Roger Durling, executive director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, presented actors Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, two of “the most interesting performers of their generation,” with the Hammond Cinema Vanguard Award on Thursday, honoring their performances in “The Brutalist” and celebrating their trailblazing careers and artistic independence.

The award was officially renamed at the event in honor of Pete Hammond, who has been conducting interviews at the SBIFF for the past 23 years, and his wife, Madelyn, who moderates the Women’s Panel.

“Both Adrien and Guy lived up to the hype in their work together in ‘The Brutalist,’” Durling said. “Their scenes together are electric.”

Both actors have received Oscar nominations for their roles in the small, independent film, which, it was noted, was made in 33 days for less than $10 million and has garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, including a first for Pearce.

Before the actors spoke of their most recent roles, they talked about their earliest performances, which became a running joke throughout the evening.

Brody got his start as a young magician known as The Amazing Adrien (performing at birthday parties), while Pearce was a competitive body builder in Australia (who won the Junior State Championship at age 16).

Brody, who has been acting since age 12, went on to win the Academy Award and Cesar Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of real-life Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in “The Pianist,” making him, to date, the youngest person (at age 27) to win the Oscar in that category.

“It was such a privilege, and I’m still very moved by it,” he said. “I don’t take any of it for granted.”

When Hammond asked Brody whether he knew at that time just how powerful the film was, Brody said, “I just knew that it was one of the most meaningful opportunities that I had been presented with and that it was a tremendous responsibility to represent that history and that loss. It was such a profound experience, and I learned so much about film and filmmaking. It was life-changing in and of the experience itself, and I always look back at that experience as opening a portal in understanding life as an adult.”

Brody said he drew from that role, which gave him context for his portrayal of László Toth in “The Brutalist,” portraying an immigrant’s struggle to overcome his war-torn past and rebuild his life in a Post-War America.

Pearce, in contrast, delivers a chilling, domineering performance as a wealthy art patron whose vision of American modernity collides with Toth’s. The tension between the two not only drives the narrative but symbolizes the larger struggle between innovation and tradition.

From age 8, Pearce worked in theater in his native Australia. He starred in “Neighbours,” an Australian television show, before landing a lead in “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” a role he said is now in discussions for a possible sequel. His first American film was “L.A. Confidential,” a 1997 American neo-noir crime film directed, produced and co-written by the late Curtis Hanson. 

“Curtis became a real friend and mentor to me,” Pearce said. “I feel emotional talking about him. He was a very special human, and it was a devastating loss when he passed away, and working for him on that film was like film school for me. He taught me about film acting — not that I learned everything on that film, but I went from zero to 100.”

The evening included clips from many of the actors’ movies, including “The Pianist,” “L.A. Confidential,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Memento,” “The King’s Speech,” “King Kong,” “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and “The Brutalist.”

Interestingly, both actors played Harry Houdini at different points in their careers — Pearce in 2007 and Brody in 2014. Hammond asked each about their attraction to that role.

“As a boy, I really did love magic, so I idolized Houdini,” Brody said. “I always joked that magic was the gateway drug to becoming an actor because you are given some material, you get a trick and you have to make it your own and capture people’s attention. It’s kind of an illusion like film is kind of an illusion. Houdini is one of the most revered and interesting, and he, too, symbolized this yearning to escape the confines of depression, poverty, being othered and of being not good enough.”

Hammond asked Brody and Pearce about their experiences working on big-budget films. Pearce, who starred in the “Alien” trilogy, “Iron Man 3” and “Prometheus,” said, “My preference is to work on something more intimate. It’s such great fun to work on a big budget production, but there’s a whole team you don’t get to know.”

Regarding his role in “Predators” (following Arnold Schwarzenegger), Brody said: “The beauty of being an actor is to portray characters who are vastly different from ones you have portrayed and to step into the shoes of others, and sometimes you have to push past a subjective sense of what you’re right to play.”  

The evening ended with a clip and discussion of “The Brutalist.” Brody remarked on Pearce’s Van Buren character, saying, “I love the dynamic between Van Buren and László. Guy’s performance brings such a nuance to it. No one is free from insecurities. The beauty of being an artist is that you can apply and work past them. If you can find fulfillment in life and light in so much darkness, that’s a powerful thing to behold.”

Brody reflected on The Brutalist’s contemporary relevance, expressing gratitude for being part of a film that helps audiences understand others’ struggles during complex times.

“The beauty of film is that it’s a subversive experience,” he said. “It’s about bridging the divide, and I love that this artistic work can evoke an understanding of hardships that others face. The world feels very complex right now, and to do work that speaks to that — it’s a beautiful thing.”