***** Talking With Gillo Pontecorvo
...Q- Could you talk about your brilliant casting in Burn!, using a non-actor as the West Indian guerilla leader, Jose Dolores, opposite Marlon Brando.
A- It was a fight! United Artists wanted me to use Sidney Poitier. I didn't want to, though I like him as an actor, because his face wasn't wild. Then I went looking to off-Broadway for black actors. I didn't find the right one. In Colombia, during a location scout, we were searching for a forest to burn. We drove very far into the wild in a jeep. Suddenly we saw this peasant man on a horse. This is the face I'd been looking for for four months. But instead of coming to me, he ran away! It was very hot, people around me were furious when I said, 'Sorry, we have to find this man.' We asked the local chief to order the playing of a drum. All the people came out, including this man, Evaristo Marquez. He'd never seen a movie but he understood money. He said, "OK." I called Marlon on his island. He said, "If you believe he's right, don't worry about me." We saw that Marquez was very good photographically, but then, God help us! At first during the shooting, Brando was very generous. But after many days with Marquez, he was frustrated and tired. One scene required 41 takes. Brando was so furious that phlegm was coming out of his nose.
Q- What happened to Marquez?
A- He made two films later on, and he was very bad in them. But he came home as a rich peasant and bought a lot of cows....
<http://www.geraldpeary.com/interviews/pqr/pontecorvo.html> *****
I thought you & Tim Shorrock would enjoy this anecdote. -- Yoshie
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