Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind awards season’s most talked-about movies continues with Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, the A24 epic that won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival and on Sunday became an Oscar Best Picture front-runner by winning Best Director, Best Actor – Drama for star Adrien Brody and Best Picture – Drama honors at the Golden Globes.

Corbet’s post-World War II drama, co-written with his partner Mona Fastvold, delves into the story of László Tóth (Brody), a Hungarian-Jewish visionary architect. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to the U.S. to begin a new life while awaiting the arrival of his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), trapped in Eastern Europe with their niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) following the war. The film also stars Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin and Emma Laird, with Isaach de Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola.

After its world premiere in Venice,...