'The Brutalist' Arrival and Quarry Scene Breakdown

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00:00One of the film's main themes is about a patron that is not satisfied to possess an artist's

00:07body of work.

00:09He's compelled to possess the artist himself.

00:12When dogs get sick, they often bite the hand of those who fed them, until someone mercifully

00:19puts them down.

00:20You've come out of this claustrophobic environment in New York and this claustrophobic relationship

00:26as well.

00:27Very, very intense.

00:29Carrera Marble, for me, represents this material that should probably not be possessed.

00:41The two clips from the film that we're going to be discussing, the first of which is the

00:47second scene of The Brutalist.

00:50Essentially, Adrian being awoken inside of a space and we're not entirely clear where

00:57he is.

00:58It's very dark.

00:59There are hundreds of bodies.

01:02It could be a passenger train.

01:04Ultimately, we ascend a staircase with him and move down a corridor and then outside

01:11to the deck of a ship, finally to discover the Statue of Liberty.

01:16It was complicated and it was very complicated, of course, for you to operate because you

01:32were the one operating.

01:33Yeah.

01:34I mean, essentially, it took place on a ship that Judy and Brady had found moored on the

01:41Danube in Budapest.

01:43We had to be very careful not to over-light it because Judy and her team had designed

01:48a lot of the passage that Adrian, that Laszlo, took through the ship.

01:53That was designed and there was choreography with dancers and background actors, but outside

01:58of that, it was really just the belly of the ship.

02:02We had to be very careful not to over-light it.

02:05On the one hand, we wanted it to feel disorientating and confused and mysterious.

02:13That was a challenge.

02:14And then really, it was me following Adrian with a handheld camera.

02:18And then as Brady said, it kind of evolved to this kind of ascension, this up two levels

02:24of these staircases and out on the top of the ship.

02:26I mean, the thing that's interesting is how people have sort of interpreted this in a

02:31way that I'm sure, you know, I just didn't necessarily regard it that way when we filmed

02:37it.

02:38So, you know, people have felt that maybe they're on a train.

02:41Maybe it's in the camps, in the holding camps or even in Dachau, you know, that's where

02:47Adrian is.

02:48When we were filming it, I just didn't necessarily make those associations, you know.

02:53But it's really interesting how that whole sequence really echoes not only his journey

02:59in some ways, Laszlo's journey, but also the kind of architecture of the Institute, you

03:03know.

03:04It's like half of it is buried underground and is fighting to kind of find the light.

03:09And then the top half of the Institute is very much a celebration of bringing the light

03:14in.

03:15Frank Lloyd Wright famously had these sort of mud rooms in many of his residences where

03:19you would enter and as opposed to entering into a sort of grand foyer or something, there

03:26were very low ceilings, there were no windows and it was a place for you to take off your

03:30shoes and take off your coat.

03:33And then as you would ascend the stairs, boom, you know, it would crack wide open and, you

03:40know, there you were left with this sort of, you know, modernist cathedral.

03:45We realized early on in our process that we could not simply present architecture.

03:50We also had to represent architecture.

03:53And so that was something that was always on their minds and it resulted in this extraordinary

03:59sequence shot, very well operated by our pal Lowell here.

04:04The second sequence we're going to be talking about, which is shooting in Carrara.

04:08The Carrara sequence was something that for a variety of mostly philosophical reasons

04:16was something that was very important for me to try and hold on to because, of course,

04:21you know, with our very limited means and a very low budget, it was complicated to

04:28put together an Italian unit to go and and shoot in Carrara.

04:33We ultimately figured out how to do it with a relatively small footprint.

04:37I think we were something like 16 to 18 people that made the trip and it was done with

04:43available light, which is bouncing all over from this white marble in every direction.

04:49And the reason for me that it was so important to shoot the sequence there is that, you

04:54know, for me, one of the film's main themes is about the patron that is not satisfied

04:59to possess an artist's body of work.

05:03He's compelled to possess the artist himself.

05:07And Carrara marble for me represents this material that should probably not be possessed.

05:15And yet it is and it's predominantly possessed by very, very wealthy, wealthy folks.

05:21And this material is used to line kitchens and bathrooms.

05:24And yet, you know, the reality is that in 500 years, it will not exist anymore.

05:30The thing that's so incredible about the marble quarries is that it's incredibly majestic

05:37and it's incredibly beautiful, but it's also a very violent place where there are constant

05:42rock slides and you feel how immense and dangerous the environment is.

05:48It's one of the reasons that not a lot of films have shot there.

05:52As Brady said, we had a very reduced crew, but we were able to take the VistaVision camera,

05:59obviously, it's integral to the entire film.

06:02The scale of the place is, you know, it's really hard to comprehend, even with the human eye.

06:08These kind of like epic biblical John Martin paintings, you know, you know, there's like,

06:16visions of Sodom and Gomorrah where you see them turning into a pillar of salt in the foreground

06:21and then the city burning down below.

06:23I mean, it's the very fact that it's the brutality of mankind upon the landscape.

06:30Oh, it's the environment where the most brutal act upon Laszlo happens, you know,

06:36it's kind of like is kind of genius, you know.

06:40And also, I think it also happens at a point in the movie where you'd,

06:44I think, having seen the movie several times now, as an audience member,

06:49you sort of, you've come out of this quite claustrophobic environment in New York

06:58and this claustrophobic relationship as well,

07:00very, very intense relationship between Azrabet and Laszlo and then,

07:06and you're sort of, it's kind of a breath, you know,

07:10when you sort of, you suddenly, you know, are introduced to Carrera.

07:13It feels like very important at that time in the movie.

07:17And then, obviously, it's a very pivotal moment in the movie in terms of what takes place.

07:23And when we first saw this place,

07:24obviously, we were, we wanted to embrace the majesty of this vista.

07:30When we turned up to shoot it, it was kind of shrouded in fog

07:33and we were sort of alarmed and disappointed, I think, in many ways.

07:38But, you know, the beauty of filmmaking and the beauty of handing this to an audience

07:42is that this could, you know, even as someone who shot the sequence,

07:46I couldn't see this any other way now.

07:48I mean, it has this incredible dreamlike moment as they're choosing the marble

07:54and Guy is sort of fetishistically rubbing himself against the marble

07:59and this mysterious character is leading them,

08:03talking about beating the corpse of Mussolini.

08:06Of course, you know, of course, it has to be shrouded in fog.

08:11Yeah, no, I think that's exactly right.

08:15I mean, filmmaking is a combination of being very nimble and very precise.

08:23And, you know, it's a dance.

08:27I mean, I know that especially Carrera was one of the most memorable events

08:33of not just my filmmaking career,

08:37but it's one of the most memorable moments of my whole life.

08:41And I feel so lucky that the extraordinary people of Carrera

08:48invited us in and supported us.

08:50So I just wanted to say that we are very grateful to all of them

08:56for making us pasta every night and taking such good care of us.

09:01So, all right, that's all for now.

09:04Thanks, Brady.

09:05Thank you, my friend.

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