Adrien Brody Says Jack Nicholson Asked Him To Boycott The 2003 Oscars Over The U.S. Invasion Of Iraq

By Sarah Curran. Published: 20 Mar 2022 7:23 PM Last updated: 21 Mar 2022 2:17 PM

Adrien Brody — Photo: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images

Adrien Brody is looking back on the 2003 Academy Awards.

In a new interview with the Sunday Times, the actor recalled how his fellow Best Actor nominee Jack Nicholson asked him to boycott the ceremony to take a stand against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Brody said that Nicholson invited all that year’s Best Acting nominees to his home, including Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, and Daniel Day-Lewis.

“I said, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going,’” he remembered. “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.’”

Brody went on to become the youngest person ever to win the Best Actor award, thanks to his performance in “The Pianist”.

However, the then-29-year-old was sure to mention the situation in Iraq in his acceptance speech.

“I’m filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I’m accepting an award at such a strange time,” he said. “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.”