Adrien Brody delivered the longest speech in Oscar history on Sunday, breaking an 80-year-old record with his monologue as he accepted the award for Best Actor. The star of The Brutalist promised multiple times to keep it brief but spent five minutes and 40 seconds on stage. That is ten seconds longer than British actress Greer Garson, whose record dates back to 1943.
But on Sunday, Adrien Brody forced the orchestra to stop.
“Please stop the music. I’ve already done it,” said the actor, who won the Best Actor award in 2003 for The Pianist.
“This isn’t the first time, but I’ll be brief,” he promised before continuing his speech for another 90 seconds.
His monologue bore similarities to The Brutalist, a sweeping 3-hour-and-30-minute epic directed by Brady Corbet, an uncompromising and idealistic filmmaker.
The actor plays a Hungarian architect, a Holocaust survivor trying to rebuild his life in the United States after World War II.
In his speech, Adrien Brody thanked several people, including Brady Corbet, his co-stars Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones, his parents, and his partner Georgina Chapman.
Before stepping onto the stage, the actor hastily handed over his chewing gum at the last moment—a strange moment he addressed on Monday during an interview with ABC.
“I forgot I was chewing gum,” he admitted. “I had to get rid of it somehow!”
That didn’t stop him from ending his speech on a political note, with a subtle reference to Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies following his return to power.
“If the past can teach us anything, it’s to remind us not to let hatred go unchecked,” he said.
Hosted for the first time by Conan O’Brien, the 97th Academy Awards ceremony lasted nearly four hours and received mixed reactions. Variety considered that the comedian “delivered a strong debut,” while The Hollywood Reporter found the show “uneven.”
The number of viewers for the ceremony saw a slight decline compared to last year, with 18.1 million American viewers tuning in, according to ABC, down from 19.5 million in 2024.
Audience numbers had dropped to 10.4 million during the pandemic, whereas a decade ago, the Oscars attracted over 40 million viewers.
