If you’re looking for a distraction from the hellscape of American politics, look no further than the first trailer for a forthcoming biopic of one of our most legendary actors. Featuring Billy Zane in quite a transformative performance, Waltzing with Brando follows the star during his late-60s/early-70s period pre-The Godfather, when he recruits a Los Angeles architect to build the world’s first ecologically perfect retreat on a small, uninhabited island in Tahiti.
Directed by Bill Fishman and also starring Jon Heder, Richard Dreyfuss, and Tia Carrere, the film is set for a world premiere as the closing film of Torino Film Festival this month and is still seeking U.S. distribution.
“He may be the biggest star in the world — or so they said — or the most famous man…. but he was on the s— list and he was on the outs, and maybe [his] retreat was licking his wounds,” Zane said back in 2019, detailing the actor’s ’60s career. “The man was a recluse who moved to an island, yet is up all night on shortwave radio [and] can’t sleep alone. He had many children. It’s like, what led to that? He’s full of contradictions. That was touching to me.”
See the trailer below.