‘Superman’: The movie that allowed Marlon Brando not to learn his lines
Being one of the greatest actors of all time comes with a certain set of privileges, and in the case of Marlon Brando, he developed a habit of doing whatever he wanted when he turned up on set.
As the two-time Academy Award winner’s career wore on, his behaviour became more unpredictable and erratic, with countless stories emerging that gained him a reputation for being less than committed to the work. At the top of his game, Brando was still Brando, but those occasions became fewer and further between.
He showed up overweight and refused to work the first four days he was on location for Apocalypse Now, regularly butting heads with Francis Ford Coppola over dialogue. The already-troubled remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau was routinely plunged into chaos by Brando refusing to leave his trailer and heading off on bizarre improvised tangents in the middle of scenes, while The Score saw him adamant he’d perform certain scenes in his underwear and refuse to be directed by Frank Oz, putting Robert De Niro in an uncomfortable position.
However, in one instance, it was mandated by the terms of his contract that Brando wouldn’t have to learn any lines in what turned out to be the sweetest deal of his career. In a fashion befitting the actor, though, he had a few outlandish suggestions of his own that were eventually shot down.
Signing onto Richard Donner’s Superman in early 1975, Brando negotiated a $3.7million upfront salary and 11.75% of the box office profits, which proved to be as shrewd as it was lucrative when the hotly-anticipated comic book adaptation would earn $300m in ticket sales.
Naturally, he proposed that the title hero’s father, Jor-El, be manifested as either a green suitcase or a bagel that spoke with Brando’s voice, with director Donner eventually convincing The Godfather star that it was in his best interests to appear in person and not as luggage or foodstuffs.
It was also written into his contract that his scenes needed to be completed in 12 days or less, and learning his lines wasn’t an option. Instead, cue cards were placed within his eye line so that he could see them clearly enough without detracting from his performance, with some of his dialogue even being written on the diaper of the baby Kal-El he’s holding at certain points.
In the majority of cases, such demands wouldn’t even be entertained by a major studio, especially on a production as expensive and labour-intensive as Superman. And yet, Brando got everything he wanted and more without having to even entertain the prospect of memorising so much as a single word of the screenplay. He brings plenty of gravitas to the part but arguably not enough to justify such an exorbitant payday for such little work.
