Marlon Brando: ‘He worships at the temple of his own narcissism’ on One Actor Who Almost Made Him Quit The Godfather in Rage

SUMMARY

• Marlon Brando and Burt Reynolds had a long-standing feud.
• Brando was upset by Reynolds' Twilight Zone episode that mocked his accent and mannerisms.
• Brando threatened to quit The Godfather if Reynolds was cast, and even blocked Reynolds from joining the cast of Apocalypse Now.

Marlon Brando was, unarguably, one of the most celebrated actors of all time, but he was also notorious for being a not-so-easy personality to work with, especially during the latter stages of his career. While his seemingly irrational demands and ways of operating (which involved strapping cue cards to sets) were one thing, he was also infamous for clashing with some other actors.

Michael Corleone in The Godfather. | Credits: Paramount Pictures.

For one, Brando had a famous feud with one other thoroughly commended actor who left the world a little time after him: Burt Reynolds. As it turns out, Brando was involved in what was a rather one-sided rivalry with Reynolds during the height of the latter’s career, which even had him nearly quitting his all-time best The Godfather in rage had it brought Reynolds into the cast!

Marlon Brando Nearly Quit The Godfather Because of Burt Reynolds

One of the most infamous bad-blooded feuds in Hollywood has inevitably been the one between Brando and Reynolds, both of whom never got around to working together despite holding significantly respectable positions in the entertainment industry. This could have been changed with The Godfather, but it was none other than Marlon Brando himself who stopped it from happening.

According to CBR.com, Brando apparently wasn’t too fond of Reynolds back in the latter’s youth as he was often compared to a younger version of him by fans. As it seems, this severely disturbed the Superman star especially when Reynolds got cast in The Bard episode of The Twilight Zone as a character that deliberately mocked Brando’s infamous accent and mannerisms.

Burt Reynolds in The Twilight Zone. | Credits: CBS.

Reportedly, Brando never really forgave Reynolds for taking on The Twilight Zone role, leading to their apparent rivalry. But this progressed further when Francis Ford Coppola wanted to cast the Boogie Nights star as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. However, Brando was so hell-bent against it that he threatened to quit the film himself in the case of these events taking place.

That’s not all. While not letting Coppola go forward the way he wanted with his 1972 film by having him drop Burt Reynolds as one of the key choices to play Michael Corleone was one thing, Brando further posed a problem to the actor donning yet another role that could have further boosted his career: One in Coppola’s other masterpiece, 1979’s war-action Apocalypse Now.

Marlon Brando Didn’t Let Burt Reynolds Score Apocalypse Now Either

Unfortunately for Reynolds, Marlon Brando was already cast as Colonel Kurtz when Coppola was considering bringing him onboard his 1979 war movie. That said, he, obviously, did everything in his power to ensure his arch-nemesis the Smokey and the Bandit star couldn’t score a place among the cast of this piece either.

Brando in Apocalypse Now. | Credits: Paramount Pictures.

As per CBR.com, an audio recording from the set even had Brando calling Reynolds “the epitome of something that makes me want to throw up” after coming across the news that he was being considered for a role in the movie. Adding to this, he further went on to criticize the younger actor, saying, “he worships at the temple of his own narcissism.”

If that wasn’t enough, the Oscar winner further tried to pull Reynolds down by reportedly pointing out what he perceived to be The Longest Yard star’s fake nature, saying:

What really disgusted me… I saw him on TV one time… The kid was brought in and was about three or four-year-old kid. He wanted to show how loving he was, so he stooped down and was playing for the cameras, ‘Oh how I love children,’ that sort of thing… And the kid started to go away to go off camera, so he pulled the kid back, trying to make the kid make a little scene of how sweet Burt was in respect to children… The whole idea of hustling children. The kid wouldn’t do the bulls**t.

Brando in Smokey and the Bandit. | Credits: Universal Pictures.

Needless to say, considering these reports are actually true, it seems like Burt Reynolds career may have been significant, but it still lost out on what could have been some really great roles in two of the best Coppola films of all time.

At the same time, the other roles Reynolds ended up scoring because of Brando’s tricks had him realizing he was better suited to comedy, so these two actors – who were notably widely deemed a bit too similar in their youths – never really had to cross paths ever again.

The Godfather and Apocalypse Now can currently be streamed on Prime Video.

Written by Mahin Sultan

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