Oscar-Nominated Director Made ‘Zero Dollars’ From the Movie: ‘The Brutalist’ Director Brady Corbet Speaks Out

Despite being a major frontrunner at the Oscars this year with 10 nominations, the writer/director of The Brutalist has made zero dollars from it—or from his last film, the critically acclaimed musical Vox Lux. He described the dire financial situation of him and his wife/creative partner Mona Fastvold in recent years on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron.

“Both my partner and I made zero dollars on the last two films we made. Yes, actually zero,” Corbet said. “So we had to just live off of a paycheck from three years ago.” Corbet recently made money for the first time in “years” by filming a set of advertisements in Portugal. “Obviously, the timing during an awards campaign and travel every two or three days was less than ideal, but it was an opportunity that landed in my lap, and I jumped at it.”

The Brutalist, which has the second-most nominations of any film this year at the Oscars, is expected to take home at least a couple statues. Adrian Brody is currently listed by THR as a lock to win Best Actor, and the general consensus is that either Anora or The Brutalist will take home Best Director and Best Picture. But despite the film’s massive success, Corbet says he is still unable to work, citing unceasing travel and press circuits.

“I’ve spoken to many filmmakers with films nominated this year who can’t pay their rent,” Corbet said. “You’re not paid to be promoting a film.”

Corbet is well known for staying as independent as possible in his work, often operating outside the studio system. The Brutalist, despite shooting in various European countries like Budapest and Spain, featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and using an expensive film format that hasn’t seen major use since the 1960s, was made for just under $10 million—with some of that coming out of Corbet’s own pocket.

The Brutalist stars Brody as a Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor named László Tóth who escapes the Nazis to live in the United States. He lives in poverty and struggles to survive until rich industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) enlists him to build a monumental community center. However, their relationship soon turns sour as Lee Van Buren begins exploiting Tóth in various, evil ways. The film also stars Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, and Alessandro Nivola. It is currently viewable in theaters and on video-on-demand.