In case you were wondering if Adrien Brody’s Oscar for The Pianist was just handed to him for showing up, think again. No, no, Brody earned that little golden man by starving himself into oblivion, teetering on the edge of full-blown collapse, and—oh, did we mention—developing PTSD in the process. Talk about really leaning into the misery of Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman.
In a recent interview with Vulture, the now 51-year-old actor revealed his Pianist-era crash diet, during which he shed 30 lbs to drop to a staggering 129 lbs. (FYI, that’s roughly the weight of a dehydrated houseplant.) And to really up the ante? The man barely drank water by the time filming began. Because hydration is for quitters.
But wait, there’s more! Brody generously gifted himself an eating disorder and PTSD for his trouble, complete with a side of depression. “I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year,” he shared, before quipping, “And then I was depressed for a year, if not a lifetime. I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Sure, Adrien. Nothing screams “I’m totally fine” like nervously laughing about lifelong sadness.
Apparently, this isn’t his first ride on the “Suffering for Art” carousel. For The Jacket, he volunteered to stew in a straitjacket like it was the world’s least fun escape room. For Summer of Sam, he broke his nose courtesy of an overzealous co-star’s fist—permanent dent included, no extra charge. And in Wrecked, Brody snacked on ants and worms, presumably because craft services just didn’t hit the right vibe that day.
Then there’s Oxygen, where he ditched prosthetic braces in favor of real ones, only to learn that having them yanked off with pliers is about as pleasant as it sounds. Someone please inform Adrien that method acting doesn’t require actual suffering. It’s called acting, not extreme masochism.
Brody’s newest performance in The Brutalist seems to carry on the theme of tortured genius. The role—playing a Hungarian-Jewish architect who survived the Holocaust—earned him the Best Actor award from the New York Film Critics’ Circle. At this rate, we can only assume his next project involves taming live alligators while solving quantum physics equations.
Bravo, Adrien. You’ve turned your acting career into the world’s grimmest episode of Jackass. We’re sure your therapist (and your dentist) are thrilled.