Step into the lobby of the midtown New York offices of A24, the film production company that’s earned its reputation as an auteur-friendly studio and distributor. Walk away from the tidy receptionist’s desk and through the tastefully decorated lobby, past the long, slab-like conference table and the surprisingly comfortable couches and the small glass coffee tables. As you approach the large picture windows that offer a lovely view of Herald Square, look to your left.
What appears to be a light-wood wall panel is actually a door, leading into a semi-secret library. The entire room is lined with backlit bookshelves, most of which house a collection of a hundred-plus film-related books, omnibus comic collections, and oversized tomes on everything from modern design to postmodernist painters; the rest of the shelves are filled with Blu-Rays and bound copies of scripts. It’s an introverted, Dimes Square hipster-cinephile’s wet dream.
This is where you will find Brady Corbet, former actor, contemporary filmmaker, and current strong contender for the title of ambitious American cinema’s savior. He is, by his own admission, exhausted from doing nonstop press since the end of summer. The first time we spoke in September, his new film — The Brutalist — had just made it’s U.
S. premiere at the New York Film Festival the evening before, a little less than a month after it won him the Best Director prize at Venice. It’s now the beginning of December, and he’s still at .