Joe Alwyn first read the script for Brady Corbet‘s epic The Brutalist five years ago.

“I was such a such a fan of Brady and such a fan of the script,” the British actor says. “It was this big, rigorous, detailed, old-fashioned epic.”

He was immediately game, though it would take another few years before the piece landed on screen. “Brady fought tooth and nail to get it made,” Alwyn says.

The immigrant drama, penned by Corbet and partner Mona Fastvold, stars Adrien Brody as fictional Hungarian Jewish architect László Tóth, who flees Europe after World War II to build a new life in America. He falls into the circle of a wealthy businessman, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) and his children, Harry Lee (Alwyn) and Maggie (Stacy Martin). Van Buren commissions an enormous center from László, whose wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) is finally able to join him in the U.S. thanks to help from Pearce’s lawyer friends.

It is implied that Harry has his way with László’s young niece (Raffey Cassidy), though this escapes retribution. The family’s unraveling comes when Jones’ character confronts Van Buren about raping her husband. Harry’s denial is furious, a struggle to remove Erzsébet from their home ensues, and his father disappears.

Alwyn discusses how his director managed to make this movie on $8 million budget (“It’s like the price of some episodes of TV these days!), the unanswerable quality of capitalist American families like the Trumps and why this film should set an example for the industry: “It doesn’t have to fit a cookie cutter shape and it doesn’t have to be a $100 million production. If you tell a story with intent and imagination and you assemble a good group of people, then those things can really work.”

I read it in 2019, and I asked if I could meet Brady, and I saw that the part of Harry wasn’t cast, and I had a coffee with him in New York. Firstly, this is pre-COVID, which is another world away. We chatted for ages and got on. But it wasn’t all set up at that point. And then it came together and fell apart in various shapes over the next few years. All of us at some point weren’t in it. My part was going to be a little older, and then eventually, by the time it changed shape again post-COVID, I was very happy to get the call up.

A unique film, special script, built-in intermission

It does feel like a big, old-fashioned film, and there was some more modern references I felt when reading it, like There Will Be Blood, obviously. Even Foxcatcher I was reminded of a little bit. The fact it’s shot in VistaVision and 70mm and intermission, it feels very refreshing. And good for [Brady] for fighting tooth and nail to get it made. I think he was trying to do it for so many years. And then the shoot itself was in 33 days and the budget was $8 million? Not a lot for what it is when you see the scope of it.

Small budget for epic?

It’s like the price of some episodes of TV these days! I think he’d obviously had it in his mind for so long that he knew exactly what he wanted to do and how he needed to shoot it, in terms of the time constraints. When we got on set, he shot it almost as he edited it. I don’t mean he was editing it at night, but what you see is what was pieced together on the day. He was very economical. Everything’s in one take, which looks great, but it also saves time — you don’t have to do lots of coverage and turnarounds. He knew he was up against the clock, but also perhaps that some of those restrictions favored his creative sensibility for the film. It never felt madly rushed on set.

One takes? 

There’s a pressure because you know that if something is off in the tape, then it’s going to be there. But at the same time, because they’re quite long, they feel like little pieces of theater and that’s quite nice to do. You’re not fragmenting things, you’re not chopping and changing. You’re not going over each other’s shoulder, and it’s not taking all day to shoot a two-minute scene. Once you get into the rhythm of the shape of the scene, you can just go again and again and again. You do — if there’s the time you get to do it — four or five takes.

Portrait of marriage and otherness of immigrants

The movie is so huge in its scope and also personal and intimate in its storytelling. The ideas of being an immigrant coming to America, the American dream, art versus commerce. Those are the big ones that jump out.

I was interested in those big, American, capitalist families and thinking about Harry — where he fits into that, where he’s grown up with too much of one thing and not of enough of the other. He has enough power and the money around him with his father, but probably not enough love and not the right kind of love. I was interested in what that does to you, and how that can stunt you, and how he’s searching for his identity in his family, in this big organization and structure. And he’s constantly searching for his dad’s approval. It makes me angry, the invincibility of families like that. Obviously, there is a degree of comeuppance at the end. But you see it often. You see it with the Trumps. You see it in Succession. You see it all over the place. The unanswerable quality to people and the [fact] that with enough money and legal teams at your disposal, you can dispose of who you want.

I worked with Guy twice before. It was really nice seeing him and having him be my dad. With Adrien, I hadn’t [worked with him] but was obviously aware of his work. Having that familiarity with another actor or director or someone in the crew always helps. I think it’s a really interesting relationship between Harry and Harrison.

The dynamics

Harry’s constantly put down, with snide little comments by his dad. Harrison’s relationship with László comes about because Harry is trying to surprise his dad and do something nice for him by building this library, which then goes wrong at the beginning and Harry gets blamed for that. He’s initially got a chip on his shoulder about this architect who’s suddenly come into his life and been taking under his dad’s wing in a way that Harry never has. But it was amazing working with Guy again, and I’ve always noticed, the last two times as well, his level of focus and the way he interrogates the scene. It’s so impressive to watch. He picks everything apart in such a smart way, but then just throws it away while doing it.

Ending: unraveling of the family 

People have actually asked me about the moment between Harry and Erzsébet at the end, when he takes her out of the house. His reaction is big to the accusations against his dad and is that because he has experienced something similar in the past? It does make sense, and it’s kind of threaded throughout, but it was never there in the script. Brady never said anything about it. There’s mixture of anger and shock and shame, and perhaps buried trauma as well.

Reaction to film? 

You never know how anything’s gonna do. Brady has said this, it’s a film that ticks so many boxes of what isn’t made these days, given what it’s about, given the length, given the subject matter. It’s not an easy sell in some ways. And so whilst it felt like a really lovely thing to be involved in and a great script and a great experience shooting it, you just don’t know how that’s going to land. And so to see it be met so warmly is, yeah, it’s always such a bonus. But going to Venice [Film Festival], it didn’t have a distributor, so I think everyone just didn’t know what was going to happen to it.

I don’t think about it in a bullet point list or too forensically, but I want to try and not repeat myself too much. I’d love to play against type more, whatever that means from the outside in. The Brutalist was a good example, a big, old-fashioned American character where you’re learning a Hitchcock, transatlantic accent and everything’s larger than life. I’m just trying to find interesting, exciting people to work with and see what parts come with them. Challenge myself and be a part of things that speak to me and punch me in the gut — in the right way.

Anyone to work with?

So many people. Director-wise, I’d love to work with Rob Eggers. I’m a big fan of his. I haven’t seen Nosferatu yet but I can’t wait. I’ve met him a few times. He’s such a talented filmmaker. I’d love to work with him.