“I have to show up somehow.”
If you’re an Oscar nerd — or if you just have a really good memory — then you probably remember when Adrien Brody won the Best Actor award for The Pianist in 2003.
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Brody’s acceptance speech is one of the most infamous Oscar moments of all time. Upon accepting the award, he kissed presenter Halle Berry in a manner that did not appear to be consensual.
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The actor recently revealed that if things had gone a little differently, he might not have been there to accept the Oscar.
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In an interview with the Sunday Times, Brody claims legendary actor Jack Nicholson invited him and the other best actor nominees to his home – and is trying to persuade them to boycott the ceremony to protest the Iraq war .
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Nicholson was nominated that year for About Schmidt, along with Nicholas Cage for Adaptation, Michael Caine for The Quiet American, and Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York.
Ultimately, Brody decided to participate. “I said, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going,'” he recalled.
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“I said, ‘I’ve got to show up somehow. My parents are comming. That doesn’t happen too often.'”
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“‘You can sit it out. But I can not.'”
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Brody finally made some mention of Iraq during his acceptance speech, saying that his involvement with The Pianist “made me very aware of the sadness and dehumanization of people in wartime and the effects of war.”
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Read the entire interview here.
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