The Brutalist took home one of the most prestigious awards of the night at the Golden Globes when it was honored with Best Picture in the Drama category on Sunday night. Filmmaker Brady Corbet, who also won Best Director earlier in the night, took the stage along with the movie's cast and producers to accept the award.
“I have to thank everyone up here who, over and over again, bet on this film that kept falling apart, and they stuck with it through thick and thin,” Corbet said. “I was told that this film was un-distributable. I was told that no one would come out and see it. I was told the film wouldn't work.”
The director continued. “And I don't resent that, but I want to use this as an opportunity to lift up filmmakers…Films don't exist without the filmmakers. Please, let's support them; let's prop them up. No one was asking for a three-and-a-half-hour film about a mid-century designer on 70 mm [film]. But it works.”
Corbet's The Brutalist has remained one of the most anticipated film releases since its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September. Rolling Stone declared the film an instant classic. Its star, Adrien Brody — who plays a Hungarian émigré and world-class architect — referred to it as an epic movie, the kind he grew up on in the Seventies that filmmakers seem to shy away from creating now. If those still awaiting a wide release of The Brutalist they weren't already eager to see the film, its Best Picture, Drama win at the 2025 Golden Globes should have them rushing to get to the theater.
The Brutalist was nominated against James Mangold's A Complete Unknown, Edward Berger's Conclave, Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part TwoRaMell Ross' Nickel Boysand Tim Fehlbaum's September 5. The film received seven additional nominations, including Best Director and Best Screenplay, with Mona Fastvold, and Best Performance nominations for Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce. It also received a nod for Best Score, helmeted by Daniel Blumberg.
Corbet spent nearly seven years shaping The Brutalist into the exact vision of a film that he imagined it to be with Fastvold. “When we wrote the screenplay, it was as much from a place of rage as it was from passion,” the director told Rolling Stone. “I mean, Mona has described the process as something close to an exorcism. We've had experiences where we've been exploited, and there's a real anger to it that's being channeled into this. I mean, there's an act of violence near the end…” Fastvold stepped in where Corbet trailed off, supplementing his remark about one of the film's most divisive scenes. “That moment was always in the script,” she said. “And it was cathartic to write it because it's so operational. But it had to be operational. It had to be horrific.”
