Just like “The Brutalist,” the three and a half hour movie about fictional architect László Tóth that earned Adrien Brody his second Oscar for playing a Holocaust survivor, Brody’s acceptance speech at the 97th Academy Awards last night ran a little long. But in that six-minute speech, the Jewish actor called out antisemitism on the Oscars stage at LA’s Dolby Theater.
As music started playing, urging Brody to wrap up his speech after he thanked his partner, Georgina Chapman, whose kids with convicted former film producer Harvey Weinstein call him “Popsy,” Brody asked for the music to stop — he had, after all, been on that stage 22 years prior, accepting an award for his role as a Holocaust survivor in “The Pianist,” and he felt he deserved a little more time.
“I have to thank my mom and dad who are here as well,” he said as the music abated, referring to Jewish history teacher and painter Elliot Brody and Hungarian American photographer Syvia Plachy, who also has Jewish roots, and who served as inspiration for his role. “They’ve just created such a strong foundation of respect and of kindness and a wonderful spirit, and they’ve given me the strength to pursue this dream.”
Brody then talked about the fact that his role was meant to” represent the lingering trauma of war and systematic oppression, of antisemitism and of racism and of othering.”
“I believe, I pray for a healthier and a happier and a better world. And I believe that if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked,” he went on as the music once again started to swell. “Let’s fight for what’s right, let’s rebuild together.”
It was the first time the actor mentioned anti-Jewish hatred on stage at a major award show this season, but he has spoken about it on the red carpet. Last month, after winning a Golden Globe for the same role, he affirmed in a red carpet interview that, “Yes, there is unfortunately a great amount of antisemitism. It’s intimate to me, the role that I play, it makes me feel very grateful to be part of storytelling that speaks to this and the many other issues that the film provides insight into.”
While there’s been criticism against Brody by some Jewish voices for not going far enough in advocating against the antisemitism happening in our current moment, it does feel prominent to have the most lauded actor of this award season openly point out the rise in antisemitism and the need to not let it go unchecked.
On the red carpet at the Academy Awards, Brody and Halle Berry recreated the infamous kiss he gave her after he won his first Oscar for playing esteemed Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist,” a win that made him the youngest actor to win the award for best actor at 29 years old.
Upon winning his first Academy Award in 2003, which was also his first nomination, Brody first thanked both of his parents who watched him through tears. He seemed genuinely bewildered to be on stage that night and shared with the audience that he didn’t write a speech because every time he had in the past, he didn’t win. He thanked “the great Władysław Szpilman,” calling the movie “a tribute to his survival.” He also alluded to how difficult shooting the movie was for him, and about experiencing insomnia and panic attacks while preparing for and shooting the film.
When the music started playing, he asked for a few more moments to make a political point that both stood out and felt just as open-ended as the one he made last night, referring to the Iraq War, which began in March of that year. He talked about how his role made him understand “this sadness of the dehumanization of people at times of war and the repercussions of war,” and said that “whoever you pray for, be it God or Allah, let’s pray for swift resolution, a peaceful and swift resolution.” He ended that speech by dedicating his win to a friend from Queens, Tommy Zorabinski, who went with him to LaGuardia high school and was serving in Kuwait at the time.
Brody wasn’t the only Jewish person who worked on “The Brutalist” to win an Oscar last night. Daniel Blumberg won an Oscar for best original score. Blumberg, a British Jewish artist and musician formerly of the bands Yuck and Cajun Dance Party, has spoken about how Jewish music influenced his musical career. Since Blumberg doesn’t write or read music in the traditional sense, he was inspired by Hasidic music. “I am very interested in the niguns, the wordless songs,” he told the Jewish chronicle in 2020. “They’re passed down, but they’re also improvised. I’ve always loved them.”
Meanwhile, Kieran Culkin won an award for playing the grandson of a Holocaust survivor in the very Jewish Holocaust travel movie “A Real Pain,” written, directed and starring Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Culkin’s cousin in the film. The Israeli and Palestinian team behind “No Other Land” won an Oscar for best documentary. The speech of Jewish journalist Yuval Abraham, in which he talked about the “atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed” and decried current U.S. policy toward the conflict, drew applauds and appreciation from the crowd, but much consternation in his home country, where the minister of sports and culture, Miki Zohar, denounced the win, calling it “a sad moment.”
In an unexpected feat, the two biggest acting awards of the night went to Jewish actors. Along with Brody’s best actor win, the best actress award went to “Anora” star Mikey Madison, who was born Mikaela Madison Rosberg. Madison was raised Jewish in Los Angeles by two Jewish therapists and shared in her speech that despite her geographic proximity, Hollywood felt very far from her growing up. Madison is known for playing Pamela Adlon’s daughter in “Better Things” and for her role in the now Israel-based “abba” Quentin Tarantio‘s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” who “Anora” director Sean Baker thanked for drawing his attention to the young star with that role. She also played a free-spirited young Jewish woman who befriends Natalie Portman’s character in the Apple TV+ drama “Lady in the Lake” last year.
In her speech, Madison thanked the sex worker community that inspired and contributed to the film in which Madison plays a stripper who gets entangled with the rich young son of a Russian oligarch, played by Jewish actor Mark Eydelsteyn. She also thanked her family, including her twin brother, who was the first to hug her when she won and even kept her speech in his pocket, as well as the very Jewish community of Brighton Beach, where much of “Anora” takes place.
