Adrien Brody collected yet another gong to add to his collection, beating Timothée Chalamet’s performance in A Complete Unknown to win Best Actor at the BAFTAs. Chalamet already had plenty of ground to make up on Brody, whose portrayal of László Tóth in The Brutalist has made him the favorite to collect the second Oscar of his career for a leading role.

It was thought that the controversy surrounding The Brutalist’s use of AI to enhance Brody’s performance would have boosted Chalamet’s chances of winning his first Academy Award. However, Brody’s BAFTA win feels decisive in stretching the lead he has over his nearest Oscars rival to an almost insurmountable gap with the Academy’s polls closing tomorrow evening. The Screen Actors’ Guild Awards will serve as the final indicator as to whether Chalamet can overturn the odds to win his first Oscars statuette, for his acclaimed depiction of Bob Dylan.

Adrien Brody's BAFTA Win Continued His Near-Perfect Awards Season Form

It Adds To The Golden Globe And Critics' Choice Award He's Already Won For The Brutalist

Unfortunately for Timothée Chalamet, the awards just keep stacking up in Adrien Brody’s favor. He can add this victory at the BAFTAs to his Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama last month, and his Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor earlier in February. A Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) award and an Oscar would effectively complete the entire set of major acting prizes this awards season. The last actor to achieve this feat was Will Smith, who won a clean sweep of these five major awards for his portrayal of Richard Williams in King Richard back in 2022.

It’s worth noting that when Brody’s performance in The Pianist as Władysław Szpilman won him his first Oscar back in 2003, he didn’t win any of the other five major acting gongs that season. What’s more, if he did win both the SAG and Academy awards for his portrayal Tóth he’d become just the third male actor to do so for a leading role that’s not historical, after Daniel Day-Lewis and Joaquin Phoenix. ing such esteemed company would secure Brody’s position in the pantheon of modern acting greats.

The Brutalist's AI Controversy Hasn't Hurt Adrien Brody's Oscars Chances

He Keeps On Winning, And Has Answered His Detractors Decisively

BAFTA’s recognition of The Brutalist’s lead actor demonstrates that the controversy surrounding the film’s use of AI hasn’t harmed Brody’s chances of winning his second Oscar. The BAFTAs were the most significant test the movie had faced in relation to this controversy since it broke in the second half of January, following an interview that the film’s editor Dávid Jancsó gave to RedShark.

It seems that the groundswell of Brody’s fellow actors and filmmakers have decided to focus on other aspects of his extraordinary performance.

Jancsó’s ission that The Brutalist’s production included elements of AI angered the acting community in particular, given that restrictions on the use of AI was one of the key demands raised by the SAG in their 2023 strike action. Brody’s role as Tóth in particular was subject to this backlash, since AI was used to enhance the actor’s accent in parts of the movie where he speaks Hungarian.

Some view his complicity in the use of this technology as a betrayal of the SAG strikes, while others have argued that the AI enhancements to his performance give him an unfair advantage over other actors nominated for awards. Brody himself had an eloquent response to these accusations about AI in The Brutalist at the start of February. In the end, it seems that the groundswell of Brody’s fellow actors and filmmakers have decided to focus on other aspects of his extraordinary performance instead. He’s receiving the recognition he’s due regardless of where voters stand on the use of AI in cinema.

Can Timothée Chalamet Still Win Best Actor At The Oscars 2025?

He'll Need To Win The SAG Award For Best Actor To Stand A Chance

It’d be easy to write off Timothée Chalamet’s hopes of winning the 2025 Best Actor Oscar at this point, given how dominant Adrien Brody has been throughout this awards season. But it’s important to that in 2003 Brody himself beat the odds, as well as the BAFTA and Golden Globes winners that year, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson, to win his first Academy Awards. Chalamet isn’t out of the running yet. The Screen Actors’ Guild Awards next Sunday will provide a more accurate indication of which way the Oscars polls have swung.

In that respect, Chalamet is actually at an advantage. He and his castmates from A Complete Unknown dominate the SAG nominations, appearing in four categories including as a collective nominee for Outstanding Cast. Brody is the sole representative of The Brutalist, meanwhile, as he goes head-to-head with Chalamet for the final time. If Brody wins the SAG award, however, he may as well open a fresh tub of Oscar polish in preparation for this award season's biggest prize.