Titanic star Billy Zane looks unrecognizable as he recreates the Godfather opening scene for new Marlon Brando biopic from cult film director

The first trailer for Waltzing with Brando is here – and Billy Zane looks unrecognizable.

Per Variety, the biopic follows Brando (Zane) “as he filmed Mutiny on the Bounty and bought a tiny and uninhabitable island in Tahiti. His intent was to escape his hectic Hollywood lifestyle and show the world the path to sustainability. To achieve this goal he plucks Judge (Jon Heder), an obscure but idealistic Los Angeles architect, from his stable existence and convinces him that together they could build the world’s first truly sustainable ecological retreat.”

The beginning of the trailer, which can be viewed below, sees Zane completely transform into the iconic actor and recreate the opening scene from The Godfather. 

Bill Fishman directs from a screenplay he adapted from the book Waltzing with Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti by the late Bernard Judge. In the book, Judge recounts his time building a sustainable village on an unpopulated group of islands in the South Pacific for Brando.

The cast includes Camille Razat, Richard Dreyfuss, Alaina Huffman, Tia Carrere, and James Jagger.

The film was announced back in 2019, with Zane telling Entertainment Weekly that he was unaware of Brando’s passion for environmental rights and that he wants his performance to be a celebration of Brando as a “forward thinker” rather than focus on the drama.

Waltzing with Brando is set to hit theaters in the United States in 2025. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond, or, skip to our list of movie release dates.