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An Irritated Christopher Reeve Once Accused Marlon Brando of "Phoning In" 'Superman' Performance

posted 6 years ago by TMC-4 (19392)
24 replies | jump to latest

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/heat-vision/superman-an-irritated-christopher-reeve-once-accused-brando-phoning-film-performance-1052108

"I just think it would be sad to be 53, or whatever he is, and not give a damn, that's all," the late actor said of his onscreen father.

Superman did not care much for his father — at least when the cameras weren't rolling.

Christopher Reeve was no fan of the late, legendary Marlon Brando after the two worked together on 1978's Superman.

With the buzz for next month's Justice League reaching critical mass, it is time to look back at one of the more interesting tales from Superman's past.

In a March 1982 interview with David Letterman, unearth by Heat Vision, the late Superman actor said he was disappointed with his experience with Brando, saying the Oscar-winning actor who played his onscreen father, Jor-El, was only in it for the money — and it showed.

"I don't say this to be vicious, but I don't worship at the altar of Marlon Brando, because I feel he's copped out in a certain way," Reeve told Letterman. "What happened is the press loved him whether he was good, bad or indifferent; that people just thought he was an institution no matter what he did, so he doesn't care anymore."

Reeve said, in his opinion, Brando could have been a great beacon to younger actors, such as himself, but he threw in the towel.

"I just think it would be sad to be 53, or whatever he is, and not give a damn, that's all," Reeve told Letterman.

Making it clear he would say the same to Brando's face, Reeve added, "He could be a real leader for us."

When asked if it was exciting to work with Brando, Reeve replied: "Not really. No. I had a wonderful time, but the man didn't care. He just took the $2 million [salary] and ran." (That would be around $7.8 million in 2017.)

Brando's Superman payday became the stuff of Hollywood legend. Director Richard Donner shared his experience with Brando in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year. The filmmaker said he was warned Brando "hates to work and he loves money."

Reeve said he was hurt because he "cared so much" and Brando was merely "phoning it in."

In his closing thought on the matter, Reeve made it clear he believed Brando was a brilliant actor, at one point, but in his opinion, no longer motivated by anything but dollar signs.

"Marlon's going to kill me," Reeve said as his kicker.

https://youtu.be/QDeJcN45F7E

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/79fbyh/an_irritated_christopher_reeve_once_accused/

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Reeve was correct. Brando got paid a fortune to do the movie, but he got less and less professional as he got older and rarely put any effort into his performances. If Reeve said he phoned it in and ran off with his paycheck, I believe him.

Because I've seen the finished performance.

[–] Mikey (404) 6 years ago

I recall hearing that Brando did not even learn his lines, he had cue cards positioned all over the set.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

He did that later in his career, when he would do anything for a paycheck and do it badly. It may have been due to memory loss rather than sheer laziness, but it's not like Brando put a lot of effort into his later performances.

And BTW, I heard Johnny Depp's been doing the same thing.

[–] AP (5256) 6 years ago

Not surprisingly, Depp idolized Brando and even convinced Brando to be in his movie, The Brave.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

".. when he would do anything for a paycheck"

Even act well or put his whole self whole-heartedly into his performance?

So maybe not ANYTHING..

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

I can't blame Brando for taking a million dollars to appear in "Superman", even if he didn't give a shit about the role.

Remember what Liz Taylor said, "If they're dumb enough to offer me a million dollars, I am not dumb enough to turn it down!".

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Agreed.
Brando gave a better performance in "You Rock My World" than he did here.

[–] liscarkat (16476) 2 years ago

Brando did some great work when he was young, but even then he sometimes phoned it in or hammed it up. I can see how it could have been frustrating to work with him, sometimes, even in his earlier years.

[–] TMC-4 (19392) a year ago

The general impression that I've read and heard about Marlon Brando is that he was overall, a very odd guy. While he probably still respected the craft of acting, there was ultimately a point in which he stopped having any regard for the business of it. Hence, why he demanded big paychecks and did what he felt like when he thought he could get away with it. Basically, Marlon in the latter portion if his career, was uncaring about productions that didn't interest him and unobservant about other performers, but still capable of recognizing good acting when he bothered to notice it.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Reeves was not a critic.

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

What's odd about Reeve remarks to me is that...I don't believe that Reeee and Brando share any scenes in the movie. So Reeve didn't really work with Brando as an actor...

Marlon Brando's career and iconography are interesting to me. Given my age, I grew up on many articles about Brando as "the greatest American movie actor" -- and the most influential. But in the last 20 years or so, Brando seems to be remembered for his sad physicality in his final decades(VERY obese) and for being ...nuts. Insane. Mentally ill.

Or as one of his studio bosses said(this, from around the time of the making of The Godfather!).."troubled."

The "deal" on Brando is that he rather single-handedly changed American movie acting from "stylized" to "realistic." His pauses, his mumbling...his sometimes "unmanly" emoting.

This group of films in the 50s made his name:

The Men(he played a paraplegic.)
Streetcar Named Desire
Viva Zapata
The Wild One (he played an early biker, ended up in a poster on many walls.)
On the Waterfront (Best Actor winner)
Julius Caesar(the "mumbling brute" proved he could do Shakespeare)

Not unlike Jack Nicholson's run from Easy Rider through Cuckoo's Nest, Brando "made his name with an early run of movies" and then coasted on the achievement for decades thereafter (but both Marlon and Jack ended up in some big movies AFTER those early runs.)

And a whole bunch of SEVENTIES actors cited Brando in the fifties as their hero and guiding light: Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Richard Dreyfuss(?).. and others were clearly "sons of Brando" -- Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall, Christopher Walken.

Ironically, the star who looked the most LIKE Brando when he was young -- Burt Reynolds -- never really went as deep as Brando -- and Brando was on record in his Playboy interview as mocking Reynolds(perhaps the resemblance annoyed Brando.) I recall Brando's quote in Playboy "Gee, I don't know why I've got it in for that guy, but I do."

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

After reportedly turning the epic "Mutiny on the Bounty" into a money-sucking disaster in 1962, Brando spent most of the 60's "in the wilderness" as a movie star. He didn't go away, he made at least one movie a year, but...they just didn't MATTER. Nobody went to see The Ugly American, or Morituri or The Apaloosa of The NIght of the Following Day.

Interesting, he DID play what became the Steve Martin role in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels -- it was called Bedtime Story in the 60s, with David Niven in for Michael Caine. Brando was pretty funny in that one.

And for John Huston, Brando worked with Liz Taylor in an "important" film -- Reflections in a Golden Eye -- in which Brando daringly played a gay character.

There was more obscurity until the Big One-Two Punch Comeback of 1972 -- The Godfather(a big event of a blockbuster; a Best Actor win) and Last Tango in Paris(an X-rated art sex film -- with Brando showing off his naked body for the last time that he could.)

The Godfather/Last Tango triumph seems to be where Brando 'drew the line" on his career. He was no longer interested in working too hard or too much. He generally took "short parts" -- near cameos, in movies like The Missouri Breaks, Superman, and Apocolypse Now.

And Chris Reeve met THAT man on Superman.

But here's the thing: Brando knew what he was doing. He was "cashing in" on his name, not in straight to video dreck like Bruce Willis makes today, but in major films that needed a major name. Like Superman. A few days work, 20 minutes of screen time, big pay.

I actually think Brando's fine in Superman. The weight is starting to show, but in the close-ups, its still the great Brando face, and we still hear the great Brando voice, and he gives SOME effort in reading his lines with authority, "Richard Burton" style. Mainly, he did this: he made Superman look SERIOUS. It has Marlon Brando in it . 11 years later, Jack Nicholson as the Joker would do the same thing.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Don't reply to me again that's trolling. I actually get a message, so reply to the op if you wanna talk to the op.

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

Oh, I didn't know that's how it works. Sorry.

[–] bozo_500 (12165) 2 years ago

agreed always thought brando was good in Superman and he def still looks/sounds like the classic brando of yesteryear (obvs looks more like 'brando' than he did in Godfather or Ap Now)

i think reeve only directly worked with brando on the unused superman ii scene where he touched his shoulder..

[–] Darren (1113) a year ago

I really don't know if they were filmed together, but there was some interaction between the characters of Clark/Kal-El and Jor-El. It's possible these were filmed totally separately, just like the scenes between William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban were filmed separately. In the movie Star Trek II, Kirk and Khan converse with each other on view screens, as they are separate spaceships, but they do converse. In filming, Shatner and Montalban were never on set together, and when they filmed these scenes, the actors spoke their own lines, while some unknown film crew member spoke the other character's lines for them to react to.

It may have been like that on the Superman set, or they may have been on the set together; I really don't know. These scenes were never seen in the theatrical releases, but remember, a lot of Superman II was filmed right along with Superman I. Owing to a dispute between Richard Donner and the Salkinds, Donner was fired as director for Superman II, and Richard Lester brought in. To claim directorial credit, Lester had to reshoot a lot of scenes so he could claim responsibility for over 50% of the finished product. By this point, unwilling to pay Brando's exorbitant fee, they had his scenes from Superman II reshot, with Susanah York as Lara, Kal-El's mother delivering advice to her son. But watch the Richard Donner cut, and you can see those original scenes with Brando.

There were also some scenes that did make it into Superman I, where the hologram of Jor-El teaches Superman about who he really is. Again, I don't know, but Reeve may have worked with Brando directly while filming that. Even if not, he's certainly entitled to his opinion about Brando's performance.

[–] Scape (504) 2 years ago

My favorite Marlon Brando/Superman behind the scenes story is that Marlon, at the beginning of filming, told Richard Donner that he thought the character of Jor-El in the movie should look like a “Green floating bagel, or a talking briefcase.” with Brando’s voice coming out of it.
Just imagine how hilarious that would’ve been.

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 2 years ago

I know that Marlon had a reputation for being a tad bit eccentric, but I would like to believe that he was trolling and wasn't being sincere about Jor-El looking like a "green floating bagel".

[–] bjensen4 (1281) 2 years ago

OMG someone should do the part when Superman is in the fortress of solitude talking to Jor-El and make him a giant bagel or briefcase instead of a floating head.

[–] Scape (504) 2 years ago

Yes, please somebody! #ReleaseTheBagelCut

[–] bjensen4 (1281) 2 years ago

Let me work on it...I think I can pull it off.

[–] bjensen4 (1281) 2 years ago

Here you go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UOhwRqjeZY

[–] Scape (504) 2 years ago

Brilliant work! Hah love it.
The confused almost terrified look young Superman has towards the end goes perfect with the green bagel.
He’s like “wtf is going on here…?”

[–] smidget28 (768) a year ago

Now years later, there are a lot of reports of this same type of behavior on set.
It's probably true.