The film contains a scene in which Brando's character engages in anal rape using butter as a lubricant. In a 2006 interview, Schneider said that the scene was not in the script and that 'when they told me, I had a burst of anger. Woo! I threw everything. And nobody can force someone to do something, not in the script. But I didn't know that. I was too young.' Let's look more into the story!
Of course, people still don't talk about the rape scene after many years just because of the fact that it was too disturbing.
Or is it all an urban myth for the promotion of the film?
First of all, let's go back to the plot of the film, The Last Tango in Paris ...
As you can imagine the thing on the ground is butter ...
Bertolucci said that they decided, with Brando, to use butter in the rape scene. The scene, which was not in the script, was only explained to Schneider, who was 19 years old at the time, just before they filmed it.
As she says:
'They only told me about it before we had to film the scene and I was so angry. I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that.'
Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie,' but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologize. Thankfully, there was just one take.
'I wanted Maria to act like a young girl, not like an actor in those scenes. I wanted her to be humiliated and suffer. That's why the scenes were so real.'
'I think he hated me and Marlon for not telling her. I still don't regret it.'
But Schneider, who was only 19 years old, unfortunately, didn't get over the embarrassment as easy. She even thought about committing suicide!
Moreover, according to Schneider, Marlon and Bertolucci earned a fortune from this film and she only earned $3,200 (£2,500)!
She was asked to play in a couple of pornos but she refused.
Interestingly, the reason for getting kicked out was that she didn't want to play in the naked scenes.
What is left of her are just sad controversies.