Tom Selleck's '90s Historical Movie With Marlon Brando Was A Complete Disaster

Some of the greatest misfires in movie history go beyond critical or commercial disasters. Some movies become vortexes of misfortune, wherein a tempest of calamities forms, leaving a permanent blemish of the history of filmmaking. Enter: "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery," a movie that made no money, barely nudged the Tomatometer past 0%, caused Tom Selleck to take an extended break from acting, fostered multiple lawsuits, broke up a long-standing producing duo, and prompted Roger Ebert to proclaim that he'd just witnessed "Marlon Brando's worst performance in memory."

In the early 1990s, Selleck was well-known to audiences as Thomas Magnum thanks to "Magnum, P.I." Selleck's 1991 Western "Quigley Down Under" proved he should have been a major star, but he never quite became the big screen legend he arguably should have. "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery," which he made two years after "Quigley," certainly didn't help in that regard.

During a 2021 interview on The Drew Barrymore Show, the actor recalled how he came to the project under inauspicious circumstances. "I got offered this movie where I got to work with Marlon Brando," he explained. "Well, he's, you know, kind of the man in my generation." Already, however, Selleck could tell something was off. "It actually wasn't a really very good script," he continued, "and it turned out to be a lousy movie." Still, Selleck was "so thrilled" at the prospect of working with Brando that he accepted. Just before he left, however, his daughter contracted viral pneumonia. "I stayed as many days as I could before going to Madrid where we were gonna shoot it," he recalled. "She was out of the hospital the day I left, but it really bothered me." By the time filming was over, Selleck wished he'd stayed home.

The genesis of "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery" begins with Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the father-son producing team that helped bring the world "Superman" back in 1978. That movie didn't have the easiest production, with director Richard Donner having to salvage a disastrous first script presented to him by the Salkinds before being replaced by Richard Lester for "Superman II." But even that unfortunate series of events pales in comparison to the production of "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery."

Released to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to the Americas, this 1992 historical adventure film was directed by John Glen, who had previously served as second unit director on "Superman." Glen was also known for having directed all five James Bond films of the 1980s, after working as an editor on prior 007 outings. By the time he came to the Salkinds' Columbus movie, he was a seasoned filmmaker. It didn't help.

The film stars French actor George Corraface as the titular explorer, who seeks funding for his voyage from Europe to India. He heads to Spain, where he encounters Marlon Brando's Tomas de Torquemeda, the man responsible for leading the Spanish Inquisition. Columbus is grilled by the formidable Grand Inquisitor, but makes it through. Thereafter, he gets his funding from Spain's King Ferdinand (Tom Selleck) and Queen Isabella (Rachel Ward), who entrust the explorer with helping to spread Christianity via his expedition. His voyage begins, and it's an altogether dull affair that sort of hints at how Columbus brought disease to the New World. There's also some mutiny and a topless Native American girl whom Glen seemed to like enough to feature prominently. And that's pretty much it.

Everything went wrong with "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery." Original director George P. Cosmatos left production early due to creative differences with the Salkinds. John Glen's Bond buddy Timothy Dalton and co-star Isabella Rossellini followed soon after, and all three filed lawsuits. Marlon Brando asked for his name to be removed from the filmafter the Salkinds refused to include rewrites highlighting Columbus' culpability for the genocide of Native Americans. The producers kept his name in the credits. Then, "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery" made just $8.2 million on a $40 million budget. It was the last film the Salkinds made together, with Alexander telling the Los Angeles Times, "I know, after this, that I'll never make movies again."

Critics were merciless, too. Roger Ebert claimed the movie "takes one of history's great stories and treats it in such a lackluster manner that Columbus's voyage seems as endless to us as it did to his crew." Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times wasn't any more complimentary, writing, "It's not politically correct. It's also not cinematically correct, humanly correct or historically correct." Unsurprisingly, the Rotten Tomatoes critic score is a paltry 7%.

The movie was shot four years prior to Brando's infamous "Island of Dr. Moreau" debacle where he sent production spiraling out of control and greatly disappointed his co-star Val Kilmer by remaining completely aloof and zoned out throughout filming. But he'd already disappointed everyone on "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery." As Tom Selleck told Drew Barrymore, "I went and did the movie. The movie wasn't really worth doing, frankly. I think Marlon was really in it for getting $5 million for two weeks work and it just bothered me. So, I took a year off, and a year off turned into three."