The Brutalist Director Brady Corbet Reveals the Adrien Brody Starrer Made 'Zero Dollars' Despite Winning Multiple Awards

The Brutalist director Brady Corbet opens up about the film not making any financial profits despite its successful awards season. Read on to know the details.

Written by Ipshita Chakraborty , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Feb 18, 2025 | 01:57 PM IST | 18.9K

CC: Getty Images

Oscar-nominated director Brady Corbet is bringing to light the monetary woes of independent filmmakers, with his new film, The Brutalist, having earned him no money.

Appearing on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, Corbet, who is nominated for several Academy Awards, explained that he has not profited from his previous two films.

He said, "I just directed three advertisements in Portugal. It's the first time that I had made any money in years." He stressed that he "made zero dollars on the last two films that we made."

Although The Brutalist has received widespread critical praise, won big at this year's Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, and BAFTA, and garnered ten Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for Adrien Brody, Corbet himself has not profited financially from the endeavor.

When the podcast host asked the director to clarify his statement about making zero income from the movie, he said, "Yes. Actually, zero. We had to just sort of live off of a paycheck from three years ago."

Corbet described promoting a film as an unpaid job, but one that requires incessant travel, interviews, and appearances. He stated that since the film opened in September, he has been on the campaign trail for six months without taking home a paycheck.

He continued, "So I've been doing this for six months. And had zero income because I don't have any time to go to work." The long press requirements, likening them to an intense interrogation process, have given him no time to accept other work.

Despite its awards season triumph, Brady Corbet's experience demonstrates the financial uncertainty that many independent filmmakers endure. His Oscar-nominated historical drama based on a Hungarian-born immigrant architect set in post-World War America, The Brutalist, took eight years to complete.

The Brutalist is in theaters now.