The film chronicles 30 years in the life of László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survived the Holocaust. After the end of World War II, he emigrated to the United States with his wife, Erzsébet, to experience the "American dream". László initially endures poverty and indignity, but he soon lands a contract with a mysterious and wealthy client, Harrison Lee Van Buren, that will change the course of his life.
On September 6, 2018, Deadline reported that director Brady Corbet had chosen the period drama The Brutalist as his next project following the world premiere of his second feature film, Vox Lux.[3] New York-based Andrew Lauren Productions (ALP) developed the screenplay with Corbet and financed the film.[3] Corbet co-wrote the screenplay with his partner Mona Fastvold, with whom he co-wrote the 2015 film The Childhood of a Leader and the 2018 film Vox Lux.[4] The film was originally announced as a co-production between Andrew Lauren and D.J. Gugenheim for ALP, Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon for Brookstreet Pictures,[5] Brian Young's Three Six Zero,[3] and the Polish company Madants,[6][7] and executive produced by Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, and David Hinojosa of Killer Films.[5]
On September 2, 2020, Deadline announced that Joel Edgerton and Marion Cotillard had been cast as the film's leads, László Tóth and Erzsébet Tóth, respectively, and that Mark Rylance was cast in the role of László's mysterious client.[5]Sebastian Stan, Vanessa Kirby, Isaach De Bankolé, Alessandro Nivola, Raffey Cassidy and Stacy Martin were also announced in unknown roles.[5] Corbet described The Brutalist as "a film which celebrates the triumphs of the most daring and accomplished visionaries; our ancestors", and the project which is so far the closest to his heart and family history.[5] Filming was scheduled to begin in Poland in January 2021.[8][5] Protagonist Pictures presented the project to buyers at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.[5] The film takes place in Philadelphia and will be shot in English, Yiddish, Hungarian and Italian.[4][5]
Director of photography Lol Crawley, editor Dávid Jancsó, and costume designer Kate Forbes were announced on March 9, 2023.[9][10] Production designer Judy Becker was announced on April 11, 2023.[1]Daniel Blumberg will compose the film's score.[11]
On April 11, 2023, it was announced that Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Jonathan Hyde, Emma Laird, and Peter Polycarpou would star in the film, while Edgerton, Cotillard, Rylance, Stan, and Kirby were no longer attached.[1] It was also announced that the film would be co-produced by the US-based companies Andrew Lauren Productions and Yellow Bear along with the United Kingdom's Brookstreet and Intake Films, and Hungary's Proton Cinema,[1] and financed by Brookstreet UK, Yellow Bear, Lip Sync Productions, Richmond Pictures, Meyohas Studio, Carte Blanche, and Cofiloisirs.[1] Protagonist Pictures handles international sales with CAA Media Finance handling domestic sales.[1]Focus Features subsequently acquired international distribution rights to the film.[12]
Filming was originally set to start in 2020,[13] but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] It was then scheduled to start in January 2021,[8] but it was postponed to August 2021,[14] then it was postponed again to late spring 2022.[13] In an interview for the podcast The Sync Reporter on August 11, 2022, Brady Corbet said that filming was postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also because there were pregnancies and deaths in the families of the film's cast and crew in the meantime.[15] Corbet also said that filming would begin in the fourth quarter of 2022.[15] In an interview for Italian magazine Muse on February 22, 2023, Stacy Martin said that her next project with Corbet would begin in March 2023.[16]
After several delays, filming finally began in Budapest,[17][1] Hungary on March 16, 2023.[18][19] Production then moved to the city of Carrara in Tuscany, Italy on April 29, 2023,[20][21] and wrapped on May 5, 2023.[22]
^ ab"The Sync Report | Brady Corbet". audioboom.com. August 11, 2022. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023. Corbet starts talking about The Brutalist at the 1:11:48 mark.
