The Pianist

Name: The Pianist
Genre: Drama, War
Released: 2002-09-17
Duration: 2 h 30 min
Rating: 8.5
Cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox

Music was his passion. Survival was his masterpiece.

The Pianist (2002)

Timing: 2:30 (150 min)

8.5/10
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Everything about the movie

Video 8

Photo 80

Actors and characters

Video for the film The Pianist — The Pianist (2002) Official Trailer - Adrien Brody Movie

1:26

Photo 80

Release date

2002-09-17

Country

France, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom

Production

Studio Babelsberg, StudioCanal, Canal+, FFF Bayern, FFA, TVP, R.P. Productions, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg (FBB), Bac Films, Runteam, Canal+ Polska, Heritage Films, Agencja Produkcji Filmowej

Genre

Drama, War

Budget

$35 000 000

Box office

$120 072 577

Website

Director

Roman Polanski

Actors

Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, Jessica Kate Meyer, Michal Zebrowski, Wanja Mues
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Timothy Burrill, Lew Rywin, Henning Molfenter

Camera operator

Paweł Edelman

Composer

Wojciech Kilar

Artist

Allan Starski

Audition

Celestia Fox, Heta Mantscheff, Brendan Donnison

Editing

Hervé de Luze, Henning Molfenter
Whole Team (55)

Short description

The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

What's left behind the scenes

While filming the movie in Krakow, Polanski met a man who had helped his family during the war.
In the deportation scenes, Daniel Szpilman—Władysław Szpilman’s grandson—played one of the children in the extras, and his father and Władysław’s son, Andrzej Szpilman, played one of the Jewish policemen.
Adrien Brody lost 14 kilograms for the role of Władysław Szpilman, spending six weeks on a diet consisting of two boiled eggs and green tea for breakfast, chicken for lunch, and a piece of fish or chicken with boiled vegetables for dinner. His initial weight was 73 kilograms (with a height of 185 cm).
Wladyslaw Szpilman, a former prisoner of the Warsaw Ghetto and a real-life Polish pianist, passed away in 2000.
The music that plays at the end of the film from the truck driving through the ruins is the Polish national anthem. That is why Szpilman understands that he is saved.
During filming of the scene where Brody's character had to jump out the window, despite a safety mat below, Brody hesitated and asked, "Has anyone actually tried jumping out of this window?" Everyone shook their heads. "Really, no one has jumped?" he asked again. And then Polanski just jumped. From below, he shouted, "Well, someone tried it. Now it's your turn!" Brody jumped, hitting his face hard and scraping his ribs.
Władysław Szpilman, a former prisoner of the Warsaw Ghetto and a real Polish pianist, died in 2000.
The scene where Szpilman is saved from being sent to a camp and is told "Just don't run" is inspired by events that took place in Polanski's own life.
During the filming of an episode where Brody's character had to jump out of a window, despite the safety mat placed below, Brody hesitated and asked, "Has anyone tried jumping out of this window yet?" Everyone shook their heads. "What, no one has jumped?" he asked again. Right then, Polanski just leaped out the window. From below, he shouted, "There, someone tried it. Now it's your turn!" Brody jumped, hitting his face hard and scraping his ribs.
This is the first film to win a César Award for Best Film in which no words were spoken in French.
To understand what his character felt, Brody moved out of his apartment, sold his car, and stopped watching television.
In the deportation scenes, Daniel Szpilman—Wladyslaw Szpilman's grandson—appeared as an extra in the role of one of the children, while his father and Wladyslaw's son, Andrzej Szpilman, played one of the Jewish policemen.
The scene in which Szpilman is saved from being sent to a camp and told, "Just don't run," was inspired by events that took place in Polanski's own life.
To understand what his character was feeling, Brody moved out of his apartment, sold his car, and stopped watching television.
During the filming of the movie, in Krakow, Polanski met a man who helped his family during the war.
Adrien Brody lost 14 kilograms for the role of Władysław Szpilman, following a diet of two boiled eggs and green tea for breakfast, chicken for lunch, and a piece of fish or chicken with boiled vegetables for dinner for 6 weeks. He initially weighed 73 kilograms (at 185 cm).