The instrumental advice Marlon Brando gave John Travolta: “It has a lot of tentacles”
Over the course of their two incredible careers, John Travolta and Marlon Brando never shared the screen together. However, that didn’t stop the two iconic stars from becoming friends, and it also didn’t stop Brando from doling out the single greatest piece of life advice Travolta had ever heard. In fact, it’s a piece of sage wisdom that resonated with Travolta so deeply that it can be applied to many different situations. Or, as Travolta so wonderfully put it, “It has a lot of tentacles.”
On October 15th, 1994, Travolta appeared as the guest host of Saturday Night Live. He was riding high at the time, thanks to his comeback performance in Pulp Fiction, and took part in several hilarious skits on the night. The best one, though, was undoubtedly the bizarre sketch in which he played a barefoot Brando being interviewed by Kevin Nealon’s long-suffering Larry King. Travolta wore a fat suit and a dodgy blonde wig, told King he had a “cookie-eating grin” on his face, and ended the interview by riding the host, who was on all fours wearing a Little Bo Peep-style bonnet.
Some actors may have been offended by the skit, which aimed unerringly at Brando’s reputation for eccentricity. According to Travolta, though, the legendary star told him he’d never laughed at anything so hard in his life. When Travolta was finally introduced to Brando, the Godfather star told him his impression was absolutely spot-on. In 2000, a smiling Travolta told the Los Angeles Times, “Every time he sees me, he brings it up and laughs about it. Maybe it’s a prejudice for me, but I always think the greatest actors are the ones who are playful, who are childlike.”
Despite never finding a project to bring them together, Travolta and Brando became friends in the years after that hilarious SNL sketch. Their first meeting was instigated by Sean Penn, who wanted to fly to Mexico with Brando to convince an author to let them option his book. Because going through any airport with Brando was a paparazzi’s dream, they wanted to keep the trip on the down low. When Penn remembered his pal Travolta had his pilot’s license and had always wanted to meet Brando, it seemed like a match made in movie heaven. Travolta – or, rather, his co-pilot – wound up flying them, swapping stories, laughing, and playing chess the whole time.
Travolta later told The Guardian that Brando gave him a piece of advice he’s since lived his life by. He revealed the iconic On The Waterfront star told him, “Never expect things from people they can’t give you.” He marvelled, “That’s hot. That’ll save you a lot of heartbreak. And, think about it: it has a lot of tentacles.”
The advice made Travolta rethink the expectations he was placing on everyone in his life and career. He began to analyse more closely what he thought any person could deliver before asking them to do something. It meant that he wound up disappointed on fewer occasions because he wasn’t expecting too much from the wrong people.
Ultimately, an enlightened Travolta told The Guardian, “If you’re expecting one thing but you’re getting another, well, why didn’t you see that they could only give you that first thing? It’s very powerful.”
