The performance Marlon Brando tried to make intentionally bad: “I did everything wrong”
Despite being widely considered one of the most influential actors of all time and one of the first to bring the Stanislavski method to a mainstream audience, Marlon Brando doesn’t claim to have given his all to every single part. In fact, there’s one role in particular he claims to have phoned in from the beginning.
Brando started his decades-long career with small roles on stage, where he became known for his erratic, insubordinate behaviour, even being kicked off the New School’s production of Sayville. His break came when he was cast in the Broadway production I Remember Mama and various other lauded stage performances, culminating in him being cast in one of his most iconic roles as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.
First appearing on screen as a bitter paraplegic veteran in The Men, Brando became known for his dedication to method acting and his accurate embodiment of his roles. He even spent a month in bed at an army hospital in preparation for his first film role. This approach seemed to work well for the actor, as he went on to win two Academy Awards, multiple Golden Globes, and many other awards and nominations, which are impossible to list here. Clearly, it was none of these early roles that he chose to phone in his performance for.
He was even nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of an Air Force pilot in the film Sayonara – the very role he claims to have phoned in pretty much from the outset. A 1957 romantic drama about a Korean War Air Force pilot who falls in love with a famous Japanese dancer, Brando told Truman Capote in a 1957 interview that the only reason he was there was that he “didn’t yet have the courage to turn down the movie”.
Previously, he had told the press that he was excited to do the film due to its ability to strike at racial prejudices and at the opportunity to work with the director Joshua Logan. And, in his interview with Capote he tried to walk back his nonchalance, claiming he initially set out to work hard as usual but “gave up”.
Yet, Brando had turned down the role several times when initially asked and claimed that he came to see it as somewhat of an experiment. Talking to Capote, he said, “I give up… sometimes I think nobody knows the difference. For the first few days on the set, I tried to act. But then I made an experiment. But then I made an experiment. In this scene, I tried to do everything wrong. Grimaced and rolled my eyes. What did Logan say? ‘It’s wonderful! Print it!'”
In fact, the director seemed to think he was somewhat of a genius and “the most exciting person he’d met since Garbo”. In spite of Brando’s lack of dedication to the role, he was nominated for ‘Best Actor’ at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Clearly, Brando was such a born actor that whether he was annoying his crew with his dedication to Stanislavski or taking little to no interest in his current role, he was always able to shine through.
