Spike Lee never got to meet Marlon Brando, but he did speak to the actor on one special occasion. During a talk with Alec Baldwin at the Tribeca Film Festival Tuesday, the pair gushed about On the Waterfront and swapped stories about their Brando encounters.
“He called me up 2 oclock in the morning,” Lee recalled. “He wanted me to do a film about Native Americans.”
Alas, the film didnt come to fruition. “I never heard from him after that,” Lee continued. “I found out later [that] he would call people . . . real late. But somehow, he got my number. I didnt believe it was him at first.”
Its true; late-night phone calls were sort of Brandos thing. Baldwin, meanwhile, got to have a sit-down meeting with the actor, which sprawled into a four-hour lunch. At the time, Baldwin had recently starred in the TV-movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire and was about to do a version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; the network wanted Brando to play the role of Big Daddy.
“I go to his house up on Mulholland, and I go there to beg him to do Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Baldwin said. He remembered mentioning that he had played one of Brandos immortal roles—Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar—and Brando being impressed. At this point, Baldwin did his best Brando impression to imitate what the actor said next: “I heard you were very good in that, and I heard you were very funny. I wish I had done more of that, because its a very funny part.”
Then the conversation hit a lull. “And I went, But it worked out pretty well for you just the same, wouldnt you say?” Baldwin said.
His favorite line from that dinner, though, was one of Brandos: “You and I are like two dogs that are sniffing each other; youre sniffing me, and Im sniffing you. And oh god, oh god, I hate that. I hate that.”
Lee and Baldwin spent the rest of the night going over film history and praising Waterfront and the 1951 drama A Place in the Sun, occasionally pulling stories from their own careers. During a later portion of the Q&A, Baldwin took a moment to praise Lees seminal film, Do the Right Thing, and mourn the fact that it didnt win any Oscars, nor was it nominated for best picture. “I was so fuckin pissed off you didnt win the Academy Award!”
“You were pissed off?” Lee rebounded as the audience laughed.
He continued: “Who knows what film won best film that year?” The audience quieted, unsure of the answer. “Driving Miss Motherfuckin Daisy.”
During the Q&A, Lee also shared his thoughts on Black Panther, the billion-dollar Marvel movie directed by Ryan Coogler.
“Ive seen it four times,” he said. “And I will say I look at the world now differently—before Black Panther and after Black Panther. That shit changed everything, especially for people of color.”
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:The Must-See Looks from the Avengers: Infinity War PremiereYohana DestaYohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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