Before the 2001 thriller The Score hit theaters in July of that year, rumors began to circulate of on-set tension between director Frank Oz and Marlon Brando. A few days prior to the film’s release, The Guardian reported that things got so bad between the two that Brando insisted on his co-star, Robert De Niro, directing him instead of Oz. Brando also supposedly called Oz “Miss Piggy,” a reference to Oz having previously voiced the Muppet character for many years. “I bet you wish I was a puppet so you could stick your hand up my a— and make me do what you want,” Brando was quoted as telling Oz at one point.
Another of the more outlandish claims that’s made the rounds over the years is that Brando refused to wear pants while they were filming. He was even said to have shown up on the first day naked from the waist down. The reason for Brando’s alleged behavior—or so the story goes—was that he wanted to have some control over what Oz was able to film. However, despite many different sources repeating this stuff ad nauseum, both Oz and Edward Norton have downplayed the sensational aspects of the feud.
Marlon Brando’s ‘The Score’ Feud Was Strange, but the Pants Story Was Apparently Overblown
In an interview with The Telegraph from September 2001, Oz admitted that he’d had a major falling out with Brando during production. As he tells it, it all came about as a result of the two disagreeing on how Brando’s character should be played. Oz went on to explain that there was some truth to De Niro being called on to direct due to the problems they were having, but only for one scene. According to Oz, he watched everything from outside with a monitor while De Niro acted as a mediator.
The whole naked from the waist down thing, though? “That’s bulls—t! Total rubbish,” says Oz. “The truth is that it was very hot in Montreal, about 90 degrees, and Marlon was on the set, and he walked on with a big overshirt on, and his underwear,” the director continued. “He was tinkling the piano while we were setting up the lights, and when we were all ready, then he put his pants on and went back to work.”
Norton backed up this version of events, saying that Brando not wearing trousers in the excessive heat was “the most practical thing to do.”
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