5 Screenwriting Lessons from Golden-Globe Winner ‘The Brutalist’
January 27, 2025
This year’s winner of the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Performance by a Male Actor for Adrien Brody (Drama), The Brutalist has become one of the most intriguing films to come out of 2024. Writer/Director Brady Corbet’s mid-century tale follows László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a renowned architect whose ambition and talent lands him in the good graces of a wealthy client who hires him to build a monument on a Pennsylvania hillside. In many ways The Brutalist is an unconventional biopic as it is about a largely unknown figure and clocks in at 3.5 hours long (with an intermission!).
As screenwriters, The Brutalist is an important film as it shows how ambitious, passionate filmmakers can create a project that, on paper, seems impossible to make nowadays. Here are some lessons screenwriters can take away from Brady Corbet’s passion project.
1. Write for the Actor
Actors will take a role for many reasons. Some will do it for experience and to work on their craft, others may do it for the paycheck, while others will do work for scale because they believe in a project so much and want to play the character.
The Brutalist is rich with characters who actors would be eager to play. They’re complicated and have complex backstories that drive their motivations, how they interact with others and where they see their role in the world.
Creating this level of character is an exercise in diving deep into who that person is and how you show and tell what they want. Once you know their motivation, it’s a matter of putting every obstacle in their path to prevent them from getting it.
2. Wins and Losses
If your character doesn’t have any wins, no one will care when they lose. A movie is like a roller coaster in which the character has their ups and downs. The Brutalist has László experiencing several wins and losses throughout, with more of the latter. László meets up with his cousin, Attila (Alessandro Nivola) who provides him with a place to stay and work at his furniture store (win). They are then approached by the son of a wealthy man who hires them to redo his father’s study as a surprise (another win). László is winning until things go awry. They don’t get paid for the job (loss) and not only does Attila blame László for this but he kicks him out of his house after his wife accuses of him of making a pass (loss).
The next scenes show László losing, spiraling into despair (loss) until he’s approached by a wealthy man who is impressed by the study he built (win).
Writers can see how Corbet uses wins and losses to keep the story progressing and making the protagonist work hard to achieve his dreams.
3. Theme of Not Belonging
A constant theme throughout The Brutalist is the idea of not belonging. Even when László meets up with his cousin Attila, someone who left Europe eight years prior, he is offered a small closet in Attila’s furniture store. Although he’s invited to dinner on Sundays, László must stand in a line outside a church in hopes of getting a free meal. Although showing acts of kindness, even his cousin presents the idea that László doesn’t belong there. As the movie progresses, László meets Harry Lee (Joe Alwyn), the son of Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. (Guy Pearce), who wants to surprise his father with building a study in their home. Immediately there is an air of superiority with Harry like he knows better than this “foreigner.”
When Harrison commissions László to build his monument, there are constant vibes of “you don’t belong here.” One such scene has László presenting his vision to a townhall where written questions ask about where he’s from and his political leanings instead of inquiring about the monument itself. Throughout the project his intentions are second-guessed and his work is suspect, all because he’s a foreigner - never mind he’s an award-winning architect who built incredible structures in Budapest.
Foreign, different, not belonging – this is a running theme throughout The Brutalist, and writers can see how Corbet uses it in every scene and throughout character actions and dialogue.
4. How Much are You Willing to Tolerate?
László has a dream of rebuilding his legacy, and this monument is the path to regaining what he lost in Hungary. But how much is he willing to endure to see it through? He’s already made to feel like an outsider and that he doesn’t belong, but this is where you test your character and how they deal with the specific actions of those around them.
László still has his wins and receives praise, but he also starts accumulating losses. From the aforementioned town hall where citizens question who he is to snide remarks, such as someone literally saying, “You know we’re just tolerating you.” With his work questioned and even changed to appease the “trusted” individuals around Harrison and his talents exploited, László must tolerate a lot in hopes he isn’t kicked off his project.
From angry outbursts to unfair payment practices to even violence, László is tested. Screenwriters can see how much the character is willing to tolerate to maintain employment and see his dreams come to fruition.
5. Give Them Something to Talk About
Imagine a group of individuals leaving the theater eager to discuss your movie. How can you build such engagement and interest from the audience? The Brutalist is a conversation starter, filled with unique characters, situations and themes that have the opportunity to drive conversations in-person and on message boards. It’s not always easy for writers to figure out ways to get people talking about their movie, so stick with the topics that interest you and create the type of characters that pique curiosity. If the topic requires research and knowledge, such as brutalist architecture and immigration post-World War II, that is a way to encourage conversation, but so is the immigration experience and how “foreigners” were and are treated.
The Brutalist is rich with supporting characters who not only help and hinder László’s arc but are a commentary of the times in which they lived. His wife Erzsebet (Felicity Jones) is a constant presence in his life even when she’s not on-screen and Harrison shows László everything from superiority and hostility to love and admiration. As screenwriters, The Brutalist is an important film as it shows how ambitious, passionate filmmakers can create a project that, on paper, seems impossible to make nowadays.
