"Temperamental Talent"

[ClassyCo]

I got the idea for this thread from the 2005 A&E Biography special profiling Marlon Brando. In said documentary, there is a piece discussing Brando's 1962 remake of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY. That film had a long, drawn-out production that went vastly over budget. Most of the problems are said to be laid at Brando's feet because of his eccentricity and occasional unreliability on set. There was a specific mentioning of the multiple costumes made for Brando having to be costly redone multiple times because of the actor's fluctuating weight. The film was ultimately shredded by critics and bombed at the box office, failing to recuperate the some $17-$19 million MGM had put into the production.

The A&E commentary states that Hollywood had gotten fed up with the "temperamental talent" hindering the production of several films in the early 1960s. They also cite two other troubled productions as reference: CLEOPATRA (1963), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, whose near-three-year production nearly bankrupted 20th Century-Fox, with much of the delays being drawn from script rewrites, Taylor's illnesses, and the off-screen fling between Taylor and Burton; and SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE (1962), starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin, another Fox film, whose production spiraled out of control almost from the beginning due to Monroe's unreliability and illnesses and production staff change-ups. The latter was eventually shelved and left incomplete due to Monroe's sudden passing.

So, what do you think? Did these three films suffer from "temperamental talent" as A&E suggests? Can you think of any other film where "temperamental talent" hindered production?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

"Bad manners -- the infallible sign of talent!"

 

[TaranofPrydain]

I don't really think that Elizabeth Taylor was the real reason that Cleopatra had trouble. They moved the production three different times in three different countries while they made it, and the original director was fired.

The unfinished Monroe film? Most of the people who worked on the film liked her.

Mutiny on the Bounty though, yes that was due to Brando's antics.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Can you think of any other film where "temperamental talent" hindered production?

Didn’t The Godfather Part 2’s final scene allegedly have to be rewritten due to Brando not showing up the day of shooting or something to that effect? It was just a flashback scene anyway so I’m not sure if it necessarily hindered production though. It looks like they just reshuffled the scene and worked around him.

 

[ClassyCo]

Didn’t The Godfather Part 2’s final scene allegedly have to be rewritten due to Brando not showing up the day of shooting or something to that effect? It was just a flashback scene anyway so I’m not sure if it necessarily hindered production though. It looks like they just reshuffled the scene and worked around him.

I honestly haven't heard this before, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. It's something worth digging to see if you can find it.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I honestly haven't heard this before, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. It's something worth digging to see if you can find it.

I know I’ve read it multiple times over the years from various sources that were connected to the movie but who really knows for sure. It does make sense though considering he’s pretty much the only one from the original movie in the immediate family that’s not in the flashback scene.

 

[CeeCee72]

I've read that Edward Norton is very difficult to work with. The Director of American History X disowned the movie over conflicts with Norton and Norton was dropped as Bruce Banner by Marvel due to being difficult.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Debra Winger would definitely fit into this category. Wonderful actress but apparently very difficult. I believe Bette Davis once remarked that Winger reminded Davis of herself.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I've read that Edward Norton is very difficult to work with. The Director of American History X disowned the movie over conflicts with Norton and Norton was dropped as Bruce Banner by Marvel due to being difficult.

Scorpio Rising. (Plus his director-headed Sun in Leo -- he supposedly broke into the editing room at night to re-edit the movie).

But he's good.

Debra Winger would definitely fit into this category. Wonderful actress but apparently very difficult. I believe Bette Davis once remarked that Winger reminded Davis of herself.

Two Scorpio Risings. Although Winger later admitted the drug stuff screwed up her career.

Brando's Scorpio Rising, too. (Not Sag Rising as most charts wrongly assert).

 

[ClassyCo]

I don't really think that Elizabeth Taylor was the real reason that Cleopatra had trouble. They moved the production three different times in three different countries while they made it, and the original director was fired.

I'd agree that Elizabeth Taylor wasn't to blame -- at least not initially. It was not her fault there were script issues, location changes, directorial changes, or cast changes. All of that was clearly out of her control. It wasn't even her fault that she had some serious health scares that halted production. That was also beyond her control.

But I'd say she did cause issues later on into filming. Technically, albeit involuntarily, she was at least partially the reason the production moved from England to Rome. Once she and Richard Burton (the press nicknamed them "Liz & Dick") became an item, they began showing up late, sometimes drunk, and unfamiliar with the script. Their relationship generated a lot of buzz for the film, but they also caused a lot of delays once their fling consumed them.

The unfinished Monroe film? Most of the people who worked on the film liked her.

Marilyn wasn't in a good mental or emotional state when Fox assigned her to SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE in early 1962. She didn't really want to do the movie, but as producer David Brown said, she was under a "slave contract" with Fox at the time and the studio was insistent she fulfill her commitments.

Like CLEOPATRA, the production of SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE was plagued with script rewrites (there were three different writers who tackled the screenplay) and various other issues. Director George Cukor was not keen on working with Marilyn again, having experienced difficulty doing so on LET'S MAKE LOVE (1960), arguably her worst film.

I don't know if anyone on the set of SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE personally disliked Marilyn, but I have heard several mention in different documentaries about their irritation with her tardiness and chronic absences. Co-star Cyd Charisse, writer Walter Bernstein, and associate producer Gene Allen, didn't seem to personally have "beef" with Marilyn, but they each spoke of either her unprofessionalism, reliance on her drama coach, or her persistent illnesses that they apparently saw no evidence of.

 

[CeeCee72]

Scorpio Rising. (Plus his director-headed Sun in Leo -- he supposedly broke into the editing room at night to re-edit the movie).

But he's good.

He really is a fine actor. In fact, most who worked on American History X sided with Norton over the director. He is difficult but has an incredible amount of talent.

 

[Willie Oleson]

but they also caused a lot of delays

The film itself is one big delay, imagine the horror to play it.

 

[CeeCee72]

Christian Bale gained a reputation for being difficult years ago while working on Terminator Salvation. Not sure if it hurt production, but certainly the movie didn't do as well as most hoped. I've also read that some of his co-stars find his strict method acting to be "intimidating."

 

[Willie Oleson]

Youtube has tons of clickbait videos about actors who were "difficult to work with" or "hated by their co-stars".

 

[DallasFanForever]

Can you think of any other film where "temperamental talent" hindered production?

Faye Dearest?

 

[ClassyCo]

Faye Dearest?

Well, if anything, Bette Davis made it clear that not even $1 million could get her to work with Faye Dunaway again. They worked together on a made-for-TV movie about Aimee Semple McPherson in 1976, and Davis said Dunaway regularly held up production with her perpetual tardiness and unprofessional behavior.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Elizabeth Taylor actually had a pretty good reputation within the industry.

Sure, she went through a period between the death of Mike Todd and the pairing up with Richard Burton when she became who-gives-a-crap late to the set. And she always enjoyed presents (usually jewelry).

But most of her career, the comments from her co-workers were positive.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The production of 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau sounds like it was the World Cup of Temperamental Talent, so much so that it inspired a documentary on how bad things were behind the scenes - Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau. Bruce Willis was supposed to play the lead but left as he was in the early stages of divorcing Demi Moore, so they brought in Val Kilmer in to replace him. Kilmer immediately demanded to reduce his expected working days by 40%, which meant that he couldn’t play the lead, so they gave him the supporting role instead (a role that James Woods had been hired for and was subsequently fired to make way for Kilmer). Rob Morrow was hired to play the lead but things went south as Kilmer began to clash with basically everybody on set, after his wife filed for divorce and he reportedly found out about it on TV. Morrow jumped ship due to the tensions on set and David Thewlis ultimately took the lead role.

With Kilmer causing chaos, the director was fired by fax, prompting female lead Fairuza Balk to walk off set and have a production assistant drive her the whole way from the filming location in Cairns to Sydney (a short 2,500 kilometres) in a rented limo. Then add Marlon Brando into the mix. His daughter had just died, so the production crew were unsure of when he’d show up. When he did, he refused to read the script and insisted on his lines being fed in through a radio mic, to comic effect as the mic would often pick up signal from local police broadcasts and result in Brando spouting lines about robberies in the local area that the police were discussing rather than the lines that the production crew were trying to feed him. To sum it up, it was reported that when new director John Frankenheimer had shot Val Kilmer’s final scene, he announced “Now get that bastard off my set”.

 

[ClassyCo]

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau

I need to check this out.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I need to check this out.

As opposed to the movie itself, which is indeed a screaming mess.

Shame about Kilmer. He's screamingly funny in TOP SECRET.