rent”
Corbet’s not alone – he’s in the same position as many directors struggling to make a living from their work.
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“I’ve spoken to many filmmakers that have the films that are nominated this year that can’t pay their rent. I mean, that’s a real thing,” he added.
“Besides directing a film for months, directors are also expected to participate in the film festivals and awards circuit even if they’re “not paid to be promoting”, said Corbet. “If you look at certain films that premiered in Cannes, that was almost a year ago… I mean, our film premiered in September. So I’ve been doing this for six months. And had zero income because I don’t have any time to go to work. I can’t even take a writing job at the moment.”
How many awards has The Brutalist picked up in award season?
The film has been nominated for 10 Oscars. Among those awards, it’s up for Best Picture, Best Director, while Adrien Brody has a chance of winning Best Actor.
Earlier in award season, it won big at the Golden Globes. It took home Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director for Brady Corbet and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for Adrien Brody.
The Brutalist also did well at the BAFTAs at the weekend. Adrien Brody picked up the award for Best Actor, Corbet won Best Director and it also won Best Cinematography.
