Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy made a revealing four-word comment to Adrien Brody before handing over the Best Actor award at this year’s Oscars.
Brody scooped the coveted prize at the 97th Academy Awards, beating the likes of Timothée Chalamet for his performance in A Complete Unknown and Conclave’s Ralph Fiennes.
Handing over the award was Murphy, who won it last year for his role in Oppenheimer. He started by saying: “I think I speak for all of us when I marvel at the performances of these five nominees for Best Actor who, at every time, made the right choice.”
Yet he clearly held particular fondness for Brody, after expert lip reader Jeremy Freeman noticed what he told him as the pair embraced on stage.
He reportedly simply said: “Man, you’re bl***y brilliant.” Brody went on to give an impassioned speech, in which he was awkwardly cut off twice by orchestral music trying to nudge him to wrap it up.
“Please turn the music off. I’ve done this before,” he responded, before promising to not be “egregious” in the rest of his remarks. “It’s not my first rodeo.”
Brody won the award for his performance in The Brutalist
Brody, who took the award for his performance as Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor and architect Laszlo Toth, went on: “I’m here, once again, to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and of othering.
“I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world, and I believe if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.”
Before collecting the award, Brody was seen throwing his chewing gum at girlfriend Georgina Chapman – leaving viewers at home horrified.
One wrote: “Adrien Brody is a pompous a**. Flew his gum as he entered stage and cued the music off then proceeded to virtue signal. Lost all respect for him,” one user said.
Another agreed, adding: “Adrien Brody throwing his gum to his girlfriend while going up to accept his Oscar.” A third wrote: “Huuuuuh, who’s gonna pick up his gum?”
“I would love to know the internal monologue Adrien Brody had in his head when he decided to throw his gum (? ! ) to his partner in the first row,” someone else wrote.
