Billy Zane's portrayal of Marlon Brando in the forthcoming film Waltzing With Brando has prompted wide attention after Rebecca Brando, the late actor's daughter, reportedly asked whether a still from the production showed her father or Zane. The performance and Zane's physical likeness have drawn positive notices in the United States ahead of the film's release.
Waltzing With Brando follows Brando's efforts in the late 1960s and early 1970s to create an ecologically minded retreat on the South Pacific atoll of Tetiaroa, which he bought in 1966 after filming Mutiny on the Bounty. In the film Zane plays Brando in his 40s as the actor pursues experimental environmental ideas while enlisting an LA architect, Bernie Judge, to help design the project. Jon Heder, best known for Napoleon Dynamite, plays Judge.
Zane said little prosthetic makeup was used for the transformation, describing it as "just a nose bump and a wig, the rest was just me morphing into him." Director Bill Fishman said Zane so closely resembled Brando that while cutting the film he sometimes found himself watching the original Brando footage and the new scenes interchangeably. Fishman said the filmmakers stayed close to anecdotal reports about Brando's behavior during the Tetiaroa years.
The film intersperses moments of biography with depictions of Brando's unconventional experiments. It includes scenes that show unsuccessful attempts at turning urine into drinkable water and ideas such as generating power from electric eels, alongside more technically plausible ventures like Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC), a concept using deep ocean water to cool buildings that has since been adopted in some projects. Zane said Brando poured large sums of his own money into research and development for the island project and that the financing needs partly motivated his return to prominent studio roles.
Waltzing With Brando depicts how the actor accepted parts in high-profile films, including The Godfather, to underwrite his environmental ambitions. The narrative shows how those career moves simultaneously revived Brando's standing in Hollywood. Fishman said he intentionally re-created memorable Brando scenes for contrast and effect, telling reporters he sometimes had to double-check which monitor showed the original footage because Zane's performance was so convincing.
The film is told from the perspective of Judge, whose moral steadiness and domestic life are tested by Brando's charisma and the island's permissive environment. Producer and cast comments acknowledge the film touches on Brando's complex personal life, including relationships and sexuality, but the filmmakers said those aspects were not central to Judge's experience and so are not foregrounded in the narrative.
Fishman and Zane said they included various anecdotes associated with Brando: that he often kept cash at home rather than using banks, and that prominent friends such as Jack Nicholson occasionally appeared in informal roles during visits. Fishman said some stories—like Nicholson tending to Brando's garden—did not make the final cut. The filmmakers have described Brando in the film as full of contradictions: a recluse who nevertheless sought company and attention and a public celebrity who chafed at the mechanics of Hollywood while depending on it financially.
Zane, 59, has pointed to a personal and professional affinity with Brando. He noted his own early comparisons to the actor and said two of his daughters, Ava and Gia, appear in Waltzing With Brando. Zane's career includes roles in films such as Titanic and Dead Calm; he has also pursued visual art and continues to work in film and television.
Marlon Brando died in 2004 at age 80. His vision for Tetiaroa eventually led to a luxury resort, The Brando, which opened on the atoll years after his death and has attracted high-profile guests. The filmmakers and Zane have framed the film as an exploration of Brando's environmental ambitions, his contradictions as a public figure, and the ways in which personal projects and commercial film roles intersected in his life.
Waltzing With Brando is scheduled to open in cinemas soon.