Read the screenplay by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series, which highlights storylines from awards season’s highest-profile films, continues with Brady Corbet’s. The Brutalistthe A24 epic which won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival and became a favorite for the Best Picture Oscar on Sunday by winning Best Director, Best Actor – Drama for star Adrien Brody and Best Film – Drama at the Golden Awards. Globes.

Corbet’s post-World War II drama, co-written with his partner Mona Fastvold, delves into the story of László Tóth (Brody), a visionary Hungarian Jewish architect. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to the United States to start a new life while awaiting the arrival of his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), stuck in Eastern Europe with their niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy). after the war. The film also stars Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin and Emma Laird, with Isaach de Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola.

Following its world premiere in Venice, A24 acquired the rights to the picture and released it on December 20, garnering several awards and nominations along the way, including nine Critics Choice Award nominations, Best Picture and Best Actor for Brody at the New York Film Critics Circle and a Top 10 film at the AFI Awards.

Corbet and Fastvold’s 168-page screenplay (film length is 3 hours and 35 minutes) immerses us in rural post-war Pennsylvania, a world of blue-blooded elites. Set against the backdrop of the emerging Brutalist architectural movement, Brody’s performance captures the character’s inner turmoil as he grapples with the challenges of starting over in a foreign land. The film offers a moving exploration of the immigrant experience of settling in an unfamiliar country.

Spanning three decades, the storyline follows Tóths after László’s trip to America. The American dream turns sour when he meets and accepts the patronage of wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pierce), in exchange for building a memorial to Van Buren’s late mother on the oligarch’s vast estate. in Pennsylvania. Throughout the film, this monument becomes a testament to Tóth’s genius, his struggles during the war, and the epic battle he wages against the capitalist Van Buren to achieve it.

“It examines how the immigrant experience mirrors the artistic experience in the sense that every time one does something bold, daring or new – like the institute that László builds during the film – they’re usually criticized for that,” says Corbet, who spent seven years making the film. “And then, over time, they get recognized and celebrated for it.”

Fastvold adds: “We loved the partnership, friendship and love story that developed between László and Erzsébet as we wrote the script. These were the first sparks and ideas that became The Brutalist.”

Read their script here: