WEBVTT - Adrien Brody 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:08.479 Hey, everyone, thanks for pulling up a chair today on 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:13.440 table for two, on this beautiful sunny Sunday. I might 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:16.000 add as we sit at the Sunset Tower here in 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.680 Los Angeles on what could be considered Hollywood's fifth season. Yes, 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:24.240 that's right. LA has five seasons and we are currently 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:25.480 in award season. 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:27.480 How are you Yeah, I'm pretty good. 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:29.440 Yeah, you're holding out? 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.920 Yeah, I'm great juggling which is nice. 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.240 Joining me at the table. We have a beautiful man, 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:40.440 an extremely talented actor, a fellow New Yorker, and the 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.920 youngest male lead to win an Oscar at the age 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.959 of twenty nine, and the front runner to take home 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.080 the gold this year for his role in the incredible 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:55.200 film The Brutalist, the story of an influential architect escaping 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:59.240 war torn Europe. Last low tos you hungry? Do you 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:00.120 want something to You. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:01.800 Could eat something? How are we going to eat and talk? 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.600 I don't think well, you'd be surprised. It does entel 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.199 interesting curveball. No, No, I like Betel. 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:15.520 Yes, that is correct, mister Adrienne Brody. So sit back, enjoy, 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.840 and as always, thank you for joining me. I'm Bruce 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:32.080 Bozzi and you're listening to table for two. Adriane, thank 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:33.520 you for joining us today and. 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:34.120 Table for two. 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.560 Thank you many people pulling up a chair and having 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:37.399 lunch with us. 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:39.319 My pleasure for those of you listening. 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.640 I ran into Adriane last night at the Producer's Guild Awards, 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.400 and when we were leaving, you were speaking with Brian, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:47.440 and I looked in your eyes. And then when I 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:48.880 walked away from you, and I said to Brian, I said, 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.160 do you see Adriane's eyes? The emotion that you live 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:57.400 in is very to the surface. And I thought to myself, 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.160 and then he thought, how difficult is that to be 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:05.279 so present to your emotional life. 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.840 That's a lovely observation. Really. It's funny, you know, people 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.280 make flippant comments or something on which I don't take personally, 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.000 but like on Instagram or they'll say, why do you 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.359 always look so sad or why do you always it's 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:24.200 misrepresented And I do see photos of me like, go boy, 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:25.640 I do look kind of sad there. And it's not 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:30.000 that I'm sad or upset or angry about something, but 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:34.880 I am. I'm very sensitive and very conscious of so 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:41.040 many layers in a moment, if that makes sense. Yes, 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:46.200 and it makes me a perfect candidate to be an actor, 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.680 because you do need a certain sensitivity and consciousness and 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:57.160 empathetic nature. And I'm quite an introspective and introverted person, 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:02.160 which is incongruous to most people's perception of an actor 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.720 in general at all, and they expect, oh, well, you 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:12.040 should be comfortable being up on stage or speaking to things, 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.240 and I am in a way comfortable that I've grown 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:21.200 accustomed to that aspect of my work. But I'm so 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:22.959 full of gratitude in this moment. I think what you 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.880 experienced is a sense of it's been a very long journey. 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.880 I began when I was twelve. It's almost four decades 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.639 of doing what I love and still loving what I do, 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:40.160 and seeing Brian and you. Brian's been in my corner 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.160 for a long time, and it's been very supportive of 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:48.360 me along the way in many ways as a friend, 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.720 as a representative, and so seeing him, I was a 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.600 bit extra grateful. And there were many people in that 0:03:55.680 --> 0:04:00.240 room that, whether they've employed me directly or not, make 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:04.080 such a difference in a work that I've been so 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.360 fortunate to do for so many years, and so just 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.320 stepping out and seeing it I was on the stage, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.320 and I tried to acknowledge the many contributions and the 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.920 tenacity it takes to be a producer and how hard 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.880 it is in this in this world to keep this 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.159 industry moving. And I don't know, it felt connected to 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:24.440 it all. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:25.400 Yeah, you saw it. 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.160 I felt connected to it. And there are days I 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.440 just feel connected to nature and I'm equally as moved 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.440 and I'm away from all of this, and I'm so 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:37.279 grateful for being present in that moment and encountering some 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.120 animal or whatever it is that and I tend to 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.440 live like that. Which it's interesting because I I did 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.080 the I received an award at AARP earlier that day. 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.560 It's also was a very long day. It was. It 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.279 was like a twelve hour day. So at noon I 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.000 was on stage receiving. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.080 The night before recognition. 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.359 Was that the night before. I'm still reeling from that. 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:06.000 I've already forgotten how the proximity of that. Yes, I'm 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.560 still reeling from that, which was quite wonderful and unexpected. 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:14.760 But AARP was remarkably moving to me in many ways, 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:20.440 and Lev Shreiver was very generous. He introduced me. It 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:26.080 was incredibly generous in his remarks, and he spoke about 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:31.599 how the film touched many things about his own grandparents' journey, 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.719 as it clearly did my own. And he spoke about 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.719 having son, he's asking him about the work that he 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.480 does and everything, and he said he was so grateful 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.919 for me and this film and what it speaks to 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.720 for our work and what we are striving to do, 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.000 and to be able to give some context. I thought 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:54.960 it was such a generous statement to make, and so 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:56.320 then by the time I got on stage, I was 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:00.880 already pretty moved, and I started speaking about my grandparents 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:05.640 and how they've influenced me, and how my mother's work 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.640 has influenced me, and and that I had recalled something 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.960 that I hadn't thought of in many, many years, which was, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.360 as this was, we were aarp and there's a lot 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.680 of reference about grown ups and being an adult and 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:21.960 being mature and growing. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:24.760 So jarring when you get that first, it's not. 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.120 So jarring anymore. It's jarring the. 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:33.800 First piece of material you get in the mail. Oh yeah, here, 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:34.080 I am. 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:40.200 Oh, that's good for my earthritis. But I, as a boy, 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.720 recalled that I prayed God to be a grown up. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.760 I wanted to grow up so that I would have 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:52.440 some sense of control and a voice, and a voice 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.680 to not only advocate for myself but for others and 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.920 all that I saw that was uninjust in the world 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.800 as a boy, as a very little child, seven or eight. Wow. 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:04.920 And so that really struck me. So yesterday is kind 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.080 of reeling with that and the fact that those prayers 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.440 have been answered to my work because I do get 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.480 to speak. I do get to speak for all that 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.680 yearning inside of me and that yearning in others, and 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.920 so much that isn't right in the world that can 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:25.480 be discussed and contemplated in film. And so that yesterday 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.560 I was really kind of living through a moment of 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:34.840 real gratitude and awareness and you know, sensitivity to everyone 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:36.000 around me as well. 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.000 You know, one of the things that we shares. We 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.360 both grew up in New York, which I'm very proud 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.160 of coming from that place. And you talked about your 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:00.520 mother's the influence and your mother who left hungry and 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.000 left at a time where you know, you needed to 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.600 get out and made a career as a photographer and 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:07.080 worked for the Village Voice, and for those of us 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:08.520 who grew up in New York, the village voice was 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:14.880 very specific, very downtown newspaper. How did her images inform 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:18.760 you growing up and influence you like you just alluded to. 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:24.640 Yeah, her imagery definitely affected me. And it's more than 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:30.640 just growing up around impeccably beautiful imagery and sensitivity in 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:35.480 an artistic work. It's an extension of her being and 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:40.880 her sensitivity and what as an only child and probably 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.719 her favorite subject as well. So I had that as well. 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.760 That's informed my work. I grew up with a camera 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.440 on me, ever present from a very safe and loving place, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.240 also not encouraging me to do something or act or 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.640 put something on. So I became very comfortable with that, 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:02.080 which I think is very helpful for a film. But 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:05.920 her awareness of the world and the way she sees 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:10.599 things and the way it's quite beautiful and poetic and 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:15.200 very unique and funny and sad at times, and I 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:17.760 relate to all of that. And I am the result 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.960 of of all of those influences and probably genetically through 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:22.400 what her being. 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.840 Right, the nature nurture thing, and you do see it 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.960 in your work a lot, the humor, the mix of 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.000 the dance of the two, because I think it's like 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.000 an EmPATH as someone who grows up. You know, we 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.920 both and we dig we we both. 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:38.959 It's so funny. 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:42.079 You know, you gotta eat. 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:42.800 It's part of the stuff. 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:44.679 Yeah, you know we're having chopped out of a chicken. 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:49.679 It's it's a Sunday. And do you have a think 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:51.439 about I don't like. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.640 Fen Oh so I do a dish that's primarily fennel, 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.840 which I which I encountered in Australia doing thin red line, 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.480 which is one of the few good memories left of it. 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.599 But I they did this thin slice fannel with parmesan 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.080 and olive oil and lemon, and it's just fantastic. And 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:08.319 so that is great. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.520 That is a delicious dish, thin slice fedel, parmesan. 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.000 Lemon and olive healthy, delicious. 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.480 So growing up in New York and like as a 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.440 kid when you're you know, we were on the streets. 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.679 We're going to be independent, you know. 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:23.439 Almost pretty independent. 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:24.640 You know where you're like hopping on subway as you're 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.160 walking to school. You know what, when you kind of 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.960 think about how that informed you or the nostalgia is 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.160 there something because I think that leads to that which 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:35.160 leads to this. 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.880 They all do. They all definitely very much shaped me. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:43.560 I mean, I'm a bit nostalgic about those years just 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.480 because New York and it was deeply flawed and broken 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.120 in many ways, and it was terrible crime, and it 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.440 was very threatening at times, and I got jumped and 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.280 I would have to deal with all kinds of stuff 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.120 that I don't I'm glad I don't live through that 0:10:57.720 --> 0:10:59.880 hardship now, but it didn't shake me and did give 0:10:59.920 --> 0:11:04.520 me an edge and survival. Yeah, I mean, I've had 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.199 to work very hard to be less reactive and something 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.760 felt confrontational because you did have to react and respond 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.839 in a quite a powerful way in order to defend 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.240 yourself in the moment. That I think isn't healthy in 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:20.000 an adult life and healthy in other aspects. It was 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:26.240 necessary as a teenager. But I look back at the 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:33.360 beauty of being immersed in diversity and that cacophony of 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.319 it just being normal, that just chaos is going on, 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:42.600 and every kind of person and people helping one another, 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:47.880 people fighting, people alive and human and sneezing on you 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.280 on a train, and you know, every walk of life 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.839 on that in your frame in front of you. What 0:11:55.880 --> 0:12:03.520 you're seeing every day is so vast and beautiful, and 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.360 it still exists, but it's different. I mean, the city's 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:07.120 changed a lot. 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:08.839 The ability I think. 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.640 I think most artistic people, not all artistic people, but 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:13.480 like artists who can't afford to live in a place 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.679 like that aren't. It's not attainable in the voice, so 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.640 they've moved out. In retrospect, if I said, I'm nostalgic 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.520 about because it was very hard, but those things shape 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:27.160 you and make things moving forward less hard. They have 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.959 the ability to anything that you know killed you makes 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.680 you stronger. It's very true. Hard hard work, experiences, hard 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:39.360 relationship experiences, hard upbringing all shapes who you become and 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:44.200 how you're able to deal with them, either gracefully or not. 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.360 And you can become if it's accessible to you and 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.920 you've learned from it. It's like a martial arts training 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.520 almost like the way I see it, It's like you've 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:59.400 practiced deflecting certain things so many times, and rather than 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.400 full on confrontation of going into battle, maybe deflect and 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.680 run or walk, deflect and protect yourself from those things. 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.800 Don't need to prove that you can annihilate your opponent, 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.720 but deflect the opposition in a way with grace, and 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:20.160 that's winning, not necessarily having to, you know, prove that 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.440 you are stronger or not. It's just a matter of 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.800 moving past it and carrying on with what's important. You 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.559 learn those through life, you. 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.640 Hope to because if not, you can't exist in a 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:34.640 state of rage about the way. 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.840 People who have been through those things can stay in 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:44.200 that they didn't get the treated fairly and forever they 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.000 have to prove now you're going to have to treat 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.319 me extra fairly. And we see a lot of that, 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.720 and but that's that's that's a whole different But the 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.720 way you do feel that New York, it definitely gave 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.520 me all the ammunition I needed to be a great 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.080 actor because it was all accessible to me on my 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.000 own curiosity and I think coupled with my mother's curiosity 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:11.720 and visual nature brought it all in and then I retain. 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:33.160 A Lotah, Welcome back to Table for two. 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.800 Today we're having lunch with Adrian Brodie and discussing his 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:41.400 new movie The Brutalist. I'm curious if his family's Hungarian 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:45.920 ancestry helped him or his co star Felicity Jones prepare 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.400 for their roles as a married couple escaping with the 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:54.880 Holocaust and war torn Europe hoping to find the American dream. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.280 I saw some parallels, which is not something I discussed 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.400 with Felicia. But my grandmother was very bright and spoke 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:07.280 five languages, six including English, and that was very instrumental 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.600 and helpful for my grandfather and my mother, even for 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.640 them as a family unit to fill out the married 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:16.560 paperwork that was necessary, and as they were refugees in 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.600 Vienna and speaking German and then coming to America, and 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:25.600 it really was essential for them getting through. So Felicity 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:31.600 plays someone with a degree of language skills and understanding 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:36.680 and quite educated, and then she's not really able to 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:41.320 live up to her potential. She's there kind of supportive 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.320 of her partner my character, right, and they were parallels 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.120 of that. My grandmother actually was able to get work 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.000 in a way that my grandfather wasn't, unfortunately because of 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.960 his lack of clarity and eloquence with his own I'm 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:57.680 used of the English language, you know. 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:01.320 I don't think many people realize the complexities when you 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.600 leave a life that you've built to begin a new life. 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.120 And you know, I always find it's so fascinating when 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.720 I get into a conversation with someone in New York 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:12.680 who might be driving a cab, but where they came from, 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:16.280 they were, you know, surgeons and doctors, and they just 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.680 it's the whole reinvention of what you have to become. 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.320 You know. I was able to go to Hungry in 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:25.960 the summer of eighty eight, and I did it. I 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.280 took you know, I graduated. I did a europass and 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.760 I did too, probably around the same time. No, I'm 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:32.080 like one hundred years older than you. 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:34.400 I did that when I graduated high school. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:35.360 Okay, that's right. 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:39.120 You got around them. I took a urorail by myself. 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.720 I was quite depressed, that's quite because I wasn't engaging 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.480 with people enough. I remember this euroail trip and I 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:46.680 went through Hungary. 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:50.040 Right, and it was right. 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.160 It was still common, very different. Yeah, I remember the 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:56.080 story of war torn. There were the buildings, people hiding 0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:03.160 under the train trying to get through either not, and 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:06.359 they caught them on my car right underneath it, and 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.680 the police came and they maced them and they pulled 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:11.600 them out from the train. And my mom was there 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.600 in Hungary before I started my trip throughout Europe, and 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.840 she was taking pictures and they started getting aggressive and 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.800 I had to leave watching all this, and I was like, Mom, 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.680 just just don't get into it with them and put 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:27.760 it down. But I remember sitting on that train leaving 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:29.520 that started my euroeal. 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.960 Train, my own that it was. Yeah, we came from 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.040 when I did it. I came from Austria into Hungary 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.320 and it was, you know, a big difference when you 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.320 went through, and it was the border and the passport. 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.760 And they stopped somebody in the car that I was 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.359 in because they had a VCR and they wanted to 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.560 know where they got that VCR eighty eight. 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:51.880 You know, I believe it. 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:56.560 Wow. The and I stayed once a train station, rented 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:00.240 a room from an elderly Hungarian couple that didn't I 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.000 mean old. I mean I was twenty two. They might 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.560 have been my age. They were, you know, the home. 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:12.640 And so having been to Hungary and doing your thing, 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.159 what came up for you being immersed in the country 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:20.400 your character escaped and fled. Was there anything you drew from? 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.800 Sure? I mean it was a country that my mother 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.600 escaped and fled, and my grandparents escaped and fled, So 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:32.840 that resonates at any time. For sure. It was their 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.960 home that was lost and their sense of home, and 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.760 my mother as a twelve year old girl, to lose 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:44.240 her her friends and her sense of home, I think 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:49.840 has been very disruptive and hard for her. And I 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:54.439 remember she wasn't able to say goodbye to her best girlfriend. 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:57.359 Their parents only told her they were leaving twenty four 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.479 hours before they were leaving. Today they told her, and 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:02.920 she wanted to say goodbye to her friend and they said, 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.520 you can't tell her. So she went and saw her 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.320 friend just to see her and spend time with her, 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.120 but not say it. And my mom kind of gave 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:16.360 a very meaningful farewell, and her friend was like, well, 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.280 i'll see you. I'll see you tomorrow, and she goes, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.760 I hope so or something. And it's so heartbreaking to 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.879 think about her having to let all that go for 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.960 these circumstances that are beyond you. So all of that 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.239 comes back when I go there and think about it. 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.240 But it's, you know, it's it's been a big, long 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:42.000 life and it's remarkable that she's begun a life again 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:48.159 and it's had a wonderful creative existence. And my dad, 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.240 who she met in New York, has been great to her. 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.360 And me, and all those hardships and sacrifice and her 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.800 own resilience have paved the way for me to have 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.159 this beautiful life to be born as an American actor, 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:05.800 and even all her encounters that helped me discover this 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:11.800 path and life's given us this journey, her own ways 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:15.320 of finding creative fulfillment and what that's afforded for me, 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.440 which is such a remarkable thing. 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.159 The way to that trauma that it puts on a person, 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:35.600 it's hard to imagine how to deal with that trauma. 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:39.400 I mean, how do you think, I mean, you saw 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.359 how you've been the recipient of watching your mother sort 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:44.919 of deal with that trauma and create a life for 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:49.119 herself and hence create life here. You know, when you 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:54.320 go to talk his trauma and the ownership of that, 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:56.760 you know, how do you think he claimed how to 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:58.800 deal with that oppression of that trauma. 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.480 It's a very good question. I mean, I think you know, 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:08.639 there's been tremendous suffering ancestrally, but just in the world 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:15.200 that is it's unfathomable, but it's comprehendible, and in my way, so. 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.919 Well said, it's unfathomable, but it's comprehendible. 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.680 And my work in The Pianist many years ago, in 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.600 my efforts to honor of a lot of slaves Spielman's 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:30.480 memoirs and portray a man who survived the very circumstances 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.399 that this character Loslow Toov is trying to come to 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:39.360 terms with. Right gave me a lot of deep insight 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:44.880 into a specificity of that time and those hardships. And 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.199 did a starvation diet. I did all these things. I 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:52.520 kind of isolated myself in many ways. I left my 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:56.160 sense of home. I put everything in storage, I disconnected 0:21:56.200 --> 0:22:01.960 my phone, I stopped listening to contemporary music. I learned 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.439 to play chopin. I hid in my room and with 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:08.679 a piano and practiced hours and hours on end, and 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.840 had pano lessons for hours every day. And I felt 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:15.159 a profound shift as a person after that experience. So 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:19.040 before the movie was released, before I knew how or 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:23.639 what its response would be in the world, I was 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:28.440 a different person from that experience, and that never really left. 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:31.280 I was much younger than I thought I was then, 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:33.840 and I realized also how much I had taken for 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:38.800 granted in that in that by experiencing those moments and 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:44.399 that understanding, my relationship to even the freedom of having 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:50.160 food accessible to me, the awakening of an understanding of 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:55.879 hunger and the desperation that can immediately ensue with hunger, 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:59.320 and God forbid if your children are going hungry or 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:03.040 that changes everything, and the stakes of that let alone 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:09.480 shelter or other horrendous layers of persecution and violence. All 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:13.400 of that gave me the insight needed to portray this character, 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:19.800 in addition to the many conversations and memories that I've 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:24.439 had a chance to recollect with my mother and that 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:27.880 I remember even with discussing with my grandmother. And that's 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:30.800 the beauty of this work is that you can find purpose. 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:35.040 It's a beauty of how you choose to work, I 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:37.439 think as well. I mean, it makes complete sense that 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:42.320 when you choose to based on the work you're about 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.920 to do, make the choices to really go there what 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:50.320 you did, which it makes sense that you never come 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:52.639 back the same person. It's a gift. 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:55.640 I think it is a gift. It is it is 0:23:56.040 --> 0:24:00.000 a privilege, you know, and it's it's part. It's like, look, 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:04.199 I did not seek out to find a role that 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:08.840 would require a great deal of discomfort and uncovering these 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:12.600 things or I wasn't actively looking for that. It found me. 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:18.840 And I understand my responsibility anyway. I understand what I 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.679 have to do, and also for my own way of 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:27.520 working to feel authentic in my work. I don't like, 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:31.679 you know, acting, The term acting is kind of a 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:34.760 terrible reference of what the job is. It's worse when 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:37.760 they call you talent or celebrity, God forbid. But you 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:41.879 know they're all intertwined. But to be great at acting, 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:46.639