"It's Kind of Kismet": Billy Zane Reveals How He Became Involved With 'Waltzing with Brando' [Exclusive]

There's a process by which every actor is cast in a film or television series, yet some stories are wilder than others. For Billy Zane, the process of being cast as an uncanny Marlon Brando lookalike in Bill Fishman's Waltzing With Brando felt like the stars aligning after years in the industry. Known for his past roles in Titanic and The Phantom, he portrays a very different side of the legendary The Godfather Oscar winner in the biopic through the lighthearted story about Brando's efforts to create the perfect Tahitian island escape. In an interview with Collider's Aidan Kelley at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, he opened up about how the history between him and the director, his love for Brando's Tahiti era, and pure happenstance came together to land him in what he described as a "dream role."

Zane's transformation for Waltzing With Brando stems back well before the film, or even its memoir source material penned by Bernard Judge, was ever conceived. "It's kind of kismet, I should say," the actor recalled. "I had the pleasure of working with Bill [Fishman] in the early ‘90s on a film called Posse, and had known him through an acting group called The Actors Gang Tim Robbins started some 45 years ago." Posse was a Western directed by and starring Mario van Peebles that Fishman happened to be producing while Zane took up a small role, though their relationship through Robbins' The Actors Gang would be what formed a lasting connection between them while also tying him to other rising Hollywood stars."I was an early member, along with [John] Cusack and [Jeremy] Piven, and a young Jack Black coming up. It was a hotbed of wacky talent. You could probably draw some correlation between those particular performers, including Bill, who was a director at the time as well."

Despite getting to know each other well in the 90s, Zane says he and Fishman fell out of touch in the intervening years. The director would go on to helm My Dinner With Jimi, a dramedy about the classic rock band The Turtles touring through England, as well as several music videos for everyone from Nickelback to Megadeth, Counting Crows, and John Fogerty. However, he and Zane would reconnect 15 years after they last spoke through a chance encounter in public involving a discussion about Waltzing With Brando. From there, it was a long, yet loving process of producing the film together, beginning properly with the actor's casting in 2019. Zane described the whole whirlwind ordeal of unexpectedly reuniting with Fishman to capture one of his favorite aspects of Brando's life, saying:

"Some years later, through happenstance, I happened to be seen by a gentleman while he was on the phone and talking about the film. 'Well, Billy's right here. You should talk to him. You should play it.' I said, 'Play what?' He said, 'Bill’s doing a Brando film.' I said, 'Shut up, Fishman? I haven't spoken to him for 15 years.' He goes, 'Yeah.' I said, 'I'd like to do a Brando movie. He’s always been kind of a specter surrounding me, but I'm really interested in the Tahiti period.' He goes, 'That’s what this is about!' At which point, I thought, 'That's insane.' I read the script, and then we decided to collaborate and co-produce it. We worked on the script for some months more. I found the financing, and then we started casting, and we took it from there. It was just this incredible labor of love that developed into what it is today."

Who Else Is Involved in 'Waltzing With Brando'?

Zane and Fishman may have worked hand-in-hand to create Waltzing With Brando, but co-star Jon Heder also had a big role to play. The Napoleon Dynamite star was tasked with bringing to life Judge, who was roped into helping Brando build his ideal Tahiti getaway and, in turn, spent countless hours seeing a different side of the actor than most. In the same interview, Zane had high praise for Heder's playful improvisation that helped to recreate Brando's style of acting and forge their own friendship like the actor and the architect. "His knack for improv was so suited and was such an invitation to play as well," he said. "We really found a great chemistry in this friendship on and off-screen." Rounding out the cast are Richard Dreyfuss, Camille Razat, Alaina Huffman, Tia Carrere, and James Jagger.

Waltzing With Brando premiered at the Torino Film Festival in November last year, but it still has yet to set a theatrical release date. Stay tuned here at Collider for more as it continues to make its way through the festival circuit in the meantime.