The Oscar-winning movie Marlon Brando nearly quit because of Burt Reynolds: “I was flattered that he was upset”
Burt Reynolds was never the sort of actor who was prone to giving Oscar-worthy performances, but for some reason, he was constantly in contention for roles that would go on to be iconic. He was considered for the role of Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which ended up going to Jack Nicholson and earning him an Oscar. He turned down Richard Gere’s role in Pretty Woman, lost the chance to play James Bond, and famously waived away his chance to play Han Solo because he “just didn’t want to play that kind of role at the time.”
The parts that Reynolds turned down are basically just a list of all the most famous and successful characters between the late ‘60s and early ‘90s. He even rejected Die Hard. While Reynolds did manage to become an icon, it’s hard to argue that Bandit is a more beloved character than Bond or that JJ McClure out-charms John McClane. In many respects, Reynolds succeeded in spite of himself.
Of all the roles that could have changed his career if he hadn’t turned it down, none would have been quite as transformative as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Michael Corleone, the youngest son of Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone and the future crime boss of the family, was etched into cinematic history by Al Pacino. It’s difficult to imagine anyone else in the role, but all-American football playing Burt Reynolds? Absolutely not.
It seems that Brando was equally aghast at the prospect. When he heard that the Gunsmoke actor (who was only 12 years his junior) had been offered the role of his son, he put his foot down, threatening to quit the picture if Reynolds was hired. His disgust for the actor ran deep. It was personal. He absolutely hated his guts. “He is the epitome of something that makes me want to throw up,” Brando once said (according to Esquire). “He is the epitome of everything that is disgusting about the thespian, he worships at the temple of his own narcissism.”
Reynolds was nonplussed by this. He looked up to Brando and thought he was the greatest actor of all time, but he clearly got under the man’s skin even without having met him. When they finally did come face to face, Reynolds told Brando that he believed he was the finest actor in the world, to which the On the Waterfront star supposedly responded, “I wish I could say the same to you.”
To his credit, Brando had a point. No matter how much you might love Reynolds, there is no credible way to argue that he would have out-acted Pacino as Michael Corleone. Some reports have suggested that he was actually up for the role of Sonny Corleone, the thuggish, ill-fated son played by James Caan. That would certainly have been better casting, but again, Brando would have had a point in vetoing him. At that stage, Reynolds had yet to show much acting range, and Caan had all the tightly coiled rage and unexpected charm to make the character memorable.
Reynolds also deserves credit for keeping his sense of humour. When asked about how it felt to have his hero threaten to quit the movie rather than appear with him, he said, “I was flattered that he was upset.
