Adrien Brody to Receive Desert Palm Achievement Acting Award from Palm Springs International Film Awards

The Palm Springs International Film Awards has announced that Adrien Brody is the recipient of the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor, for his performance in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist. 

The Film Awards will take place on January 3, 2025, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running January 2-13, 2025. The event will be presented by Silvercrest and sponsored by Entertainment Tonight. 

“In The Brutalist, Adrien Brody delivers a stunning performance as architect László Toth following his escape to America to rebuild his life, having been forced to flee Europe at the end of the war. Brody’s mesmerizing portrayal showcases the depth of human dignity in the face of incredible suffering,” said Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. “For this career-best performance, we are honored to present the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor, to Adrien Brody.” 

Brody joins this year’s previously announced honorees: Conclave (Ensemble Performance Award) presented to actors Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Lucian Msamati; Colman Domingo (Spotlight Award, Actor); Mikey Madison (Breakout Performance Award); and Emilia Pérez (Vanguard Award) presented to director Jacques Audiard and actors Karla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Edgar Ramírez. Past actor recipients of the Desert Palm Achievement Award include Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Adam Driver (Marriage Story), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Gary Oldman (Mank), Sean Penn (Milk), Brad Pitt (Moneyball) and Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything). In the years they were honored, Bridges, Day-Lewis, McConaughey, Murphy, Oldman, Penn and Redmayne went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, while Ahmed, Cooper, Driver, Garfield, Farrell, Firth and Pitt received Best Actor Oscar nominations.  

Set in post-war Europe, The Brutalist follows visionary architect László Toth as he escapes to America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost. 

Adrien Brody won the Academy Award and Cesar Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of real-life Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in The Pianist, making him, to date, the youngest person to have received the Oscar in that category.  

Over the course of his career, Brody has worked with a wide range of prominent filmmakers including Peter Jackson (King Kong), Ken Loach (Bread and Roses), Barry Levinson (Liberty Heights), and Spike Lee (Summer of Sam). He is also a frequent collaborator of Wes Anderson, having appeared in five of Anderson’s films (The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, and Asteroid City).