{"id":1839,"date":"2025-07-11T15:19:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/1839\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T15:19:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:19:03","slug":"christopher-reeve-wasnt-impressed-by-oscar-winning-legend-marlon-brando-on-the-set-of-1978s-superman-the-man-didnt-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/1839\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Reeve wasn’t impressed by Oscar-winning legend Marlon Brando on the set of 1978’s \u201cSuperman\u201d: ‘The man didn’t care’"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Christopher Reeve<\/a> was cast as Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton, in the guise of Clark Kent (but best known the world over as Superman<\/a>!) in the 1978 feature film Superman: The Movie<\/a>, he was a relative unknown. The Juilliard-trained actor had appeared on the CBS soap opera Love of Life and in several plays and musicals (including the Broadway production of A Matter of Gravity opposite Katharine Hepburn<\/a>), but to most, he was a new (and almost impossibly handsome) face when he flew across the screen in Richard Donner<\/a>‘s superhero flick.<\/p>\n

Instantly celebrated for his easy charm, strong jawline, and the way in which he filled out his admittedly ludicrous Kryptonian garb, many did not realize that Reeve had studied with John Houseman<\/a> and performed Shakespeare<\/a>. (And Arthur Miller<\/a> and No\u00ebl Coward<\/a> and was in The Threepenny Opera.)<\/p>\n

The guy was a bona fide thespian, but still an eager-to-learn 24-year-old when cast as the Man of Steel. One would surmise he was overjoyed upon learning that the great Marlon Brando<\/a> \u2014 one of the most celebrated and influential performers of the 20th century \u2014 would also appear in the film. But that wasn’t quite how it all went down.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty<\/p>\n

Marlon Brando and Susannah York, escaping Kryptonian debris, in ‘Superman: The Movie’<\/p>\n

Brando, already a two-time Oscar winner, was by this stage of his career known for being a little, um, eccentric on set. It was agony for the crew, but the final results would always make it seem worth it. (You can check out the documentary Hearts of Darkness to see what Francis Ford Coppola<\/a> had to go through to capture Brando’s performance in Apocalypse Now<\/a>, from around the same period.)<\/p>\n

Superman: The Movie was made during a different age, when comic books were considered the lowest form of entertainment, despite having a major cultural resonance. To ensure that the work was taken seriously, the producers knew they had to be strategic with their casting. Hence, impressive, well-regarded players were sprinkled throughout the company, like Gene Hackman<\/a>, Glenn Ford<\/a>, Trevor Howard, Ned Beatty<\/a>, Jackie Cooper<\/a>, and, the biggest casting coup of all, Brando.<\/p>\n

In a widely reported story for the time, the Godfather<\/a> actor received a paycheck<\/a> of $3.7 million for playing Jor-El in Superman. Plus, he secured 11.75 percent of the movie’s gross profits. This added up to $19 million \u2014 which is over $94 million today. Reeve, who carries the movie on his strong, muscular shoulders, made $250,000 \u2014 not Smallville chicken feed for a newcomer, but quite striking in comparison to Brando’s haul.<\/p>\n

Brando’s millions are even more remarkable when you realize the dude is only in a few scenes!<\/p>\n

He was also guaranteed top billing, and (this is the best part) he was deliberately difficult on set, because if shooting went overtime, he made more money. That accusation comes from a young Cary Elwes<\/a>, who worked as a production assistant on the project, and he had to lure Brando out of his trailer<\/a> with food. According to Terence Stamp<\/a>, who appeared opposite Brando as General Zod, the On the Waterfront<\/a> star made zero attempt to learn his lines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Stanley<\/p>\n

Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection\/Getty<\/p>\n

Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder in a production still from ‘Superman: The Movie’<\/p>\n

“Everything has a price in the marketplace,” Brando said<\/a> about his astronomical payday for 20 minutes of screen time in the 143-minute movie. “So do cars, so do hula hoops, so do useless endeavors.” Gee whiz, talk about the love of the craft!<\/p>\n

And that’s what ultimately irked Reeve.<\/p>\n

Around three and a half years after the release of Superman: The Movie (and only a few short months after both Somewhere in Time<\/a> and Superman II<\/a>), Reeve was out promoting his work in Sidney Lumet<\/a>‘s film adaptation of Ira Levin’s play Deathtrap. The extremely clever and knotty movie, in which Reeve starred opposite Michael Caine<\/a> and Dyan Cannon<\/a>, was a substantial departure for him \u2014 allowing him the opportunity to tell the world, “Look, I love being Superman, but I’m more than just a man in tights.”<\/p>\n

\"Silver<\/p>\n

Silver Screen Collection\/Getty<\/p>\n

Christopher Reeve as the Big Blue Boy Scout<\/p>\n

Reeve’s appearance on Late Night With David Letterman<\/a> is one of the all-time great talk show interviews, because he threads the needle perfectly. He doesn’t put his previous work down at all, but is eager to let people know he has more to offer.<\/p>\n

When Letterman<\/a> lobbed a typical Hollywood softball \u2014 “What was working with Marlon Brando like?” \u2014 Reeve did something almost unheard of in these situations. He was honest.<\/p>\n

“I don’t worship at the altar of Marlon Brando,” he said, then charged the Viva Zapata and A Streetcar Named Desire<\/a> legend of copping out.<\/p>\n

“He could really be inspiring a whole generation of actors by continuing to work,” he said, exuding Superman levels of Boy Scout-ness. “But what happened is the press loved him whether he was good, bad, or indifferent. People thought he was this institution no matter what he did. So he doesn’t care anymore.”<\/p>\n

\"Keystone\/Getty<\/p>\n

Keystone\/Getty<\/p>\n

For this, he was only paid $250K? An outrage!<\/p>\n

He continued, “I just think it would be sad to be 53 or whatever he is and not give a damn. I just think it’s too bad that the man has been kinda forced into that hostility.”<\/p>\n

Letterman acted a little surprised, mumbled over himself, then mock announced, “Well, he’s here tonight, Chris!” with absolutely perfect timing.<\/p>\n

Reeve laughed at Letterman’s joke, but added, “That’s something I would say to him, as well.”<\/p>\n

When Letterman asked if it was, at least, exciting to work with Brando, Reeve responded, “Not really, no. He took the two million and ran.”<\/p>\n

Gosh, if only there was a way for you to watch this old interview from 1982 somehow. If a Kryptonian nourished by the yellow sun of Earth could somehow spin us all back on our axis to reverse time… but wait! What’s this? A YouTube clip? Wow, and it’s even all cued up to the fireworks. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Christopher Reeve was cast as Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton, in the guise of Clark Kent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[2340,236,239,88,2339,2337,209,2338],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-arthur-miller","tag-celebrities","tag-christopher-reeve","tag-entertainment","tag-katharine-hepburn","tag-marlon-brando","tag-superman","tag-superman-the-movie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}