Adrien Brody recalls ‘public embarrassment’ after realising Thin Red Line role had been cut at premiere
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‘It was such a harrowing experience for me,’ actor said. Adrien Brody has reflected on the “public embarrassment” he faced after having his role cut from one of the most acclaimed films of the 1990s. The actor, who is currently receiving huge praise for his role in Brady Corbet’s “masterpiece” and awards frontrunner The Brutalist, was cast as the lead character in Terrence Malick’s war epic The Thin Red Line two years before its release in 1998.
![[Arien Brody won a Golden Globe for ‘The Brutalist’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/08/16/82nd_Golden_Globes_-_Press_Room_58197.jpg)
At the time, this was a big coup for the then 23-year-old actor, considering that the role of Corporal Geoffrey Fife (the main character in James Jones’s novel of the same name) was sought after by many other stars. However, upon sitting down to watch the film at the premiere, Brody was stunned to discover he had been reduced to a background character by Malick’s edit; the film was re-cut to centre on Jim Caviezel’s character Private Witt instead.
Having believed he was the lead role, Brody appeared in just five minutes of the three-hour-long film. In a new interview, the actor addressed the experience, confirming that he “didn’t know the role had been eviscerated” – and revealing he is “kind of grateful” for how things went down.
“There was public embarrassment and potential career disaster affiliated with all of that – I didn’t know that the role had been eviscerated. Then I looked back and I thought, ‘How lucky I am that I averted acclaim and praise at that age.’”.
