Billy Zane felt pressure while playing Marlon Brando: ‘Passion project of mine for 6 years’

nypost.com:

Waltzing With Brando,” he knew it was the role of a lifetime.“We’re so excited about the film. It’s coming out in the summertime in theaters.

It’s been a passion project of mine for, like, six years,” he exclusively told The Post while on the red carpet for his new Western film “Day of Reckoning” on Monday.When asked if there was an added pressure taking on the role of such a beloved actor, Zane responded, “There absolutely was.”“We really wanted to tell the story — back to your question, yeah no pressure!” he quipped.The “Titanic” star, 59, decided the way to embody one of the greatest actors of the 20th century was to follow Brando’s golden rule: “The only way to play him was as if he would, which is to not give a heck.”“And to really approach it with the same looseness as he would.

And to not obsess,” he told The Post. “That, I think, served in the end.”“Waltzing With Brando,” which was written and directed by Bill Fishman, also stars Richard Dreyfuss, Tia Carrere, Mick Jagger’s son James Jagger, Jon Heder and Camille Razat.The project follows Brando as he films the 1962 movie “Mutiny on the Bounty” and buys a tiny and uninhabitable island in Tahiti in the process.Brando wanted to escape his life in Hollywood and find a path to sustainability, so he brings on Bernard Judge (Heder), an idealistic Los Angeles architect, to try and build the world’s first truly sustainable ecological retreat together.Most of the movie is shot on the Tahitian island of Tetiaroa.“Waltzing With Brando” debuted at the Italy’s Torino Film Festival in November 2024, with the festival’s director Giulio Base telling Variety, “You won’t believe it: he is possessed by Marlon Brando.”The film is set to hit theaters this summer.