Oscar-winning star reveals 00s role left him with an ‘eating disorder’

Adrien Brody had insomnia and panic attacks after the gruelling physical impact of The Pianist role (Picture: Guy Ferrandis/Focus Features/Studio Canal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Adrien Brody has shared that physically preparing for his role in the 2002 movie The Pianist left him with an eating disorder and PTSD.

Brody, 51, won a historic Academy Award for his starring turn in the Roman Polanksi movie which portrayed the life of Polish Jewish radio station pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman who fought for survival during World War II.

Now he is further opening up about the physical and mental extremes his body was put through to bring this harrowing story to life.

‘That was a physical transformation that was necessary for storytelling,’ Brody told New York Magazine’s Vulture.

‘But then that kind of opened me up, spiritually, to a depth of understanding of emptiness and hunger in a way that I didn’t know, ever.’

In order to prepare, he went on a near-starvation diet which dropped his weight 30 pounds down to 129 and he was even barely drinking water before filming began, all while playing the piano for hours a day.

Brody became the youngest ever star to win the best actor Oscar (Picture: Guy Ferrandis/Focus Features/Studio Canal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

But went on a near-starvation diet to achieve it (Picture: Guy Ferrandis/Focus Features/Studio Canal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

After production wrapped, the effects lingered and he admitted he suffered from insomnia and panic attacks, agreeing that he felt like he could have had PTSD from the experience.

He added: ‘I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year. And then I was depressed for a year, if not a lifetime. I’m kidding, I’m kidding.’

It’s not the first time he has spoken about the toll the diet has taken on him. In a 2022 interview with The Times, he admitted he ‘can’t even watch the film’.

He continued: ‘I kind of cry when I talk about it.

‘It was cumulative. I had a starvation diet, then had to gain it back. My metabolism shifted. I thought I’d experimented and lost, that my body was going to be different from now on.’

The impact meant the actor, who was 29 at the time, had to pass on a film from German filmmaker Werner Horzog shortly after because he hadn’t ‘recovered’.

His latest project is the three-and-a-half movie The Brutalist, which received a 13-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival for its portrayal of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor attempting to revive his career in the US.

The historical drama, that also stars Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce, has received widespread praise and plenty of Oscar buzz.

His new role in The Brutalist reaches the ‘magnitude’ of his role in The Pianist, the actor says (Picture: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

The glowing four-and-a-half-star review from Metro reads: ‘Over three and a half hours of sweeping history, struggle and heartbreak, the urgency of its story never once lets up.

‘Combined with several powerhouse performances, not least of all from an electric Adrien Brody, The Brutalist is sure to be 2024’s film to beat at the Oscars.’

At the premiere, The Succession star reflected: ‘This was an incredibly difficult film to make. I’m very emotional today because I’ve been working on it for seven years and it felt urgent every day of the better part of a decade.’

In a recent interview with GQ, he shared that his early Oscar win (becoming the youngest best actor winner ever) made his future in the film industry a struggle.

‘It’s been hard to find something of that magnitude for me, even in a leading role. It’s taken me decades,’ he said, noting that The Brutalist finally offered him the chance he was looking for.

‘I felt so well-suited to honour this character and represent what [director Brady Corbet] needed for it. I felt connected to it. I felt responsible for it,’ he added.

The Brutalist comes out in UK cinemas on January 24, 2025.

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