Adrien Brody Explains Why ‘The Brutalist’ “Needs An Intermission”

As Adrien Brody‘s post-WWII epic prepares to make its world premiere, the Lido audience is in for quite an onscreen journey.

The Academy Award winner defended the 215-minute runtime of his upcoming movie The Brutalist, premiering Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, as he also prepares to make his London stage debut in The Fear of 13.

“The funny thing, which just occurred to me yesterday, is I’m here in London preparing to do a play with no intermission,” he told Vanity Fair. “And I have a movie that needs an intermission. [Laughs] It’s very strange, but I think it gives time to reflect too.

“It’s hard to tell a lifetime in a film. That’s why we have so much episodic content. I think audiences will like the event aspect of this. It’s very exciting to go see a movie and take a little break in between, and talk a little bit about something, and then it’s a new chapter. You come back in. Like, The Godfather—these are movies that had a breadth. It’s a remarkable thing to experience if you’re connected to it,” explained Brody.

The Brutalist stars Brody as László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrates to the United States with his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) after surviving the Holocaust. Working through poverty and indignity toward the “American dream,” László lands a life-changing contract with a mysterious wealthy client, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce).

Brody praised director Brady Corbet, who co-wrote the script with partner Mona Fastvold, emphasizing that he has “immense trust in him and his vision as a filmmaker.”

Also starring Joe Alwyn, Alessandro Nivola, Jonathan Hyde, Isaach De Bankolé, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird and Peter Polycarpou, filming kicked off last spring in Hungary.