Adrien Brody’s 10 Best Movies, Ranked

Actor Adrien Brody has been appearing in great movies for several decades now, but some of his most powerful and timeless movies have actually been from the past few years. Brody is the frontrunner for Best Actor at this year’s Academy Awards, which has understandably spurred many audiences into exploring his existing filmography and discovering the many hidden gems that hide within it. His work in The Brutalist is some of his best, but it’s far from the only masterpiece under his belt.

Adrien Brody was famously the younger-ever Best Actor winner for his staggering performance in The Pianist, but he’s continued to choose his projects carefully and maintained a quality catalog that’s very rare among actors who receive such immense acclaim at such a young age. Brody’s second Best Actor victory would break a long-running trend of the Academy rewarding newcomers in this category, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt just how consistent and talented he is.

10

Liberty Heights (1999)

Directed By Barry Levinson

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Liberty Heights

R

Drama

Release Date

November 17, 1999

Runtime

127 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

    Van Kurtzman

  • Headshot Of Ben Foster

    Ben Foster

    Ben Kurtzman

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    Orlando Jones

    Little Melvin

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    Bebe Neuwirth

    Ada Kurtzman

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Despite being one of the earlier hits in Brody’s filmography, Liberty Heights remains one of the actor’s most interesting and captivating projects. With the ever-talented Barry Levinson behind the camera, this movie tells the story of a Jewish man who falls in love with a Black woman despite their cultural differences and troublesome family dynamics. As their romance evolves, the pair learn just how difficult it can be to stay together when society tells them they shouldn’t be.

Adrien Brody in The Brutalist holding flowers at the train station

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Although Liberty Heights isn’t as groundbreaking or innovative as some of Brody’s (and Levinson’s) later works, it’s still a very effective romance that speaks poignantly to issues about racism and classism in America. Certain aspects of the narrative may not have aged perfectly, but the compassionate heart of the story still shines bright.

9

Detachment (2011)

Directed By Tony Kaye

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Detachment (2011)

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Detachment

Drama

Documentary

Release Date

April 24, 2011

Runtime

100 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

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    Marcia Gay Harden

  • Headshot Of James Caan

    James Caan

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    Christina Hendricks

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Detachment is one of Adrien Brody’s most underrated projects, telling the story of a sorrowful teacher who learns from both his peers and his students about the importance of staying positive and having something tangible to live for. The film is a very powerful drama that places its characters at the center of the story, using them as mouthpieces for some very effective commentary on purpose, belonging, and connecting with the people around us.

While Detachment features a rich and vivid screenplay from filmmaker Tony Kaye, it’s fair to say that Adrien Brody is the real spectacle of this project. His lead performance is the beating heart of this story, and his on-screen chemistry with the rest of the ensemble really sells this character’s dejection. This allows for a rewarding character arc that teaches the audience important lessons that can be applied to the real world.

8

King Kong (2005)

Directed By Peter Jackson

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King Kong

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Romance

Drama

ScreenRant logo

6/10

11

7.1/10

Release Date

December 14, 2005

Runtime

187 minutes

Cast

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    Naomi Watts

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    Jack Black

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There have been several on-screen iterations of King Kong throughout the decades, but Peter Jackson’s cinematic spectacle is undeniably one of the most engaging and entertaining. The story follows an ambitious filmmaker and his camera crew as they travel to an exotic island in search of a mysterious ape-like creature that’s reported to live there. After catching the creature and bringing it back to New York, they accidentally unleash chaos on the entire city.

The film exemplifies everything that’s always been so captivating about this franchise; huge-scale action, staggering creature designs, and the ability to weave light social commentary into an otherwise straightforward story.

Despite not playing the film’s protagonist, Adrien Brody certainly leaves an impression in King Kong thanks to his bold, ambitious performance as fictional screenwriter Jack Driscoll. The film exemplifies everything that’s always been so captivating about this franchise; huge-scale action, staggering creature designs, and the ability to weave light social commentary into an otherwise straightforward story.

7

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Directed By Wes Anderson

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The Darjeeling Limited

R

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

8/10

Release Date

September 29, 2007

Runtime

91 minutes

Cast

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    Owen Wilson

  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

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Brody has worked alongside Wes Anderson on several occasions, but The Darjeeling Limited was his first appearance in the director’s filmography. The narrative centers around three brothers (the other two portrayed by Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman), as they travel across India by train in a misplaced effort to reconnect with each other following their father’s death. Much of the film consists of sharp, biting conversations between the brothers as Anderson dissects the fraternal dynamic in fascinating ways.

While Anderson’s movies are usually recognized for their creative visuals and stylish direction, it’s the lead performances that serve as The Darjeeling Limited’s main draw. Each of the main actors does a brilliant job of bringing these figures to life in fresh and unpredictable ways, delving deep into their complex relationships while maintaining a tangible sense of humor throughout.

6

King Of The Hill (1993)

Directed By Steven Soderbergh

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King of the Hill

Drama

History

Release Date

August 20, 1993

Runtime

103 minutes

Cast

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    Jeroen Krabbé

    Mr. Kurlander

  • Headshot Of Jesse Bradford

    Jesse Bradford

    Aaron Kurlander

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    Lisa Eichhorn

    Mrs. Kurlander

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    Karen Allen

    Miss Mathey

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King of the Hill was among Adrien Brody’s first leading roles, and it’s probably the film that most people saw him in for the first time. While Soderbergh had already made a name for himself as a talented director by 1993, this film served as a star-making vehicle for Brody, whose character Lester steals the show whenever he’s on-screen. The film centers around a young boy named Aaron (played by Jesse Bradford), who finds himself separated from his family during the Great Depression in St. Louis.

Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan singing in A Complete Unknown

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What’s so impactful about King of the Hill is how effortlessly and impactfully Soderbergh manages to build this backdrop of economic instability and social unrest through his precise screenplay and the film’s excellent production design. His character work is as strong as one would expect, and his dialogue is as sharp as ever, but it’s the intricate worldbuilding that really stands out in King of the Hill.

5

Midnight In Paris (2011)

Directed By Woody Allen

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Midnight in Paris

pg-13

Romance

Fantasy

ScreenRant logo

8/10

6/10

Release Date

May 11, 2011

Runtime

94minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Owen Wilson In The 2006 MTV Movie Awards

    Owen Wilson

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    Tom Hiddleston

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Although Midnight in Paris is often remembered for containing one of Owen Wilson’s best movie roles, Brody’s supporting performance is arguably just as impressive. The film follows Wilson’s protagonist Gil, who travels to Paris with his fiance while working on his debut novel; when he is transported into a past version of the historic city, Gil encounters several recognizable faces and is inspired by their beguiling stories. It’s a narrative of hope and compassion, every scene outlined with Allen’s signature romanticism.

Brody’s role in Midnight in Paris is only a supporting one, but it leaves an impression nonetheless – he plays Spanish artist Salvador Dali, who encounters Wilson’s protagonist during a particularly confusing night in a Parisian bar. While Brody is best known for playing more subtle, toned-down characters in lead roles, this project gives him full leave to try something louder and more comedic, which works surprisingly well. The film is brimming with romantic ideas and compelling character dynamics, making it one of Allen’s most comforting and rewatchable projects to date.

4

The Thin Red Line (1998)

Directed By Terrence Malick

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The Thin Red Line

R

Drama

History

War

6/10

Release Date

December 23, 1998

Runtime

171 Minutes

Cast

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    Jim Caviezel

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    Sean Penn

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Terrence Malick’s films are known for their epic scope and often distressing themes, and The Thin Red Line falls neatly into that category. The movie centers around a group of WWII soldiers at the Guadalcanal on the Solomon Islands, where they face countless threats from the enemy and struggle to maintain the optimism and patriotism that brought them there in the first place. It’s one of Terrence Malick’s best films, and one that’s stood the test of time better than most.

The Thin Red Line is a relentless criticism of warfare, told from the perspective of those who suffer its consequences most viscerally. The film doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to depicting the horrors of war, and with its almost three-hour runtime, it manages to fully immerse the audience in this world and make them share the characters’ pain and suffering. Malick’s film is an extremely bleak watch, but it’s a significant one that everybody should experience at least once.

3

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Directed By Wes Anderson

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The Grand Budapest Hotel

R

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

ScreenRant logo

9/10

9/10

Release Date

March 28, 2014

Runtime

100 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Willem Dafoe

    Willem Dafoe

  • Headshot Of Jude Law

    Jude Law

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Another powerful collaboration between Adrien Brody and Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel is arguably the filmmaker’s most ambitious project to date. It’s filled with interweaving narratives and an enormous ensemble of talented actors, but somehow never allows itself to feel messy or overwhelming. The story follows a young bellboy at the titular hotel whose mentor is falsely accused of killing a wealthy dowager.

Adrien Brody & Wes Anderson Movie

Release Year

The Darjeeling Limited

2007

Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009

The Grand Budapest Hotel

2014

The French Dispatch

2021

Asteroid City

2023

With its eclectic cast of characters, gorgeous color palette, and well-written narrative that sucks the audience in from the beginning, The Grand Budapest Hotel is truly a modern masterpiece. It also features one of Adrien Brody’s funniest and most entertaining characters to date – he plays Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis, the villainous son of Tilda Swinton’s enigmatic murder victim. It’s a very bold and risky performance that easily could’ve come across as over-exaggerated, but Brody consistently manages to make it work.

2

The Brutalist (2024)

Directed By Brady Corbet

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The Brutalist

R

Drama

ScreenRant logo

10/10

14

7.3/10

Release Date

December 20, 2024

Runtime

215 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

    László Tóth

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    Guy Pearce

    Harrison Lee Van Buren

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The Brutalist is Adrien Brody’s most recent project, and it’s not hyperbolic to say that it’s one of his very best. The film tells the story of fictional architect Laszlo Toth, who traveled from Hungary to America in order to rebuild his career and achieve the wealth and success that he couldn’t find at home – but when he lands his first major client, Toth quickly learns about the hidden struggles of the American Dream.

Brody delivers a staggeringly empathetic performance that really pushes home the film’s key themes of success and sacrifice.

The Brutalist has won countless awards in the months leading up to this year’s Oscars ceremony, including multiple Best Actor recognitions for Adrien Brody. Alongside Corbet’s immersive direction and Lol Crawley’s artistic cinematography, he’s an integral part of this film and arguably the main reason that it works so well. Brody delivers a staggeringly empathetic performance that really pushes home the film’s key themes of success and sacrifice.

1

The Pianist (2002)

Directed By Roman Polanski

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The Pianist

R

Biography

Drama

Music

10/10

Release Date

March 28, 2003

Runtime

150 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

    Wladyslaw Szpilman

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    Thomas Kretschmann

    Captain Wilm Hosenfeld

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The Pianist isn’t the kind of film that audiences will be inspired to watch time and time again, but it’s a hugely important entry in Brody’s filmography that allowed him to become the Hollywood star he’s seen as today. Polanski’s historical epic follows an acclaimed Polish musician named Wladyslaw, who finds himself separated from his family during the war and decides to hide in the ruins of occupied Warsaw.

Over two decades after the historic moment, Adrien Brody remains one of the youngest actors to ever win an Oscar. His performance in The Pianist is an extremely vulnerable and emotional one that expertly captures how it must have felt to be so alone and afraid in such dangerous times for this country and its people. He takes the audience on a versatile journey throughout the film, balancing pure horror with tangible empathy in ways that never feel cliched or unearned.

Headshot Of Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody

Birthdate

April 14, 1973

Birthplace

New York City, New York, USA

Notable Projects

The Pianist, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Predators

Professions

Actor, Producer