The director Brady Corbet called the most brilliant person he’s ever met: “He’s a truly special person”
These days, Brady Corbet is known mainly for his astonishing work as a director, most notably of 2024’s The Brutalist. With a budget of a scant $9.6million, he managed to make a sweeping period epic about architecture that does not scrimp on spectacle or grandeur. It’s now nominated for 10 Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director,’ and it deserves every one of them. For context, fellow Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez was made for about $26million, and Conclave was made for $20m.
At just 36, Corbet is shaping up to be one of the greatest directors working today and will almost certainly go down in history as one of the best directors of his generation. Given his explosive track record in this area, it’s easy to forget that he started his career as an actor.
After working on a sitcom and a studio film, he made his indie debut in Catherine Harwicke’s Thirteen when he was 15 and followed it up with Gregg Araki’s 2004 film Mysterious Skin. Shortly thereafter, he became the go-to American for European auteurs like Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Olivier Assayas, Mia Hansen-Løve, and Ruben Östlund.
In 2011, he appeared in a small role in von Trier’s Melancholia, which starred Kirsten Dunst as a woman drowning in depression on her wedding day as an asteroid hurtles ever closer to Earth. The Danish director has had a controversial career both through his filmmaking and in public remarks, which has clouded his formidable skills as an auteur.
He was a founding member of the Dogme 95 movement, which sought to rescue storytelling from the trappings of special effects and excessive technology, and has spent most of his career exploring the darkest recesses of religion and the human psyche. In 2011, while promoting Melancholia at the Cannes Film Festival, he was declared a persona non grata after making a joke about Nazis.
In a 2016 interview with The AV Club shortly after the release of his feature directorial debut Childhood of a Leader, Corbet talked about his time working with von Trier and was appreciative and diplomatic. “I had a great experience working with Lars,” he said. “I think he’s probably the most brilliant guy I’ve ever met in my life. He’s so, so brilliant that it’s kind of overwhelming to spend time with him because it’s a real blessing and a curse.”
Corbet only had a small part, playing a wedding guest who Dunst’s character sexually assaults on a golf course, but the director made a strong impression on him. “I feel like he’s so sensitive and so in tune with everything and everyone around him that he’s kind of constantly overwhelmed,” he said. “And that’s kind of a beautiful but really overwhelming thing to witness and be around. He’s a truly special person.”
There are plenty of performers who have come forward with stories about von Trier’s challenging behaviour. Björk found him so difficult to work with that she could hardly finish making Dancer in the Dark, while Nicole Kidman has jokingly said that she tried to quit Dogville multiple times because of him.
But there are plenty of other actors who, like Corbet, are full of praise. Even Kristen Dunst managed to stay on speaking terms with him after his Cannes controversy. In the end, however, you’d be hard-pressed to find a collaborator who hasn’t pointed out that he can be challenging to be around.
