10 Actors You Never Knew Directed A Movie

8. Marlon Brando - One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Arnold Schwarzenegger, auteur
Paramount Pictures

Often imitated, never duplicated, Marlon Brando is an icon of cinema. Somehow though, he only managed to direct one movie in his entire career. Considering that movie was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry in 2018, it makes you wonder even more why Brando didn't step into the director's chair once again.

The answer to that question however may be found in what was a tumultuous pre-production on the movie. Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch) is an uncredited writer on the movie, after having been fired after a couple of drafts of the screenplay. Before him there was also Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone). The movie was also supposed to be directed by none other than Stanley Kubrick, but he jumped ship two weeks before production began. As a result in stepped Marlon Brando, taking on directorial and acting duties for the movie.

The film was initially supposed to be an adaptation of a 1956 novel, but the resulting movie bore little resemblance to the work, and formed its own path in cinema history.

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Contributor

Avid writer of nonsense. Can often be seen in his natural habitat watching far too many films and not enough TV. Occasionally plays on the Xbox and Megadrive whilst chastising himself for not writing more.