Can Adrien Brody stop Timothée Chalamet from breaking his Oscars record?
A rivalry is brewing at the upcoming Oscars, and there’s history on the line. Adrien Brody is a Best Actor contender for “The Brutalist,” but if he loses to Timothée Chalamet‘s performance in “A Complete Unknown,” he won’t just lose an Oscar. He’ll also lose his record as the youngest Best Actor champ of all time.
SEEFirst ‘A Complete Unknown’ reactions praise Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro
Brody was 29 years, 343 days old when he claimed Best Actor for “The Pianist” on March 23, 2003. That made him the first, and to date the only leading man under age 30 to win the Oscar. He broke the record that had been held by Richard Dreyfus, who was 30 years, 156 days old when he prevailed for “The Goodbye Girl.” Dreyfus held that record for 25 years, and now Brody has held the record for 21 years running.
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Chalamet turns 29 on Dec. 27. Then the 97th Oscars air 66 days later on March 2, 2025. So Chalamet will be about nine months younger than Brody was on the night trophies are handed out, but it’ll be his last chance as he’ll have crossed into his 30s by the 98th Oscars. It’s as good a chance as any, though, as he undergoes a dramatic transformation to play musician Bob Dylan, and dramatic transformations in musical biopics are frequent winners, from Jamie Foxx in “Ray” to Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Nevertheless, Brody looks likely to block Chalamet from the podium, at the moment at least. Based on the combined predictions of Gold Derby users as of this writing, Brody will win his second Oscar for playing László Toth, a Hungarian Jewish architect who travels to the United States after surviving the Holocaust. That actually echoes “The Pianist,” in which he also played a European Jew enduring the horrors of World War II, real-life musician Wladyslaw Szpilman.
SEE2024 New York Film Critics Circle Awards winner list: ‘The Brutalist’ named Best Film
Youth is only ever really a problem for leading men, though. Young women are frequently embraced in the Best Actress contest, where the 10 youngest champs are all younger than Brody was when he prevailed in 2003. The record for women is 21 years, 218 days, which is how old Marlee Matlin was when she prevailed for “Children of a Lesser God” in March 1987. She has held that record now for 37 years.
This gender disparity is likely a symptom of prevailing Hollywood biases, where men typically garner more respect as they age (heartthrobs like Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt didn’t collect their acting trophies until they were older), while opportunities for women often dwindle. So Chalamet will likely have more chances at Oscar gold even if he doesn’t prevail for “A Complete Unknown.” But though he’s still shy of 30, he’s already a veteran of sorts, having acted since his youth and earned his first Best Actor nom at age 22 for “Call Me by Your Name.” Thus, voters may consider him mature beyond his years.
However, at age 51, Brody is more in line with the lead actors who are typically feted by the Academy. So he may pull off another win and hold onto his record for yet another year.
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