Cary Elwes had to fetch Marlon Brando sweet treats on Superman set
Cary Elwes had to use sweet treats to lure Marlon Brando out of his trailer when he was shooting 'Superman'.
The then-16-year-old Cary worked on Richard Donner's 1978 movie about the DC Comics superhero before he launched his own acting career, and when one of the assistant director's fell ill he was tasked with looking after screen icon Brando, who played Superman's biological father Jor-El.
Cary admits it was hard work getting Brando - who died in 2004 at the age of 80 - out of his trailer on time on the set at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, but if he brought the 'Apocalypse Now' star the food he liked then he would be much happier on set.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Cary said: "My job was to get Marlon out of his trailer.
“Marlon had no incentive to be on time, because his agent had struck the most amazing deal for him. Every day that the picture went over, he got another million dollars. So he drove poor Richard Donner up the wall, because he just strolled in whenever he felt like it. Sometimes before lunch, sometimes … not before lunch.
"How did I manage it? Mainly with food, once you fed Marlon he was in a much better mood. So I tried to find delicacies that appealed to him, which were limited at Shepperton at the time. He mainly wanted desserts."
Cary, 59, was catapulted to global fame after he landed the role as Westley aka The Man In Black in 1987 fantasy film 'The Princess Bride’ alongside actress Robin Wright, Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest among others.
The movie - which was made by Rob Reiner and is now considered a classic - originally faced difficulties as the script had been passed round from director to director, and several studios had spurned the project because they weren't sure what audience the movie was being made for.
Cary recalled: “The trailer was a challenge because they didn’t know who to sell it to. Was it a kids' movie, a fantasy, a comedy? And of course it was all these things."
Cary has built up a very impressive filmography over the decades with starring roles in movies such as 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights', 'Saw', 'Hot Shots!' and 'Days of Thunder' and Netflix series 'Stranger Things'
He can currently be seen in the festive films ‘Last Train to Christmas’ and ‘A Castle for Christmas’ and in 2022 he will be seen in 'Mission: Impossible 7' with tom Cruise and Guy Ritchie’s spy thriller ‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre'.
