Only a few roles in cinema are as immediately recognizable as Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. It is extensively thought to be amongst his finest work and proof of his genius as an artist, regardless of his many controversies. Practically all the things about the best way Don Corleone is introduced onscreen comes from Brando himself and his development of the character, from his corpulent manners and hoarse voice to his iconic cheeks. What’s even more impressive about that is how Brando got here up with these character traits on the spot throughout a display screen check, making for a wonderful behind-the-scenes story.
Marlon Brando Got here up With Don Corleone’s Cheeks Throughout a Display Check
Marlon Brando is concurrently top-of-the-line actors and most controversial figures in Hollywood historical past, and his status for each was already well-established within the early Nineteen Seventies. Regardless of this, director Francis Ford Coppola and authentic The Godfather creator Mario Puzo have been adamant about wanting Brando for the position of Don Corleone, based on The Smithsonian Journal. After some begging on Coppola’s half, he was allowed a display screen check with Brando to show he was the suitable man for the job. Coppola remembers this legendary display screen check in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The director and the studio entourage arrived on the actor’s home on Mulholland Drive earlier than Brando was even up, so Coppola took the time to arrange a couple of props for him, like Italian meats, cheese, cigars, and different home goods. “There’s a rumble and the door opens, and in walks this stunning man with lengthy blond hair, in a Japanese gown,” as Coppola describes Brando, wanting like the other of Don Corleone.
Brando then observed the props and instantly understood what was occurring. “He took his hair… He did it up himself within the again, and he took shoe polish, and he made it black, and he placed on a shirt,” says Coppola. Brando steered that the character’s voice be hoarse and that she ought to “seem like a bulldog,” continuing to stuff tissues inside his cheeks. Brando even answered a phone call in character in the course of the check. The ensuing footage of the display screen check was impressive enough to persuade the Paramount executives, and Brando acquired the position.
Throughout Filming, Brando Wore a Particular Mouthpiece To Play Don Corleone
It is merely unimaginable to conceive of Don Corleone wanting like the rest apart from his stern seems to be and protruding jawline, and Brando was clearly not conscious that he had created one of the most iconic looks in cinema history. What he did not consider at the moment was that he must put on that look in each scene of The Godfather his character was in, and that it would not be sensible and even hygenic to maintain stuffing Kleenex in his mouth to do it. Happily, he did not must.
Dick Smith was the make-up artist liable for Brando in the course of the filming of The Godfather. Having beforehand studied to pursue a career in dentistry, Smith got here up with an equipment referred to as a “dental plumper,” which Brando needed to put on to create Don Corleone’s “bulldog-ish” look. The prototype was made of froth latex to really feel extra comfy contained in the actor’s mouth, nevertheless it did not quite achieve the indended look, so Smith reworked it, now utilizing metal and resin to make the ultimate model: a metal wire working alongside Brando’s decrease enamel with two resin items connected to it on the sides. This pushed Brando’s cheeks ahead, extending his jawline and thus attaining the enduring bulldog look.
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A proposal he virtually refused.
Due to his work on The Godfather, Smith ultimately got here to be referred to as the “Godfather of Make-up.” He would spend round an hour and a half making use of make-up on Brando and even needed to develop a special technique to keep away from utilizing exterior prosthetics to realize Don Corleone’s older look. Smith would go on to win an Oscar for his work on Amadeus and in addition labored on classics similar to The Exorcist, The Godfather: Part II, and Taxi Driver.
Brando’s Display Check Helped Him Safe the Position in ‘The Godfather’
Whereas Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo needed solely Marlon Brando for the position of Don Corleone, the Paramount leadership needed anyone but Brando. At the moment, though he had already cemented himself as a Hollywood legend within the Nineteen Fifties, his status performed in opposition to him as a result of he lined up a sequence of box-office and significant flops in the course of the Nineteen Sixties. Not simply that, however he was additionally extensively identified to be an especially tough actor to work with, which made him virtually poisonous to motion pictures that aimed for important acclaim and good box-office efficiency.
Brando solely secured the position of Don Corleone after his display screen check with Coppola. The footage was proven to the pinnacle of Gulf and Western, (the proprietor of Paramount at the moment), however he wasn’t advised whose check it was. The chief was transfixed by what he was seeing and instantly requested who it was, and that is how Brando was lastly welcomed into The Godfather solid. His work not solely redefined his profession but in addition formed The Godfather into one thing distinctive, due to his creative perception. Iconic moments, like Don Corleone holding a cat firstly of the movie and him using an orange to faux he was a vampire together with his grandson, all got here from him and simply would not be there if it weren’t for him.
The Godfather
- Launch Date
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March 24, 1972
- Runtime
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175 minutes
- Director
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Francis Ford Coppola
