Over the weekend, I watched a documentary about Marlon Brando, titled “Listen to me, Marlon”.
I had just finished watching the godfather trilogy (except the last one because its notoriously bad plot has kept me away from it, I don’t want it to ruin the magic of the first two). As a drama geek I love hearing about actors’ process, their lives, how they got to where they were and all that jazz. There’s something particularly interesting about the actors who emerged around the 40’s-50’s to me. Compared to these days, acting was not as greedy as it is now. I hear many stories about how people happened upon being an actor because it was their fate, and the same goes for Marlon Brando. He was a poor boy, his mother left him and his father abused him. There was this tortured man looking for something to do with his life and life handed him acting which he says saved him. Watching the documentary it occurred to me how enigmatic and beguiling Brando was. When he was younger, talking to him looked like you were in your fantasy. He was gorgeous and unafraid to be playful, making him dangerously compelling. To put it simply he was a flirt (bordering the lines of uncomfortable, yet somehow it came off as charming when it came from his lips), he has over 11 kids (that number is confirmed, however, it has been speculated that there are 4-5 more) and more than anything he loved his work.
Brando was so beautifully committed to his craft, unlike anything else in his life. This was somewhat sad to see as without acting he was quite a damaged man. I loved seeing how a craft can give so much to a person if you give the craft everything that you can. The great Konstantin Stanislavski once said “Love the art in yourself, and not yourself in the art” and I believe that to be true for many different walks of life, and attributes to the success of Marlon Brando. When humans make choices from the foundation of vanity and greed they won’t be happy. But Brando acted because he simply loved it for no other reason than it gave him something he needed, and for me that is the most beautiful and admirable thing a person can do. It is something I strive to do in my own life, although it becomes harder and harder in a world the glorifies vanity without realising it is damaging to human character.
To finish off, here are some of my favourite quotes from the documentary, by Marlon Brando.
“When a camera is close to you, your face becomes the stage. It see’s all the little movements of the face”
“Everything you do make it as real as you can, make it alive, make it tangible… find the truth of that moment”
“You have to know your subject, you have to know your character. Putting yourself in a different state of mind in order to fully understand their frustrations, their desires”
“Never let the audience know how it’s going to come out, get them on your time”
“Figure out a way to do it a way it’s never been done before. The truth will get people to stop chewing. When its right, its right because you can feel it in your bones”
“People mythologize you no matter what you do”
And my personal favourite…
“The reason they don’t have light in the theatre is because you are with your fantasy. The person up on the screen is doing all the things you want to do. Because of this, the audience will lend themselves to the subject”
Rest in peace, Mr Brando.
