Adrien Brody used his grandfather's rejection to aid his performance in The Brutalist

Adrien Brody's performance in 'The Brutalist' was inspired by the rejection his grandfather faced.

The 51-year-old actor plays Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor Laszlo Toth – who immigrates to the United States in an attempt to restart his life – in the new movie and revealed that his portrayal drew on the hardships his immigrant maternal grandfather was met with in his attempts to find acting work.

Speaking on 'The A24 Podcast', Adrien said: "My mother has a recording – I don't know if she recorded it or my grandfather had recorded it – but I remember him trying to get work.

"He aspired to be an actor too, but he was trying to get work and he had a recording of this and I've heard this recording and he sounds even more extreme than Laszlo's accent. He would introduce himself – my mother's maiden name is Plachy – and he would say 'Plachy' and say it again and 'I would like to apply for the job.'

"Then you could hear the pause on the other end of the line and he would say, 'Yes, oh, okay, thank you, thank you,' and you could hear the rejection and he'd call again, someone else, and I really remember what a struggle it was."

Brody revealed that his grandfather's presence still looms large in his life because of the distinctive manner in which he spoke.

The Oscar-winner explained: "We were such a close family. My mom was an only child, I'm an only child, my grandparents were from the old world. Maybe because they sounded so distinctly different, it struck me even more than anybody else.

"Nobody sounded like them; nobody was Hungarian. So to be able to have that as a kind of guiding light in ('The Brutalist'), it's really special.

"And to represent that, because I feel like that is such a universal thing – there's so many people from whatever background – we're all the descendants of immigrants. There's been a lot of struggle. No matter how you cut it, no matter who it is; there's a lot of sacrifice."

Adrien won a Golden Globe award for the movie but revealed recently that he wasn't director Brady Corbet's first choice for the lead role.

He told W magazine: "Brady Corbet sent me a script, which blew me away. It is an enormous piece of material. We met, and I shared with him how moved I was by it and how right I am for it for numerous reasons.

"But initially, it ended up not coming to me. They gave it to someone else. I was very sad to see it go, but it happens.

"The project went away for a year and then came back around. It was complicated. But, hey, that’s the nature of life."