film news

On first meeting Marlon Brando...

Martin Sheen: First of all, the biggest problem working with Marlon was the image we had of him. It was: "Oh my God, it's Marlon!" So, the first thing he did when he arrived - because I guess he had a sense of that - was to go around and introduce himself to everybody: crew members, all the way down to the drivers and the wardrobe people. [In Brando accent] "Hi, I'm Marlon, what's your name? What do you do?" It took a full day. But everyone was stunned by him. He was so disarming. I adored him... his compassion. The only thing he wouldn't talk about is acting [laughs]. He had no interest in it at all. He wanted to know about you and your family and where you come from and how you deal with all your life experiences. He only worked about five or six weeks. So, we had to do all of his stuff very intensely.

On filming Kurtz's death scene...

Martin Sheen: We were shooting a sequence where I'm going to kill him inside the cave. I've got this farm implement and I'm going to bash his brains in with it. So, I'm coming along and Francis [Ford Coppola] had set up the camera on a low dolly on the floor. Marlon is sitting there reading a book and talking to himself... He's recording things. He's giving his reminiscences, so that's how he is distracted from seeing me. So, I'm sneaking up and it starts on me coming up to him, before then going up onto the wall and you see that I'm bringing up this club, and then it slides down to him, so you see him before you see the club coming down. I would slash near him so it would look like I took his head off. So, that was the shot and as we did the first take, just as I got the axe back and I'm ready to heave down on him, he said: "Pray for your father." I dropped the club and I said: "What?" And he said: "Pray for your father." So I said: "OK, I will." And Francis said: "What's going on? Why have we stopped?" So, I said: "Marlon asked me to pray for my father..." [Laughs] Nobody said anything, I just took a dark and that was it.

On Brando's disapproval of him smoking...

Martin Sheen: I smoked then. I smoked a lot, as you can see. But he hated smoking. He had a little houseboat down by the river and we'd rehearse down there. One day, we were seated in there - he and Francis and I were seated in this houseboat and they had ordered some chicken. So, we were all eating but I had finished ahead of everyone and I lit up a cigarette. I'm just smoking and Marlon went like this... There's no one seated next to him, so he goes [leans into an imaginary person]: "I'm sorry, what?" He's looking at me and he says: "OK, don't worry, don't worry..." And then he says: "Excuse me Martin, my friend here is so disturbed by your smoking... Oh, you haven't met my friend?" Suddenly, I see his friend, so I say: "Oh hey, how you doing?" I'm talking to this imaginary guy! But he says [continues in Brando accent]: "He's so upset about your smoking; it's so Neanderthal... You mustn't smoke. You've gotta stop it man. He's very concerned about your health." I almost quit smoking! But that's how he was [laughs]. He was so imaginative and so alive. But he was a big joker. I mean, he loved practical jokes. He'd go out of his way to create a practical joke and stand by and laugh. He was like a child in a lot of ways. It's part of the reason he was such a brilliant actor. As I say, it's the last thing he talked about: movies and acting. He didn't have the slightest interest. I miss him. He was a dear man.

On trying to get Brando to make An Artist & The Pope with Robert De Niro...

Martin Sheen: The only disappointment was that we had bought a book called An Artist & The Pope and it was a story about this wonderful artist named Giacomo Manzu. He was the artist who designed the medal for the Rome Olympics and the symbol for Alitalia and so forth. He was a very famous modern artist in Italy and he'd won a contest to finish the doors at St Peter's - the ones on your right as you leave the Cathedral. Those doors were never completed... the exterior of them. Because he was a communist they wouldn't give him his prize. So, when Pope Pius XII died, John XXIII d came in - "good Pope John" we called him. He wanted to know: "When are we going to finish these doors?" And the Vatican would say: "Oh, the guy is Giacomo Manzu and he's a communist". But Pope John said: "Oh, I'd love to meet him!" And they became these great friends. Giacomo Manzu did the official sculpture of the Pope, which is in the Vatican museum and this [book] is the whole story of their relationship. One day, he was modelling for Manzu and they were finished for the day and he said: "Would you like to see where I live?" So they went upstairs to the Vatican apartment and John lived in a little room with a single bed and a place where he knelt down, a crucifix and that was it. Manzu said: "Holiness, this is where you live?" And he said: "Yes, and this is where I'm going to die." And he said: "Oh by the way, I want you to come and do a face mask of me. Would you do that for me?" And he did. When John was dying, they called Manzu and he did the official face-mask and while they were waiting, he was looking at the Pope's brothers and sisters. So, Manzu asked his sister: "I can't remember, was John right or left handed?" So, he made a sculpture of his right hand too, which he had used to sign so many important documents. But I digress... The reason I mention this is that we wanted Marlon to play John XXIII and Robert De Niro to play the artist. But we could never get it done. But can you imagine? Wouldn't that have been a story? With Marlon playing John XXIII.