Yahoo Lifestyle Director Brady Corbet Says He Made 'Zero Money' From Oscar-Nominated 'Brutalist'
Brady Corbet says his Oscar-nominated film has earned him absolutely nothing.
While “The Brutalist” is critically acclaimed and earned 10 Academy Award nominations last month, including best director and screenplay nods for Corbet, he told Marc Maron on the “WTF” podcast Monday that he hasn’t seen a penny from the buzzed-about drama.
“I just directed three advertisements in Portugal,” he said. “It’s the first time that I had made any money, really, in years, because both my partner and I made zero dollars on the last two films that we made. … So we just had to live off of a paycheck from three years ago.”
Corbet’s previous film, “Vox Lux” (2018), which also was cowritten by his wife and creative partner, Mona Fastvold, was a critical misfire. “The Brutalist,” about a Hungarian immigrant fleeing Europe after World War II, earned actor Adrien Brody his first Oscar nod since 2002.
Corbet told Maron that despite the accolades, “having to travel every two or three days” as part of an awards push has been “less than ideal” — as he said he isn’t getting paid to do so. The filmmaker further noted that he isn’t the only one to live paycheck to paycheck.
“I’ve spoken to many filmmakers that have films that are nominated this year that can’t pay their rent,” Corbet said. “I mean, that’s a real thing. You’re not paid to be promoting a film, and if you look at certain films that premiered in Cannes, that was almost a year ago.”
“I’ve been doing this for six months and had zero income, because I don’t have any time to work — I can’t even take a writing job at the moment,” he explained, adding that the “constant travel” has him doing press rounds “seven days a week.”
Corbet went on to note that James Mangold, whose acclaimed Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown” — which stars Timothée Chalamet in the lead and earned eight Oscar nominations — has been in a similar situation during this year’s campaign for recognition.
“It’s constant travel, but you’re also working Saturdays and Sundays,” he told Maron. “Like, I haven’t had a day off since the Christmas break, and that was also only four days. I talked to Mangold the other day, and he had just gotten in, he was in Tokyo the night before.”
Corbet likened the past half-year to “a six-month interrogation” of interviews.
He previously worked as an actor, starting out on “The King of Queens” TV series and performing in Oscar-nominated films such as “Force Majeure” (2014) before setting out to make his own.
Whether he and his wife take home their first Oscar will be seen on March 2.
