Marlon Brando insisted on getting drunk to film a scene in which he was supposed to act drunk, but he got too drunk to act or direct and so he insisted on repeating the process another day. Again he got too drunk to direct or act.
Marlon Brando would sit near the ocean for hours, waiting for the waves to become more dramatic for his perfect shots.
On a budget of $6 million, this was a huge disappointment at the box office. To help offset the costs, Marlon Brando persuaded Universal to pick up the tab. In return, he agreed to make five films for the studio: The Ugly American (1963), Bedtime Story (1964), The Appaloosa (1966), A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), and The Night of the Following Day (1969), none of which performed well at the box office.
Filming began on 2 December 1958, but the movie was not completed until the autumn of 1960.