9 Amazing Performances By Actors Who Stopped Giving A Damn

Apparently this entire list could've been culled together using nothing but examples from the back half of Marlon Brando's filmography.

By now, the on-set animosity between Brando and Francis Ford Coppola is one of Hollywood's worst-kept secrets. The tension was so thick between actor and director that an entire documentary was made about their behind-the-scenes antics.

Playing the integral role of Colonel Kurtz, a lean and savage Green Beret, Brando showed up on set monstrously overweight and wholly underprepared, as was his MO around this time in his career. He didn't bother to read the source material, couldn't memorize his lines, and supposedly halted filming on numerous occasions to discuss the script.

In spite of all this, Coppola and Brando found a way to churn out a legendary performance. The process became simple: Dress Brando in black, shoot him in shadowy lighting, and just let one of the world's greatest actors improvise until there was enough material to use. Essentially, Marlon's role was fleshed out on the fly, with the camera pointed at him until he didn't want to monologue anymore.

That's a special kind of laziness right there.