Marlon Brando: Piss and Moan

Interview with Marlon Brando

Conducted by James Grissom

Via Telephone

1990

We do not--we cannot--piss and moan. Artists do not piss and moan about the form in which they work. We know that the forms work: We know that acting, writing, composing, painting, designing all work, so we do not stand before those forms and curse them. If the form fails us, we should place the blame at our own feet. We have failed the form. But we still do not piss and moan. The artist leaves the room and the petulant child enters when we whine about what is not happening, what is not received.

This is where the shaft of light that was Christian Science in my childhood pierces the darkness, and I tell you that there is good in all the forms out there, right now. Find it. Go to a theatre or a museum or a bookstore or a library or a basement where someone is about to break out in flames of talent. Go to a repertory cinema and watch a giant of film using the form correctly. There is good out there to watch and to study and to remind us to honor the form we love and wish to remain part of.

There is never a time to piss and moan. There is always a time to study and to honor and to remember. 

©  2016  James Grissom