A24 has won the bidding war to acquire U.S. rights to Brady Corbet‘s buzzy Venice Film Festival winner The Brutalist. A24 announced the deal, brokered with CAA Media Finance, on Sunday, ahead of the film’s North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 10.
Adrien Brody stars in the historical epic as László Tóth, a Jewish Hungarian architect of the brutalist school who survives the devastation of World War 2 and emigrates to the United States, hoping to rebuild his life and work. Initially forced to toil in poverty, he soon wins a contract from a mysterious and wealthy client, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), that will change the course of the next 30 years of his life. Felicity Jones co-stars as Tóth’s wife Erzsébet, while Joe Alwyn plays the rich industrialist’s mercurial son. Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé, and Alessandro Nivola co-star. Corbet co-wrote the film with his wife, Norwegian filmmaker and actress Mona Fastvold.
It took Cobert more than seven years to make The Brutalist, with various false starts and financing challenges. The film was shot on 70mm film stock in the mid-century retro VistaVision format. Corbet had to ship 26 reels of film, weighing some 300 pounds, to Italy for the film’s world premiere.
But it was worth it. The Brutalist was the toast of the Lido, receiving rapturous reviews and winning Corbet the Silver Lion Best Director prize.
After its North American premiere in Toronto, the film will screen at the New York Film Festival.
Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon produced The Brutalist for Brookstreet UK alongside Brian Young and Kaplan Morrison’s Andrew Morrison. Other producers include Andrew Lauren for Andrew Lauren Productions and D.J. Gugenheim. Brookstreet UK did the financing with Lip Sync Productions, Richmond Pictures, Meyohas Studio, Carte Blanche, Pierce Capital Entertainment, and senior lender Cofiloisirs.
Focus Features holds international territory rights for the film outside North America.
