WALTZING WITH BRANDO Review: Billy Zane Channels the Godfather’s Wild Island Dream in a Sun-Soaked Eco-Odyssey
This was the film I’d been dying to see ever since the first still of Billy Zane as middle-aged Marlon Brando surfaced—Brando the island-buying recluse who shot The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris while dreaming of a private Tahitian Eden. Adapted from Bernard Judge’s memoir Waltzing with Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti, the story spans 1969–1974 and chronicles the unlikely partnership between the world’s most famous actor and an American architect as they design an eco-utopia on Tetiaroa. Directed and written by Bill Fishman (Tapeheads), the film marks a reunion with Zane from their 1993 collaboration on Posse. Originally announced in 2019, production faced delays due to the pandemic but wrapped principal photography in Tahiti, with principal locations shot on the actual atoll to capture its raw, unspoiled beauty. Zane not only stars but produces under his Billy Zane Productions banner, alongside Deano Productions, Fallout Entertainment, and local […]