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He was a unique talent but also apparently really lazy. Wouldn't study his lines & insisted on them being fed to him via earplug. I liked this story though, he

He was a unique talent but also apparently really lazy. Wouldn't study his lines & insisted on them being fed to him via earplug. I liked this story though, he seemed like an interesting guy.

cm2187 3y ago
> Due to Marlon Brando's infamous large appetite and dislike of Val Kilmer on set, he would request and eat large amounts of cabbage an hour before a scene started and would silently fart on purpose numerous times to leave what was described a "foul stench" that would annoy Kilmer. Combining those two in a movie would kill the most patient directors https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116654/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116654/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv
- Joeboy 3y ago
  > Combining those two in a movie would kill the most patient directors It killed Richard Stanley's career for 20 years. After which he got the make the fairly well-received Color Out of Space, just in time for his career to get re-killed by a domestic abuse allegation.
- dotancohen 3y ago
  Whoopie Goldberg's first name (stage name obviously) is due to her infamous gas.
- joe_guy 3y ago
  I heard something like this about Guys And Dolls, too. > Brando, knowing how much Sinatra hated cheesecake, had purposely flubbed each take so that Sinatra would have to eat piece after piece of cheesecake. The next day, they came back and shot the scene perfectly on the first take. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048140/trivia/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048140/trivia/
- billy99k 3y ago
  To be honest, after what you just described, I like Brando even more.
vmfunction 3y ago
would say that about many tech geeks. What's the saying goes: 'laziness is the mother of all tech invention'...
chx 3y ago
Other actors held cue cards while their backs were to the camera. https://i.imgur.com/LjnNgoA.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/LjnNgoA.jpeg
tiborsaas 3y ago
If he really was that lazy and that successful, that just proves to me that laziness is indeed a virtue :)
- krapp 3y ago
  Laziness is only a virtue when you have enough genius for it to be effortless. But genius is the hare that will always be beaten by the persistent tortoise if it stands still long enough.
  - tiborsaas 3y ago
    Luckily it's not a competition, everyone can win one way or another. But just being lazy is not enough for sure.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    >But genius is the hare that will always be beaten by the persistent tortoise if it stands still long enough. Definitely not always. That's survivorship bias. There's no guarantee that if you're a hard working tortoise you'll ever beat a hare. Like there's no guarantee that if I'll practice my soccer moves 24/7 for 10 years I'll ever be able to beat Ronaldo.
    - krapp 3y ago
      > Like there's no guarantee that if I'll practice my soccer moves 24/7 for 10 years I'll ever be able to beat Ronaldo. Because Ronaldo keeps practicing and improving, as any professional athlete would. But the hare is the person who never bothers to train or improve beyond their natural talents, who thinks they've already won the race, so there's no point in even running. The "smart kid" who coasts through school and never leaves their comfort zone but winds up in a dead end job with only wasted potential and unfulfilled dreams, while the people who actually applied themselves blew past them in college and got better jobs and achieved their goals.
      - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sparrowInHand 3y ago
To be honest, in hollywood, you do everything a million times. The first three takes going to waste on warming up and learning the lines do not slow the production down much. The perfectionism of some directors, the disinterests by some actors and the size of the endavour do the most damage.
bluedemon 3y ago
His "laziness" could be attributed to having ADHD. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355022506_Marlon_Brando_-actor_ADHD_and_personality_disorder https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355022506_Marlon_Br...
DarknessFalls 3y ago
This wasn't laziness, it was part of his method acting. He wanted the dialogue to appear to occur naturally to him, so he'd place some of his lines on the back of a coffee mug, for example. When he'd look over at the mug, it would appear that his eyes were diverting as though recalling a memory. Recitation often results in wooden performances.

He was a unique talent but also apparently really lazy. Wouldn't study his lines & insisted on them being fed to him via earplug. I liked this story though, he seemed like an interesting guy.

cm2187 3y ago

> Due to Marlon Brando's infamous large appetite and dislike of Val Kilmer on set, he would request and eat large amounts of cabbage an hour before a scene started and would silently fart on purpose numerous times to leave what was described a "foul stench" that would annoy Kilmer. Combining those two in a movie would kill the most patient directors https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116654/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116654/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv

Joeboy 3y ago
> Combining those two in a movie would kill the most patient directors It killed Richard Stanley's career for 20 years. After which he got the make the fairly well-received Color Out of Space, just in time for his career to get re-killed by a domestic abuse allegation.
dotancohen 3y ago
Whoopie Goldberg's first name (stage name obviously) is due to her infamous gas.
joe_guy 3y ago
I heard something like this about Guys And Dolls, too. > Brando, knowing how much Sinatra hated cheesecake, had purposely flubbed each take so that Sinatra would have to eat piece after piece of cheesecake. The next day, they came back and shot the scene perfectly on the first take. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048140/trivia/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048140/trivia/
billy99k 3y ago
To be honest, after what you just described, I like Brando even more.

vmfunction 3y ago

would say that about many tech geeks. What's the saying goes: 'laziness is the mother of all tech invention'...

chx 3y ago

Other actors held cue cards while their backs were to the camera. https://i.imgur.com/LjnNgoA.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/LjnNgoA.jpeg

tiborsaas 3y ago

If he really was that lazy and that successful, that just proves to me that laziness is indeed a virtue :)

krapp 3y ago
Laziness is only a virtue when you have enough genius for it to be effortless. But genius is the hare that will always be beaten by the persistent tortoise if it stands still long enough.
- tiborsaas 3y ago
  Luckily it's not a competition, everyone can win one way or another. But just being lazy is not enough for sure.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >But genius is the hare that will always be beaten by the persistent tortoise if it stands still long enough. Definitely not always. That's survivorship bias. There's no guarantee that if you're a hard working tortoise you'll ever beat a hare. Like there's no guarantee that if I'll practice my soccer moves 24/7 for 10 years I'll ever be able to beat Ronaldo.
  - krapp 3y ago
    > Like there's no guarantee that if I'll practice my soccer moves 24/7 for 10 years I'll ever be able to beat Ronaldo. Because Ronaldo keeps practicing and improving, as any professional athlete would. But the hare is the person who never bothers to train or improve beyond their natural talents, who thinks they've already won the race, so there's no point in even running. The "smart kid" who coasts through school and never leaves their comfort zone but winds up in a dead end job with only wasted potential and unfulfilled dreams, while the people who actually applied themselves blew past them in college and got better jobs and achieved their goals.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

sparrowInHand 3y ago

To be honest, in hollywood, you do everything a million times. The first three takes going to waste on warming up and learning the lines do not slow the production down much. The perfectionism of some directors, the disinterests by some actors and the size of the endavour do the most damage.

bluedemon 3y ago

His "laziness" could be attributed to having ADHD. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355022506_Marlon_Brando_-actor_ADHD_and_personality_disorder https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355022506_Marlon_Br...

DarknessFalls 3y ago

This wasn't laziness, it was part of his method acting. He wanted the dialogue to appear to occur naturally to him, so he'd place some of his lines on the back of a coffee mug, for example. When he'd look over at the mug, it would appear that his eyes were diverting as though recalling a memory. Recitation often results in wooden performances.