After the success of The Brutalist, viewers should turn to watch Adrien Brody’s performance in the movie that won him an Oscar more than two decades ago. Directed by Brady Corbet, The Brutalist is set in the United States just after the end of World War II, and depicts a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant, László Tóth, trying to establish a new life and career for himself and his family, after leaving Europe; upon meeting a mysterious industrialist, Tóth takes on a monumental project that changes his life forever. Alongside Adrien Brody, the cast of The Brutalist includes Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce.

The movie was released to high acclaim, with reviews of The Brutalist calling it a colossal historical drama headed by a powerful performance by Adrien Brody as László Tóth. It received ten Academy Award nominations and is one of the longest movies to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Among the many awards won by The Brutalist, Brody also received his second Oscar nomination for The Brutalist. This makes it the perfect time to watch the historical drama that earned him his first one, 23 years ago.

The Pianist Is Another Excellent Adrien Brody Epic Drama Like The Brutalist

The Pianist Is Based On The 1946 Memoir By Władysław Szpilman

In 2002, Adrien Brody starred in the war drama, The Pianist, adapted from the 1946 memoir of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish-Jewish pianist, whose peaceful life performing in Warsaw was destroyed by the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. The movie explores how Szpilman was separated from his entire family during transportation to the extermination camps, his involvement in the Jewish resistance and how his friends helped him avoid capture by the deaths during the destruction of Warsaw. Throughout the movie, Szpilman fights to stay alive and resume his piano career, despite everything he loves being taken away from him.

The Pianist was released to worldwide acclaim, with critics calling the movie “a raw, unblinkable film” and praising it for “its harsh objectivity and refusal to seek our tears, our sympathies” (via TIME). Among many accolades, the movie received seven Oscar nominations in 2003 and won three for Best Director (Roman Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood), and Best Actor (Adrien Brody). It has since been ranked as one of the best 100 movies of the 21st century (via BBC). The Pianist proved itself to be a harrowing biopic and should be watched after the success of The Brutalist.

Adrien Brody Won An Oscar For The Pianist & He Might Do It Again With The Brutalist

Brody Received His Second Best Actor Oscar Nomination For The Brutalist

The Pianist has been ranked as one of Adrien Brody’s best movies and, among other awards, saw him win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003. In his acceptance speech, Brody stated that the movie wouldn’t have been possible “without the blueprint provided by Władysław Szpilman. And this is a tribute to his survival” (via Oscars). At age 29, Brody became the youngest actor to win in the Best Actor category, an Oscar record he has held for 21 years. In 2025, Brody received his second Best Actor nomination for his performance in The Brutalist.

Adrien Brody is a strong favorite to win Best Actor at the Oscars, thanks to his emotional and powerful performance throughout The Brutalist; he faces strong compeтιтion from fellow nominees, Ralph Fiennes and Timotheé Chalamet, who is also predicted to win Best Actor for his role as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. However, Brody’s chances at winning his second Oscar for The Brutalist are strong, as he has already won the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and BAFTA awards for his performance. in the meantime, viewers should consider streaming The Pianist.

Sources: TIME, BBC, Oscars