Listen to Me Marlon
Directed by Stevan Riley
Produced by Passion Pictures
ROLE: Archival Producer
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Personal audio tapes of the late actor offer an insight into his life and thoughts. For this film, I listened, reviewed and organized hundreds of hours of Brando’s tapes, released for the film by his estate a decade after his death.
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PRESS:
Not content with the riches gifted to us by the estate, we also embarked upon a worldwide archive search to scavenge every scrap of Brando audio material that had otherwise been recorded. In total, over 300 hours of audio material would emerge, filling a dozen large ring binders.
It turns out that Brando — starting in the 1940s and right through to his later years — had been creating private audio recordings in which he discussed his life. “Probably about 300 hours of it,” says director Stevan Riley. “When we finally got it all transcribed, we had a pile of paper about four feet off the ground.” Using those recordings, and supplementing them with clips from interviews and other appearances, Riley was able to construct Listen to Me Marlon as a film narrated by Brando
The movie creates a fitful biography of Brando using hundreds of hours of audio recordings he made and a weird holographic head of the actor. With Brando’s somewhat trippy observations as a guide, it looks at career highlights as well as the personal calamities that seemed to follow the man, like the suicide of his daughter Cheyenne.
A fascinating sort of posthumous self-portrait assembled from the Brando's estate artifacts. [...] There are no new interviews here, and re-enactment fragments are inserted so discreetly they disappear into the fabric of an otherwise entirely archival assemblage. Its mix encompasses every kind of seldom-to-never-before-seen errata, from behind-the-scenes, promotional and TV-appearance clips to homemovies and other very private materials.
Stevan Riley’s award-winning documentary gives us a lot to listen to.
There’s an eerie, unearthly fascination to this documentary, which broadcasts for the first time selections from Marlon Brando’s private audio tapes: recordings he made as musings, diary entries, and self-hypnosis mantras to cure everything from anxiety to obesity.
Documentary filmmaker Stevan Riley got the chance of a lifetime when he was granted access to more than 200 hours of audio tapes Marlon Brando made during the course of his life, a personal archive of never-before-heard musings, acting studies, self-hypnosis and insights the enigmatic Oscar winner had hoped to turn into an autobiographical film before his death in 2004.
With never-before-seen photos and film footage, British documentarian Stevan Riley delivers an enthrallingly intimate look at the brilliant, troubled and always charismatic screen legend.
Over 200 hours of audio files, recorded by Brando with the intention of becoming an official film biography, have been provided exclusively to the Listen to Me Marlon filmmakers, providing an unprecedentedly intimate look at the famously guarded actor.
Directed by Stevan Riley
Produced by Passion Pictures
Role: Archival Producer
______
Personal audio tapes of the late actor offer an insight into his life and thoughts. For this film, I listened, reviewed and organized hundreds of hours of Brando’s tapes, released for the film by his estate a decade after his death.
______
AWARDS
Winner –
Best Documentary at The 2015 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
IDA Creative Recognition Award for Best Writing
2015 Peabody Award
Best Film Founders Prize at the Traverse City Film Festival 2015
Nominated – Best Documentary BAFTA
Best Documentary by The Phoenix Critics’ Circle
Best Feature IDA Award
Best Documentary at the 25th Gotham Independent Film Awards
World Cinema Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2015
Documentary Feature at the Montclair Film Festival 2015
Best Documentary at the 2015 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards
Included in The National Board of Review’s Top 5 Documentaries of 2015
Shortlisted as one of the 15 Documentary films being considered for an Academy Award[15]
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PRESS
Not content with the riches gifted to us by the estate, we also embarked upon a worldwide archive search to scavenge every scrap of Brando audio material that had otherwise been recorded. In total, over 300 hours of audio material would emerge, filling a dozen large ring binders.
Steven Riley, Indie Wire
It turns out that Brando — starting in the 1940s and right through to his later years — had been creating private audio recordings in which he discussed his life. “Probably about 300 hours of it,” says director Stevan Riley. “When we finally got it all transcribed, we had a pile of paper about four feet off the ground.” Using those recordings, and supplementing them with clips from interviews and other appearances, Riley was able to construct Listen to Me Marlon as a film narrated by Brando
Vulture
The movie creates a fitful biography of Brando using hundreds of hours of audio recordings he made and a weird holographic head of the actor. With Brando’s somewhat trippy observations as a guide, it looks at career highlights as well as the personal calamities that seemed to follow the man, like the suicide of his daughter Cheyenne.
New York Times
A fascinating sort of posthumous self-portrait assembled from the Brando's estate artifacts. [...] There are no new interviews here, and re-enactment fragments are inserted so discreetly they disappear into the fabric of an otherwise entirely archival assemblage. Its mix encompasses every kind of seldom-to-never-before-seen errata, from behind-the-scenes, promotional and TV-appearance clips to homemovies and other very private materials.
Variety
Stevan Riley’s award-winning documentary gives us a lot to listen to.
Financial Times
There’s an eerie, unearthly fascination to this documentary, which broadcasts for the first time selections from Marlon Brando’s private audio tapes: recordings he made as musings, diary entries, and self-hypnosis mantras to cure everything from anxiety to obesity.
The Guardian
Documentary filmmaker Stevan Riley got the chance of a lifetime when he was granted access to more than 200 hours of audio tapes Marlon Brando made during the course of his life, a personal archive of never-before-heard musings, acting studies, self-hypnosis and insights the enigmatic Oscar winner had hoped to turn into an autobiographical film before his death in 2004.
Deadline
With never-before-seen photos and film footage, British documentarian Stevan Riley delivers an enthrallingly intimate look at the brilliant, troubled and always charismatic screen legend.
Hollywood Reporter
Over 200 hours of audio files, recorded by Brando with the intention of becoming an official film biography, have been provided exclusively to the Listen to Me Marlon filmmakers, providing an unprecedentedly intimate look at the famously guarded actor.
Vanity Fair