Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist revolves around László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust, immigrates to the United States, and attempts to pursue the American dream. The movie’s themes and storyline are grounded in history, prompting people to wonder whether the film is based on a true story.
Is The Brutalist movie based on a true story or a book?
No, The Brutalist is not based on a true story or a book. However, the movie draws heavily from real history. For instance, the title indicates that Tóth’s work adheres to the Brutalism style of architecture, which emerged in the ’50s during the reconstruction era after World War II. The style explores minimalism with an emphasis on building materials and structural elements, effectively overlooking aspects of architecture that focus on the ornamental.
Corbet performed extensive research while developing The Brutalist’s script, which he co-wrote with Mona Fastvold. He reached out to French architect and architectural historian Jean-Louis Cohen for his help in finding an architect belonging to the Bauhaus school that got “stuck in the quagmire of the war, but was able to rebuild their lives in America.” (via The Hollywood Reporter)
Recalling Cohen’s response, Corbet added, “[He said] no, there are zero examples, which I found really haunting, because there were so many architects out of the Bauhaus that had so much talent, and we didn’t ever get to see what it was that they were planning to build for the future.”
The filmmaker concluded by asserting that The Brutalist was a fantasy movie. “It’s a virtual history. This is the only way for me of accessing the past,” he added.
Is László Tóth based on a real person?
No, László Tóth is not based on a real person, though there is a Hungarian-born Australian geologist of the same, who doesn’t seem to have any connection with the story that The Brutalist tells. Notably, Corbet has stated that the movie was for the artists who “didn’t get to realize their visions,” and that connects Tóth to his real-life counterparts.
