Filling in gaps of the story.
Cammell's, I suppose, was a failed career, ... but it was a good deal more interesting than the careers of many people who were much more successful. He was quite a remarkable man.
I'd say where he is now he's in a pretty amused state, and I hope he'd look down on it fondly with a smile. Everyone involved has tried to produce the book (Brando and Cammell) would have.
There's a funny thing to when you're writing something that's not quite yours. You feel unburdened. There's a strange liberty to it, although I was still trying to be faithful to them.
Brando clearly was imagining himself as that person. There are several aspects of it that fit with Brando very well; that kind of loner, interested in sailing and the South Seas, drawn to Asian women and eating and drinking.
He made the South Seas a great part of his life. Clearly this story comes out of the books he read and the things he learned about the seas during his time out there. He was also crazy about Asian women.
I don't look for anyone to say this is a great novel, although I do think it's a fine, fun read. But what I think is most interesting is that the character of Annie is so clearly a portrait of Brando and that so much of him gets into it.
It's funny - writing the afterword required a lot of digging and research, and was ultimately harder than editing the actual novel.
It's not profound literature, but it's an adventure story and quite a good adventure story, very unexpected coming from Brando. It tells us a lot about him.
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