Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #16

Marlon Brando was notoriously difficult to work with, he was quite a diva. The famous “the horror” line is from the book though and Brando delivered it in the most epic way as possible. So is not a faithful adaptation of a great book, but nevertheless a great movie on it’s own. I also love the “I don’t see any methods, sir” scene.

When Brando arrived for filming in the Philippines in September 1976, he was dissatisfied with the script; Brando didn't understand why Kurtz was meant to be very thin and bald, or why the character's name was Kurtz and not something like Leighley. He claimed, "American generals don't have those kinds of names. They have flowery names, from the South. I want to be 'Colonel Leighley'." And so, for a time the name was changed under his demand.[8] When Brando showed up for filming he had put on about 40 pounds (18 kg) and forced Coppola to shoot him above the waist, making it appear that Kurtz was a 6-foot 6-inch (198 cm) giant.[9] Many of Brando's speeches were ad-libbed, with Coppola filming hours of footage of these monologues and then cutting them down to the most interesting parts.