Brady Corbet Made ‘Zero Dollars’ Directing ‘The Brutalist’ — So He Directed These Commercials Next

variety.com:

Ethan Shanfeld Brady Corbet recently revealed he made “zero dollars” directing “The Brutalist,” his Oscar-winning epic starring Adrien Brody. “I’ve spoken to many filmmakers with films nominated this year who can’t pay their rent,” Corbet told Marc Maron on the “WTF” podcast. “You’re not paid to be promoting a film.” Corbet told Maron that his first real paycheck in a long time came from directing three commercials in Portugal, which he described as “an opportunity that landed in my lap, and I jumped at it.” Now, those (beautifully shot) ads have arrived. “While the scale and format differ, the core of directing remains the same, whether it’s a feature film or an advertisement.

No matter what, it’s always a puzzle of pacing and visuals — but at the end of the day, it’s all about creating a powerful story,” Corbet said in a statement describing the ad spots, which are promoting Bloomberg Media’s “Context Changes Everything” campaign. “This Bloomberg campaign proves you can craft something meaningful, something that sparks thought, just like a long-form film strives to do.” Corbet, who was nominated for best picture, director and original screenplay at the Academy Awards, is not the only filmmaker at the Oscars who has openly discussed the difficulties of supporting himself on just making independent films.

Sean Baker, who won four Oscars for his $6 million dramedy “Anora,” has directed ads for fashion house Kenzo and Taco Bell. “I’m coming from a place where I can say this because I have put myself in a place where I only have my chihuahuas to support,” Baker said in a 2017 Vulture profile.