Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones star in the first trailer for director Brady Corbet‘s acclaimed historical drama feature The Brutalist.
A24 releases the film Dec. 20 following its premiere over the summer at the Venice Film Festival. Rounding out the cast are Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, Isaach de Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola.
The Brutalist focuses on László Tóth (Brody), a Jewish architect who immigrates to the U.S. with wife Erzsébet (Jones) after World War II. Following their arrival, Tóth lands a mysterious wealthy client (Pearce), who plays a key role in the architect’s path.
“Welcome to America,” Brody says in the trailer following a montage of moments from his character’s life.
Corbet (Vox Lux) helmed the film from a script he co-wrote with Mona Fastvold. Nick Gordon, D.J. Gugenheim, Andrew Lauren, Trevor Matthews, Andrew Morrison and Brian Young serve as producers.
The Brutalist premiered Sept. 1 in Venice, with Corbet winning the fest’s prize for the best director. During an interview at that time, the filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter why he decided to center the movie on the brutalist architectural movement.
“Brutalist architecture is representative of something that people do not understand and that they want torn down and ripped away,” Corbet said. “So, the film is about how post-war psychology shaped post-war architecture.”
In his review for THR, chief film critic David Rooney wrote that The Brutalist’s “expansive story of a brilliant Bauhaus-trained Hungarian Jewish architect who survives World War II and starts a new life in Pennsylvania is a provocative original.”
He also noted, “Brody pours himself into the character with bristling intelligence and internal fire, holding nothing back as he viscerally conveys both exultant highs and gutting sorrows.”
