Adrien Brody Reveals Who Asked Him to Boycott Oscars 2003 Ceremony

Adrien Brody is looking back at the 2003 Oscars.

In a new interview, the 48-year-old actor – who ended up winning the Best Actor award that year – revealed that he was asked by a fellow Best Actor nominee to boycott the ceremony in order to take a stand against the United States invasion of Iraq.

While speaking with Sunday Times, Adrien shared that Jack Nicholson invited all of that year’s the Best Actor nominees – including Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Daniel Day-Lewis – to his home and asked them not to attend the ceremony.

“I said, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going,’” Adrien recalled. “I said, ‘I kind of have to show up. My parents are coming. This doesn’t come around too often. I know you guys are all winners. You can sit it out. But I can’t.’”

Despite Jack‘s plea for all of them to boycott the ceremony, all five actors were in attendance at the Oscars that year. At age 29, Adrien became the youngest person ever to win the Best Actor award for his role in The Pianist.

In his acceptance, Adrien made sure to mention the situation in Iraq.

“I’m filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I’m accepting an award at such a strange time,” Adrien said on stage. “My experience of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at the times of war, and the repercussions of war.”

If you missed it, Adrien recently landed a role in a highly-anticipated new Apple TV+ series.