Key Points
Oscar-nominated film garnered 10 Academy Award nominations
Corbet highlights financial challenges for independent filmmakers
Director won BAFTA and Golden Globes for 'The Brutalist'
"I just directed three advertisements in Portugal," said Corbet, adding, "It's the first time that I had made any money in years," as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Corbet said that he and his wife (and creative partner) Mona Fastvold "made zero dollars on the last two films that we made."
Before The Brutalist, Corbet and Fastvold made 2018's Vox Lux. 'The Brutalist' earned 10 nominations for this year's Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Adrien Brody, Best Supporting Actress for Felicity Jones, Best Director for Corbet and Best Picture.
Corbet clarified his comments about payment, saying. "Yes. Actually, zero. We had to just sort of live off of a paycheck from three years ago," as per the outlet.
He added, "I've spoken to many filmmakers that have the films that are nominated this year that can't pay their rent. I mean, that's a real thing."
The director went on to note that filmmakers are "not paid to be promoting a film" and that "if you look at certain films that premiered in Cannes, that was almost a year ago ... I mean, our film premiered in September. So I've been doing this for six months. I had zero income because I didn't have any time to go to work. I can't even take a writing job at the moment," as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Brady Corbet won the award for Best Director for his film The Brutalist at the 78th edition of the BAFTA.
In January, Brady even bagged the Best Director Award at the Golden Globes 2025.
While accepting the award, writer-director Brady Corbet, as per The Hollywood Reporter, pushed for more autonomy for filmmakers."I'm incredibly moved," said Corbet, who also won for best film director earlier in Sunday's ceremony. He then quipped, "I prepared one speech, not two."
As it turned out, Corbet still had plenty on his mind.
"I just wanted to leave everyone with something to think about: Final-cut tiebreak goes to the director," he told the crowd."It's sort of a controversial statement. It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be controversial at all. 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," as per the outlet.
