The role of Burt Reynolds only played because nobody wanted it

Of course that changed in 1972 when John Boorman’s’s liberation Ride a wave of controversy to a massive success. It has resumed its budget at the box office more than 20 times, pierced the zeitgeist, infiltrated the cultural lexicon and excellent three nominations for the Oscar Prize, including “Best Picture” and “Best Director”.

The urgent thriller of Backwoods was nothing with the films that Reynolds would do as soon as he had cracked the A-list, but the fact that the visibility, which was created by his performance as Lewis Medlock, remains a groundbreaking moment for the actor was. Suddenly he had set off the casting wish lists and was commissioned to be commissioned to be commissioned to be commissioned by Studios, and until the end of the decade he was the most bankrupt name in the American cinema.

However, this only happened because nobody else wanted to play the guy. Donald Sutherland and Charlton Heston both rejected the part of Medlock, as liberation I had hoped to secure a name for the appearance, and when the list of potential candidates was continuing, Reynolds was the only one who was ready to take a chance of Booran’s picture.

“The studio was very enthusiastic because he occupied Burt as a liberation,” admitted the filmmaker The Hollywood reporter. “They wanted a big star. I went to Jack Nicholson, but he wanted half a million dollars, which was outrageous in 1972. “

After Boorman was rejected by Nicholson, he turned his attention to a names that were still praised, which ironically became a professional nemesis of Reynolds. “Then I went to Marlon Brando,” he continued. “And he told me that he would do it for everything Jack asked. In the end, the studio told me that I should do it without money. They had very little trust in the material. “

liberation Was the film, which finally brought Reynolds on the menu and put it firmly on the radar of the industry, a crucial moment that was only created.

Related topics