Adrien Brody talks about the lengths he went to for his Oscar-winning performance in Roman Polanski's 2002 film pianist.
Brody portrayed Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in the biopic. For the role, Brody went on a near-starvation diet and lost 30 pounds, dropping to 129 pounds. The actor was said to be “barely drinking water” when they started shooting the film, which was shot in reverse, showing Szpilman at his most exhausted.
“This was a physical shift necessary for the storytelling,” Brody told New York Magazine. eagle. “But then, this kind of spirituality opened me to a deep understanding of emptiness and hunger in a way I had never known.”
His transformation into the role left lasting effects such as insomnia and panic attacks, with him agreeing that he suffered PTSD from the whole experience.
“I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year. Then I was depressed for a year, if not a lifetime. I'm kidding, I'm kidding,” he added.
The method actor is put in unique situations while portraying different roles. When he filmed The jacketThe actor asked the director to leave him wearing a straitjacket “until he feels it.” The post also notes that's when Brody was photographed Sam's summer“Someone accidentally punched him in the face,” leaving him “permanently traumatized.”
When he filmed Oxygenwho portrays a serial killer who wears braces, chose not to get braces, adding: “I didn't know how much it hurt until they stuck a pair of pliers in and pulled it off my teeth at the end.”
