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Hollywood Flashback: Adrien Brody Hit High Notes With ‘The Pianist’
The Hollywood ReporterStory by Ryan Gajewski
scrn logline
At just 29, Adrien Brody became the youngest ever Best Actor winner for his tour de force performance in Roman Polanski's Holocaust drama 'The Pianist'.
beat sheet
- Brody underwent an intense transformation for the role, losing 30 pounds on a starvation diet and practicing piano for hours daily to embody real-life composer Wladyslaw Szpilman.
- The grueling shoot in Eastern Europe, where Brody was frequently the only actor on set for Szpilman's solitary scenes, took a mental toll, leading him to experience depression for a year after filming.
call sheet
Adrien Brody, Roman Polanski, Wladyslaw Szpilman, Terrence Malick, Spike Lee, Joseph Fiennes, Ronald Harwood, Focus Features, The Pianist, The Thin Red Line, Summer of Sam, Shakespeare in Love, The Brutalist