Billy Zane Channels Marlon Brando'sGodfatherPerformance in Uncanny First Look at His Biopic About Legendary Actor

Mar. 15, 2025

Billy Zane in ‘Waltzing with Brando’.Photo:Courtesy Torino Film Festival

Courtesy Torino Film Festival

Billy Zanecontinues to bring the lateMarlon Brandoback from the dead with his new movie.Zane, 58, produces and stars in theupcomingWaltzing with Brando, a biopic that follows Brando during the 1970s, offering glimpses of the Oscar-winning legend inLast Tango in ParisandThe Godfather.A new production still fromWaltzing with Brando— which is now set to have its world premiere at theTorino Film Festivalin November — shows Zane looking like the spitting image of Brando’s Don Vito Corleone inFrancis Ford Coppola’sThe Godfather.The new film from director and co-writer Bill Fishman is an adaptation of Bernard Judge’s 2011 book of the same name. Thebooktells 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."(Left-right:) Marlon Brando; Billy Zane filming “Waltzing with Brando”.Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty, Camille Razat/InstagramJudge, who died in 2021, was an award-winning architect whose innovations in building focused on environmental sustainability. Brando hired him to construct a home on the 12-island atoll of Tetiaroa, Tahiti. In May, Zane and fellow producers Fishman and Dean Bloxomannouncedthat they have pledged to send 5% of the movie’s proceeds to residents of Tetiaroa.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.In addition to theTitanicactor,Waltzing with Brandocostars Tia Carrere, Richard Dreyfuss, Jon Heder, Alaina Huffman, Rob Corddry and more.Billy Zane in ‘Waltzing with Brando’.Courtesy Torino Film Festival“The production team were so on point,” Zane captioned somebehind-the-scenes photoson Instagram providing a sneak peek at the movie in May. One photo showed the actor in Brando’s uncannily similar hair and costuming seated in a chair labeled “Marlon Brando.“The Torino Film Festival runs from Nov. 22 to 30 in Turin, Italy, whereWaltzing with Brandowill be the closing night film. Also among Zane’s completed upcoming projects isINT.HALLWAY/NIGHT, in which he stars and directs. This is his first film as director since 2004’sBig Kiss.

Billy Zanecontinues to bring the lateMarlon Brandoback from the dead with his new movie.

Zane, 58, produces and stars in theupcomingWaltzing with Brando, a biopic that follows Brando during the 1970s, offering glimpses of the Oscar-winning legend inLast Tango in ParisandThe Godfather.

A new production still fromWaltzing with Brando— which is now set to have its world premiere at theTorino Film Festivalin November — shows Zane looking like the spitting image of Brando’s Don Vito Corleone inFrancis Ford Coppola’sThe Godfather.

The new film from director and co-writer Bill Fishman is an adaptation of Bernard Judge’s 2011 book of the same name. Thebooktells 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.”

(Left-right:) Marlon Brando; Billy Zane filming “Waltzing with Brando”.Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty, Camille Razat/Instagram

Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty, Camille Razat/Instagram

Judge, who died in 2021, was an award-winning architect whose innovations in building focused on environmental sustainability. Brando hired him to construct a home on the 12-island atoll of Tetiaroa, Tahiti. In May, Zane and fellow producers Fishman and Dean Bloxomannouncedthat they have pledged to send 5% of the movie’s proceeds to residents of Tetiaroa.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In addition to theTitanicactor,Waltzing with Brandocostars Tia Carrere, Richard Dreyfuss, Jon Heder, Alaina Huffman, Rob Corddry and more.

Billy Zane in ‘Waltzing with Brando’.Courtesy Torino Film Festival

“The production team were so on point,” Zane captioned somebehind-the-scenes photoson Instagram providing a sneak peek at the movie in May. One photo showed the actor in Brando’s uncannily similar hair and costuming seated in a chair labeled “Marlon Brando.”

The Torino Film Festival runs from Nov. 22 to 30 in Turin, Italy, whereWaltzing with Brandowill be the closing night film. Also among Zane’s completed upcoming projects isINT.HALLWAY/NIGHT, in which he stars and directs. This is his first film as director since 2004’sBig Kiss.

source: people.com