Brady Corbet made 'zero' money from The Brutalist

Brady Corbet has made "zero" money from 'The Brutalist'.

The 36-year-old director has won widespread critical acclaim and a string of awards for his movie - which is up for 10 Academy Awards - but he admitted there has been no financial benefit to the project so far.

Speaking to Marc Maron on his 'WTF' podcast, Brady said: “I just directed three advertisements in Portugal. It's the first time that I had made any money in years.”

He insisted he and partner Mona Fastvold, his co-writer, “made zero dollars on the last two films that we made.”

When the surprised host clarified Brady's award-winning picture had brought him no income, he replied: "Yes. Actually, zero. We had to just sort of live off of a paycheque from three years ago.”

The director noted filmmakers are "not paid to be promoting" their work but end up so busy doing so, they can't take on any paying jobs.

He said: “If you look at certain films that premiered in Cannes [Film Festival], that was almost a year ago … I mean, our film premiered in September. So I’ve been doing this for six months and had zero income because I don’t have any time to go to work. I can’t even take a writing job at the moment.”

He went on to describe the "boundless" promotion schedule as a "six-month interrogation.”

He added: “It’s constant travel, but you’re also working Saturdays and Sundays. I haven’t had a day off since the Christmas break."

And the 'Vox Lux' filmmaker insisted his situation isn't unique, with many critically-acclaimed directors struggling to pay their bills.

He said: “I've spoken to many filmmakers that have the films that are nominated this year that can't pay their rent. I mean, that's a real thing."

'The Brutalist' was made on a budget of less than $100,000 and Brady admitted shooting the movie with such financial constraints was difficult.

He told Metro: "For seven years, there was never a day that wasn’t painful in trying to bring it to life, which is just the reality of the reality of the situation. And so I’m just very grateful that it finally exists.

"I think that the sacrifices that we all had to make, to make it for that amount of money – that is not a great way to operate."

Mona added: "It’s unfair on the crew [and] the department heads. It’s not fair – to work on such an intense and tight schedule is really hard on everyone.

"So, we did it because we had to. But it would have been nice to have a little bit more."