The role that sent Marlon Brando into Hollywood exile: “I sensed a loss of purpose”
Few actors in Hollywood history have epitomised the blurred lines between genius and madness like Marlon Brando, who was always just as likely to single-handedly derail a production with his wayward behaviour as he was to reaffirm his credentials as one of the all-time greats.
What can’t be argued is that he’ll always be remembered as one of the best ever. After all, if Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell, John Goodman, and Al Pacino are just a handful of the actors to call Brando the pinnacle of the profession, then who’s to argue?
On the other side of that enigmatic coin was the man who took it upon himself to approach great swathes of his career with the utmost apathy. When Brando couldn’t be bothered, an increasingly common occurrence the longer his career went on, he had a habit of making life miserable for the filmmakers and co-stars who could do nothing to stop him.
He permanently resided at the top of casting wish lists, though, because he was Marlon Brando. It would be an understatement to describe his relationship with the industry as love/hate, with the transformative thespian weaving in and out of the spotlight, which reached a head when he announced he was retiring from acting after yet another fractious shoot.
After returning to the summit of the business with his second Academy Award-winning turn in The Godfather, Brando’s 1970s gave off the impression that he was an actor reborn. He earned another Oscar nod for Last Tango in Paris, made serious bank despite phoning it in for Richard Donner’s Superman, and was hauntingly effective in Apocalypse Now, even though he couldn’t be arsed.
To usher in the following decade, Brando starred opposite fellow heavyweight George C Scott in 1980’s mystery thriller The Formula, helmed by Rocky‘s ‘Best Director’ winner John G Avildsen. The latter’s police officer stumbles upon evidence that the Nazis had synthesised an alternative form of gasoline, pitting him against the former’s oil tycoon, who wants the formula for himself.
It wasn’t a great film, and it ultimately earned four Razzie nominations, including one for Brando in the ‘Worst Supporting Actor’ category. While reflecting on what went wrong, screenwriter Steve Shagan essentially let the cat out of the bag and confirmed that neither of The Formula’s two leads was remotely interested.
“I sensed a loss of purpose, a sense of betrayal, a feeling that they don’t want to work anymore,” he said. “A sense that they have come to think of acting as playing with choo-choo trains.” Brando only made The Formula for the money, earned $3 million for his efforts, and then accused the film of being ruined in the editing room.
Meanwhile, Avildsen attempted to have his name removed from the picture, with Brando telling the world when he was supposed to be promoting it that he’d only signed on because he was broke. Once it had been released to an apathetic critical response and tanked at the box office, the actor announced his retirement and wouldn’t be seen onscreen again for another nine years until A Dry White Season brought him back in from the cold.
