American documentary maker Mark Wexler on why his film about his father only needed an audience of two
- The son of a cinematographer recalls meeting Marlon Brando as a child and following his father around the world
- His films have included various travel shows, an unsuitable matchmaking film and the first ever in-depth look at Air Force One
Marlon Brando’s feet I was born in Chicago and my parents were both in the visual arts. My mum (Marian) was a painter and a teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago and my dad (Haskell Wexler, who won the Academy Award for cinematography, black and white, for the 1966 film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf) was a cinematographer. When I was three years old, we moved to Hollywood, California, for my dad’s career.
We lived in the Hollywood Hills and many famous people would come to our house, but as a kid I was quite oblivious to it all. One time a man came by wearing a colourful Polynesian shirt and sandals. I remember him taking off his sandals and putting his feet on the coffee table, which I found quite funny. Later I learned that he was the actor Marlon Brando.
For much of my childhood my mother and I followed my dad on location on his feature film jobs all over the world. When I was seven, we lived for a year in a remote fishing village in Brazil and then in Greece, Italy and other places.
Travel has always been a part of my life. Fortunately I love it, although I was scared to fly at an early age. As soon as I could, at 16, I learned to fly and conquered that fear. Now I feel totally comfortable on planes because I know they’re not going to drop out of the sky.
Beach backdraught Travelling as a kid, I was fascinated by how people in different parts of the world lived, so when I turned 18, I decided to major in cultural anthropology at university, and specialise in visual anthropology.