Actor Billy Zane – who is best remembered as the main antagonist Caledon Hockley in James Cameraon’s epic romantic disaster film Titanic – is playing the lead in writer-director Bill Fishman’s upcoming biographical drama film Waltzing with Brando. In the recently released first trailer for the movie, Billy has transformed himself into The Godfather star, legendary actor Marlon Brando. The film is expected to hit the theatres in the US in 2025.
Also starring Jon Heder, Richard Dreyfuss, Camille Razat, Alaina Huffman, Tia Carrere and James Jagger, Waltzing with Brando is the film adaptation of the late architect Bernard Judge’s memoir Waltzing with Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti. The story is set in 1969 and 1974 when Marlon was preparing for his character Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola-directed iconic 1972 epic gangster film The Godfather, while also making plans with Bernard to ‘create a paradise getaway on Tahiti’.
Based on Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel of the same name, The Godfather featured an ensemble cast that also included Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton. Around the same time he was also prepping for Bernardo Bertolucci’s erotic drama film Last Tango in Paris, co-starring Maria Schneider.
The new indie biopic investigates the difficulties that Bernard and Marlon faced in realising the former’s eco-conscious vision. Many have also dubbed it as the actor’s ‘emerging environmental activism’. The movie is produced by Bill, Billy and Dean Bloxom.
Speaking to Deadline, Billy has described the film as ‘a love letter to Tahiti, and him [Marlon] and his passion’. “Back then no one would touch causes. He championed civil rights. He marched with Dr Martin Luther King. He walked the walk for civil rights. He did it for Indigenous rights. What no one knows about is what he did for the environment as an activist and the foresight he had on what in fact would [become] a climate crisis,” the actor added.
Waltzing with Brando is all set to premiere later this month at the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy.
