The ‘Titanic’ actor plays Marlon Brando circa 1970, when the late star was building a sustainable home in Tahiti
Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty, Camille Razat/Instagram
(Left-right:) Marlon Brando; Billy Zane
No, that’s not Marlon Brando filming a new movie. It’s Billy Zane, bringing the late star to life in the upcoming Waltzing with Brando.
Zane, 58, plays the On the Waterfront Oscar winner in a screen adaptation of Bernard Judge’s 2011 book of the same name from director and co-writer Bill Fishman. It is currently up for acquisition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
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Camille Razat/Instagram
Billy Zane filming ‘Waltzing with Brando’: Camille Razat/Instagram
On his Instagram, the actor posted production stills and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the movie, calling it in his caption “the true story of Marlon as the ‘Godfather’ of the environmental movement, spearheading sustainable, zero carbon architecture and design upon his private Island of Tetiaroa back in 1970!”
Waltzing with Brando “is the story of a young Los Angeles architect who found himself, quite unexpectedly, living on an unpopulated atoll in the South Pacific with his client, Marlon Brando,” according to the book’s synopsis.
Judge, an award-winning architect whose innovations in building focused on environmental sustainability, was hired by Brando to construct a home on the 12-island atoll of Tetiaroa, Tahiti. He died in 2021.
“The production team were so on point,” Zane captioned a second round of photos providing a sneak peek at the movie. One photo shows Zane in Brando’s hair and costuming — looking uncannily similar to the late actor — seated in a chair labeled “Marlon Brando.”
Waltzing with Brando costars Tia Carrere, Richard Dreyfuss, Jon Heder, Alaina Huffman, Rob Corddry and more. Deadline reports that the movie is a reimagining of moments from The Godfather and Last Tango In Paris. Zane and fellow producers Fishman and Dean Bloxom have pledged to send 5% of the movie’s proceeds to those residing on Tetiaroa, according to the outlet.
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Camille Razat/Instagram
Billy Zane filming ‘Waltzing with Brando’
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Brando, Zane told the publication, “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 new movie is “a love letter to Tahiti, and him and his passion,” added the Titanic star.
Zane is currently at the Cannes Film Festival, where he supported fellow Australian filmmaker George Miller at the Wednesday, May 15 premiere of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Among his upcoming projects are the movies Blunt, Sunset Superman and Takeover.
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