‘I cry talking about it’: Adrien Brody reveals he can’t bring himself to watch The Pianist as he details starving himself and making ‘life changing’ sacrifices for the role

Adrien Brody has revealed that he can’t bring himself to watch his Oscar-winning performance in The Pianist and that he cries just talking about it. 

The biographical war drama earned him a Best Actor Oscar, as well as Best Director for Roman Polanski, and received widespread critical acclaim. 

However, his leading role required a gruelling amount of work behind the scenes, with Adrien explaining that he was on a ‘starvation diet’ and has subsequently suffered with body image issues. 

‘I cry talking about it’: Adrien Brody has revealed he can’t bring himself to watch The Pianist as he detailed starving himself and making ‘life changing’ sacrifices for the role 

Explaining the ‘life changing’ personal sacrifices that he made to take on the role, he told The Times: ‘I can’t even watch the film. I can’t. I kind of cry when I talk about it.’  

Adrien took on the lead role as composer Władysław Szpilman in the biopic, which followed the Holocaust survivor’s life during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. 

Speaking of his sacrifices he explained: ‘It was cumulative. I had a starvation diet, then had to gain it back. My metabolism shifted. I thought I’d experimented and lost, that my body was going to be different from now on.’

Tough: Adrien took on the lead role as composer Władysław Szpilman in the biopic, which follows the Holocaust survivors life during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw

He continued as he explained how he had to ‘recover’ from the tough role, that led him to turn down an opportunity to ‘work with Werner Herzog’, in a project that became to be Rescue Dawn, as he ‘was sick.’ 

On his rise to critical acclaim he recalled the moment he was nominated for Best Actor, alongside Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Daniel Day-Lewis

Adrien said that he never ‘clamoured’ for the fame that came with his Oscar win as he began to ‘retreat’ from the limelight. 

He detailed: ‘I retreated from a superficiality that comes with it. Or an ease of access to things that felt inauthentic and wasn’t the path of my life growing up. It felt dishonest.’

Since his 2002 role in The Pianist, Adrien has gone on to star in many Wes Anderson films and more recently, the HBO hit TV series Succession.  

Adrien explained his multi-layered character on Succession during a visit on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in January.

The Oscar-winning actor made his debut as the new character of billionaire investor Josh Aaronson in November on the hit HBO series.  

Fame: Since his 2002 role in The Pianist, Adrien has gone on to star in many Wes Anderson films and more recently, the HBO hit TV series Succession 

The actor explained that his understanding of business moguls is that they approach it ‘like a game of chess, they’re way prepared. And those layers represent a preparedness for the elements,’ he said. 

Adrien said the layered clothing became symbolic as his character went on a hike while trying to apply pressure in a business dealing.  

‘And we were shooting in the elements at Seaside, the character owned an island. And I figured, he’s prepared. He has hiking boots. They’re in their dress shoes. He wears them down. He’s in a position of power. Checkmate,’ he added. 

‘Symbolic clothing’: Adrien explained his multi-layered character on Succession during a visit on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in January

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