Second Best Actor Win for The Brutalist at the 2025 Academy Awards on March 2 Sees the 51-Year-Old Actor Deliver a Historic Five-Minute-and-Forty-Second Acceptance Speech, Shushing the Orchestra and Tossing Gum to Girlfriend Georgina Chapman in a Night of Triumph and quirks.
Los Angeles, USA – March 3, 2025 – Adrien Brody cemented his status as a Hollywood icon last night, claiming his second Best Actor Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards for his searing portrayal of László Tóth in The Brutalist, a three-and-a-half-hour epic about a Hungarian-Jewish architect rebuilding his life in post-war America. But it wasn’t just the win that made headlines at the Dolby Theatre—it was Brody’s record-shattering acceptance speech, clocking in at five minutes and forty seconds, that stole the show, eclipsing Greer Garson’s 1943 record by ten seconds and leaving the audience equal parts captivated and restless on Sunday, March 2.
The night began with a nostalgic twist on the red carpet, where Halle Berry playfully ambushed Brody with a kiss—a cheeky nod to their infamous 2003 Oscars moment when he’d spontaneously smooched her after winning for The Pianist. “I had to pay him back,” Berry quipped to reporters, setting a lighthearted tone. Hours later, presenter Cillian Murphy handed Brody the statuette, beating out Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice). The victory marked Brody as only the ninth actor to win multiple Best Actor Oscars, joining legends like Spencer Tracy and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Once at the podium, Brody didn’t hold back. He kicked off with a shoutout to his The Brutalist director Brady Corbet, calling the film “a labor of love that speaks to survival and resilience.” Then came the quirks: mid-speech, he fished a piece of gum from his mouth and lobbed it toward his girlfriend, Georgina Chapman, in the audience—a move that drew gasps, laughs, and later, some backlash from onlookers who found it crass. “Popsie’s coming home a winner!” he declared, addressing Chapman’s children from her previous marriage to Harvey Weinstein, a subtle flex of his blended family’s bond.
As the orchestra swelled to nudge him offstage, Brody, now a seasoned Oscar vet, wasn’t having it. “Please turn the music off—I’ve done this before,” he insisted, waving off the cue with a grin. He proceeded to reflect on both his Holocaust-survivor roles—Wladyslaw Szpilman in 2003 and now Tóth—saying, “I’m here to represent the lingering traumas of war, antisemitism, and oppression.” The speech stretched past the standard 45-second limit into uncharted territory, earning a Guinness World Record nod as the longest in Academy history, per official timers.
Reactions were mixed. Fans on social media hailed Brody’s passion, with one X user dubbing it “a masterclass in owning the moment,” while others bristled at the gum toss and runtime. “Classy win, tacky delivery,” another wrote. Backstage, Brody shrugged off the criticism, telling reporters, “It’s not my first rodeo—I wanted to say what mattered.” Chapman, a fashion designer who stood by him on the carpet, smiled through the gum incident, later joking to Variety, “How can you deny a man a kiss—or his gum—on a night like this?”
The win capped a banner night for The Brutalist, which also snagged Oscars for Cinematography and Original Score, though it was overshadowed by Anora’s five-award haul, including Best Picture. For Brody, 51, the victory reaffirmed his knack for transformative roles, having swept the season with Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Critics’ Choice wins. “It’s a chance to begin again,” he mused backstage, hinting at more “meaningful” projects ahead.
As the Vanity Fair afterparty raged, Brody and Chapman posed with his new hardware, the gum toss a footnote to a night of triumph. Love it or loathe it, Adrien Brody’s Oscars moment was unforgettable—a blend of raw emotion, oddball charm, and a record no one saw coming. Hollywood’s piano man turned brutalist architect has proven, once again, he’s here to stay.
