2025 SBIFF Cinema Vanguard Award Honoring Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce

While talking about the making of The Brutalist, Guy Pearce said, “It’s about getting to the heart of each moment. Adrien and I have a mutual respect for each other. When you hit the floor together and have each other’s backs, it creates an interesting dynamic.”

Guy Pearce talked about his experience on Memento, “I understood the emotional center of it. There was a real sadness hanging around my character’s neck. This was a movie where you have to let everything go to focus on the scene at hand.”

Guy stated about his relationship with Christopher Nolan, “Chris Nolan is a genius, as we all know. At the end of Memento is the middle of the story. The brilliant thing Chris has done is that he manages to give the experience of the build-up to the story. He can juggle fifty things at once.”

Discussing L.A. Confidential, Guy said, “I learned everything I know about film through that experience. It was my first really big thing I did in Hollywood. I get so emotional about Curtis Hanson because he was the best person.”

Regarding big budget films like Prometheus, Guy asserted, “My preference is to work on something more intimate. It’s such great fun to work on a big budget, but there’s a whole team you don’t get to know. However, as long as you believe in the role you’re playing, it’s great regardless.”

Mentioning The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Guy said “It was such an amazing experience, and we are all in discussion about if we should make a sequel to Priscilla. It came out at a pivotal moment in history. Priscilla really enabled a voice to a lot of people.”

Guy Pearce noted about shooting on VistaVision for The Brutalist, “This is one of the only films I’ve done is that I do almost no ADR.”

On The Pianist, Adrien Brody explained, “I knew it was one of the most meaningful opportunities I would be presented. I understood hunger on a level I had never knew after making it. I gained an understanding of the hardships many people endure. That sense of loss and suffering that is pervasive in this world.”

Adrien Brody lauded his relationship with Wes Anderson, saying, “He’s such a unique filmmaker. You look at one frame and say that’s a Wes Anderson movie. I’ve had such wonderful life experiences with him.”

Adrien Brody said about Houdini, “Magic is the gateway drug into being an actor. You have to capture people’s attention. It’s an illusion like how film is an illusion. Houdini, the man, symbolizes the feeling of being othered and not good enough. He created the term escape artist.”

Describing his experience on King Kong, Adrien Brody stated, “I loved working with Peter Jackson. Midnight in Paris, I did in one afternoon. King King, I shot in nine months. That experience is so dear to me.”

Talking about Predators, Adrien said, “The whole beauty of being an actor is getting to step into the shoes of others. It’s very exciting to play against type. It’s very interesting for an audience to see something an actor has never done.”

Moving back to address The Brutalist, Adrien Brody talked about his character László and how he mirrors Brady Corbet. “The creative yearnings are very prevalent in this character much like Brady. The need to fight for your creative vision. The film gets into how your power gets stripped away working for other people.”

Adrien Brody remarked on Guy and his character in The Brutalist’s relationship, saying “I love the dynamic between Van Buren and László. Guy’s performance brings such a nuance to it. No one is free from insecurities. The beauty of being an artist is that you can apply and work past them. If you can find fulfillment in life and light in so much darkness, that’s a powerful thing to behold.”