MovieChat Forums > Marlon Brando Discussion > What Film Roles do you wish Marlon Brand...

What Film Roles do you wish Marlon Brando accepted?

posted 2 months ago by VHSGuy123 (14)
5 replies | jump to latest

https://www.reddit.com/r/flicks/comments/1brlive/what_film_roles_do_you_wish_marlon_brando_accepted/

1950: Sunset Boulevard (Role: Joe Gillis) (Actor Who Got It: William Holden) (Reason: He was deemed to much of a Unknown)

1952: High Noon (Role: Will Kane) (Actor Who Got It: Gary Cooper) (Reason: Brando was offered the part, but he turned it down)

1954: The Egyptian (Role: Sinhue) (Actor Who Got It: Edmund Pordom) (Reason: In February 1954, a week before filming was to start, Brando took part in a reading of the script. Dunne says Brando read the part "absolutely beautifully" but then Curtiz said "How can I with all my genius make you play this man who is one minute hero the next moment villain?" Dunne says he went home to write a memo for Curtiz then got a call saying Brando had quit the film. Brando said he was unable to play his part due to mental strain and had his psychiatrist support him. As location filming in Egypt had already started, Fox sued Brando for $2 million)

1954: Le Rogue et le noir (Role: Julian Sorel) (Actor Who Got It: Gerard Philipe) (Reason: Brando accepted the part, but he walked off production of the film after clashing with French director Claude Autant-Lara)

1954: A Star Is Born (Role: Norman Lester) (Actor Who Got It: James Mason) (Reason: George Cukor offered Marlon Brando the role of Norman Maine on the set of Julius Caesar (1953). "Why would you come to me?" asked Brando. "I'm in the prime of my life... If you're looking around for some actor to play an alcoholic has-been, he's sitting right over there"- pointing at his costar James Mason, who got the part.)

1955: East Of Eden (Role: Cal Trask) (Actor Who Got It: James Dean) (Reason: Kazan considered casting Brando as Cal, before deciding he was too old for the role at 30)

1956: Baby Doll (Role: Archie Lee Meighan) (Actor Who Got It: Karl Malden) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role)

1956: The Conqueror (Role: Genghis Khan) (Actor Who Got It: John Wayne) (Reason: The Role of Genghis Kahn was originally written for Brando, but Brando was the backed ou of the role due to a contract from another studio)

1957: A Face In The Crowd (Role: Larry Rhodes) (Actor Who Got It: Andy Griffith) (Reason: Brando was offered the role, but he turned it down)

1958: The Defiant Ones (Role: John Jackson) (Actor Who Got It: Tony Curtis) (Reason: Stabley Kramer envisioned Brando in the role and while Brando was interested, he was unavailable for the role)

1959: Ben-Hur (Role: Judah Ben-Hur) (Actor Who Got It: Charlton Heston) (Reason: Brando was offered the role, but he turned it down)

1961: Judgment At Nuremberg (Role: Hans Rolfe) (Actor Who Got It: Maximilian Schell) (Reason: In a rare effort to actually obtain a part, he showed interest in the role, even approaching Kramer about it. But Kramer preferred Schell).

1962: Lawrence Of Arabia (Role: T.E Lawrence) (Actor Who Got It: Peter O’Toole) (Reason: Brando preferred to appear in Mutiny On The Bounty instead due to its pleasanter filming location, Tahiti and munificenter pay."I'll be damned if I'll spend two years of my life on some fucking camel," he said).

1963: Cleopatra (Role: Marc Antony) (Actor Who Got It: Richard Burton) (Reason: Turned it down to do Mutiny On The Bounty).

1965: Doctor Zhivago (Role: Victor Ipolitovich Komarovsky) (Actor Who Got It: Rod Steiger) (Reason: Brando rejected the role)

1967: The Graduate (Role: Mr. Robinson) (Actor Who Got It: Murray Hamilton) (Reason: Brando was considered for the part)

1968: Planet Of The Apes (Role: George Taylor) (Actor Who Got It: Charlton Heston) (Reason: Brando turned down the role)

1969: Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (Role: Either Butch Cassidy or Sundance Kid) (Actor Who Got It: Paul Newman and Robert Redford) (Reason: He felt it was too similar to One-Eyed Jacks and made Burn! instead).

1969: The Arrangement (Role: Eddie Anderson) (Actor Who Got It: Kirk Douglas) (Reason: He was Kazan's original choice, but he pulled out, citing that he couldn't make such a lightweight film following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.)

1970: Little Big Man (Role: Old Lodge Skins) (Actor Who Got It: Chief Dan George) (Reason: The role was originally offered to Brando, but he turned it down)

1970: Ryan’s Daughter (Role: Randolph Doryan) (Actor Who Got It: Christopher Jones) (Reason: He was Lean's original choice for the role, but he had to drop out when filming of Burn! overran in South Africa.)

1971: Dirty Harry (Role: Harry Callahan) (Actor Who Got It: Clint Eastwood) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role, but was never approached for it)

1972: Deliverance (Role: Lewis Medlock) (Actor Who Got It: Burt Reynolds) (Reason: Boorman wanted to cast Brando as Lewis Medlock and was considering to do the movie with Jack Nicholson as long they were both payed more than 1 Millon, forcing Boorman to find cheaper actors)

[–] VHSGuy123 (14) 2 months ago

1972: Child’s Play (Role: Joseph Dobbs) (Actor Who Got It: Robert Preston) (Reason: Brando backed out just before principal photography was to begin when he realized James Mason had the better part. Brando subsequently was sued by producer David Merrick for breach of contract.)

1972: Fat City (Role: Billy Tully) (Actor Who Got It: Stacy Keach) (Reason: Huston initially wanted Brando to star. When Brando informed Huston repeatedly that he needed some more time to think about it, Huston finally came to the conclusion that the star wasn't really interested and looked out for another actor until he finally cast the then relatively unknown Stacy Keach.)

1973: The Exorcist (Role: Lankester Merrin) (Actor who got it: Max von Sydow) (Reason: Warner Bros wanted Brando for the role, but Friedkin refused, arguing that once Brando was cast, it would be a Marlon Brando picture)

1974: The Great Gatsby (Role: Jay Gatsby) (Actor Who Got It: Robert Redford) (Reason: Paramount studio brass wanted him to appear as the titular character, but he wanted $4 million, an unheard-of salary at the time.)

1974: The Godfather: Part II (Role: Vito Corleone) (Reason: Brando was scheduled to make a cameo appearance in the film, in the flashback at the end of the film in which Vito Corleone comes back to his home and is greeted with a surprise birthday party. In fact, he was expected the day of shooting but did not show up due to a salary dispute.)

1975: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Role: Randle Patrick McMurphy) (Actor Who Got It: Jack Nicholson)

1976: A Star Is Born (Role: John Norman Howard) (Actor Who Got It: Kris Kristofferson) (Reason: Brando was considered for the part)

1977: Equus (Role: Martin Dysart) (Actor Who Got It: Richard Burton) (Reason: The Producers originally wanted Marlon Brando to play the role)

[–] VHSGuy123 (14) 2 months ago

1984: Nineteen Eighty-Four (Role: O’Brien) (Actor Who Got It: Richard Burton) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role, but Brando wanted too much money)

1986: Salvador (Role: Richard Boyle) (Actor Who Got It: James Woods) (Reason: Director Oliver Stone's first choice for the role of Richard Boyle was Marlon Brando, But Brando had become notoriously reclusive by the time this project got underway.)

1987: The Untouchables (Role: Al Capone) (Actor Who Got It: Robert De Niro) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role in case if Robert De Niro was unabled to do the role)

1987: Angel Heart (Role: Louis Cyphere) (Actor Who Got It: Robert De Niro) (Reason: Alan PArker offered the role to Marlon Brando, but Brando declined)

1987: The Last Emperor (Role: Reginald Johnson) (Actor Who Got It: Peter O’Toole) (Brando was considered for the role)

1988: Tucker: The Man And His Dream (Role: Preston Tucker) (Actor Who Got It: Jeff Bridges) (Reason: The director wanted Brando to appear as Preston Tucker in his biopic of the maverick automotive executive that Coppola planned to make after completing The Godfather Part II**. Brando was not interested.)**

1988: The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (Role: Vulcan) (Actor Who Got It: Oliver Reed) (Reason: Gilliam offered the role to Brando, but Brando declined the role)

1990: Dances With Wolves (Role: Major Fambrough) (Actor Who Got It: Maury Caykin) (Reason: Costner originally wanted to cast Brando as Major Fambrough but Brando's reputation as a diva dissuade Costner from the idea to cast him)

1990: The Field (Role: Bull McCabe) (Actor Who Got It: Richard Harris) (Reason: After Ray McAnally sudden death, Jim Sheridan considered Marlon Brando or Sean Connery for the role until Richard Harris, who was cast as the priest convinced Sheridan to cast him in the role)

[–] VHSGuy123 (14) 2 months ago

1991: Nostromo (Role: UNKNOWN) INCOMPLETE (Reason: Brando was scheduled to appear with co-star Paul Schofield, Peter O’Toole, Isabella Rossellini, Christopher Lambert, and Dennis Quaid However, when director David Lean died, the production came to a halt.)

1991: JFK (Role: X) (Actor who got it: Donald Sutherland) (Reason: In a interview, Oliver Stone stated he offered the role to Marlon Brando, but Brando turned down the role. "I had been dumb enough to go to Marlon Brando. We all love him, of course. But if he’d said yes I would have been f—–. That scene would have gone on for twice the length.”- Stone)

1992: Batman: Returns (Role: The Penguin) (Actor who got it: Danny (DeVito) (Reason: Tim Burton wanted to cast Brando as The Penguin but Warner Bros rejected the idea)

1995: Divine Rapture (Role: A Priest) INCOMPLETE (Reason: The project included stars like Johnny Depp, Debra Winger, and John Hurt. Production was never completed due to a lack of financing.)

1998: The Big Lebowski (Role: Jeffrey “The Big” Lebowski) (Actor Who Got It: David Huddleston) (Reason: The Coen Brothers wanted Brando to play the role and even had him in mind while writing the script but Brando couldn't star in the movie due to ill health)

1998: American History X (Role: Cameron Alexander) (Actor Who Got It: Stacy Keach) (Reason: Brando was originally considered and envisioned for the role of Cameron Alexander)

1999: Sleepy Hollow (Role: The Headless Horseman) (Actor Who Got It: Christopher Walken) (Reason: Brando was the 1st choice for The Headless Horseman but he turned it down)

1999: Magnolia (Role: Earl Patridge) (Actor Who Got It: Jason Robards) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role after Paul Thomas Anderson for a time couldn't get Jason Robards and George C. Scott turned it down, but Thomas Anderson finally got Jason Robards for the role)

[–] VHSGuy123 (14) 2 months ago

2001: Scary Movie II (Role: Father McFreely) (Actor Who Got It: James Woods) (Reason: Brando had to withdraw when he was hospitalized with pneumonia in April 2001.)

2004: Man Of Fire (Role: Paul Rayburn) (Actor Who Got It: Christopher Walken) (Reason: Brando was the original choice to play Rayburn, less than a year before he died.)

2006: Big Bug Man (Role: Mrs. Sour) INCOMPLETE (Reason: Brando recorded for the voice of Mrs. Sour a month before his death on July 1, 2004. He thought it would be fun to voice a girl for this project. Since Brando's death, there has been no update on the film's progress).

[–] TimeTunnel (4769) 2 months ago

1937: Snow White