Marlon Brando: The Pain Of Being Human

Interview with Marlon Brando

Conducted by James Grissom

By Telephone

1991

We tolerate and we delay the inevitable pain of being human by various means, and the creation of art was the honorable route I chose. Others find a God, a spirit, a schedule of spiritual exercises to stave off the pain of being human. Others turn to drugs or sex or food, and I have made my way down that fleshly path. Dull the pain; deny the past; make the future bright with sweat and cum and shiny eyes of desire.

Eventually, we are made still--by tragedy or age or both. We have to sit and think and reflect, and we have to face our humanity. It has always been there, this task, but we have pushed it away, tamped it down, covered it like Blanche's naked light bulb.

So here we are, facing our humanity. Where do we begin?

©  2015  James Grissom