Title: The Godfather
Writer: Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Actors: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino
Released: 1972
“Actors who take the material of often will-known roles and put their own stamp on it,” are known as interpreters,” (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2014). Marlon Brando certainly did this in the portrayal of “Vito Corleone” in the Godfather.
Marlon Brando’s personal stamp on this role was good enough to win him the academy award for best actor in 1972. The head of a mafia family in the 1940s would be a character that would allow an actor some latitude in the way that the actor would portray the character. Brando was also considered a method actor. While any individual actor will put their personal stamp on any given role, it is difficult to imagine anyone doing a better job than Brando in this particular role.
Robert Duvall has to be considered one of the greatest character actors of all time. From a personal perspective, I have seen Duvall in many films playing a wide range of characters, and he made most, if not all, believable. “I always considered myself as a character actor, I always try to be versatile to show different sides of human experience,”(Duvall, n.d.). In “The Godfather” Duvall plays Tom Hagen, a lawyer and advisor to the Corleone family, who was taken in by the crime family as a young boy and given a home. Although, treated as a member of the family, Hagen was not a blood relative. However, scenes throughout the film show Hagan’s strong emotional and practical connection to the family.
Al Pacino would also be classified as an interpreter in his role as Michael Corleone in the Godfather. Only in general terms could the personality of a young man growing up in a mafia family be interpreted. Therefore, anyone who accepts this role would probably study several real life examples of the character they are to portray, get a general idea of personality, actions, and attitude of that character, then, put their personal stamp on it in their performance, (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2014).
Of the three actors that I have discussed, Robert Duvall has more work that I am familar with. No, he would not be limited to the catagory of character actor. Duvall has appeared in films where his performance would be classified as impersonator, such as his portrayal of Joseph Stalin in “Stalin.”
Reference:
Goodykoontz, B. and Jacob, C.P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing, (2nd.ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint, Education, Inc
Internet Movie Database, (n.d.) Robert Duvall, Biography. Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000380/bio
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