As we head into Golden Globes weekend, we chat with Mona Fastvold, the Norwegian filmmaker who co-wrote the seven-time-nominated The Brutalist
“Give a warm welcome to Hollywood’s new power couple,” said the host of a recent screening of The Brutalist at the Creative Artist Agency, one of Los Angeles’ top talent agencies. She was introducing Mona Fastvold and her partner Brady Corbet, who were about to screen their almost 4-hour long film to a ‘who’s who in Hollywood’ crowd. But the Norwegian filmmaker, who co-wrote the film with Corbet, who also served as director, seems rather unfazed when I ask her if an introduction like that – as well as The Brutalist’s 7 Golden Globe nominations – makes her feel like she has made it in Hollywood.
“It's very sweet,” says Fastvold about the introduction before immediately turning the attention from herself to the movie. The Brutalist, which took Fastvold and Corbet seven years to get made, stars Adrien Brody as László Tóth, a renowned Hungarian architect who has fled post-World War II Europe to make it in the United States. Being an immigrant in the US is by no means easy and years go by before he can be reunited with his wife, Erzsébet, an artist played by Felicity Jones.
Related: Adrien Brody on how his mother informed his Golden Globe-nominated performance in ‘The Brutalist’