Billy Zane to play Marlon Brando in new film and his transformation is impressive

As for the plot of the film, it will be set in the late 1960s and early 70s, when Brando bought the private island of Tetiaroa in the South Pacific. It was a time when Brando had to continue working to finance the environmental projects he and architect Bernard Judge were undertaking on the island.

"When they called him about the gangster movie, he did it to finance what they were trying to create in Tetiaroa," Zane said, referring to Francis Ford Coppola's iconic Godfather.

Bill Fishman-directed Waltzing With Brando will revive scenes from The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris. The film is based on Judge's memoir Waltzing with Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti.

In fact, the images featuring Zane show his incredible transformation into Brando, so much so that one might think they are stills from the original films.

The costume, hair and makeup designers on Waltzing With Brando used many of the props and equipment used in these Brando films.

Still, Zane believes Brando was a pioneer when it came to activism. "Back then nobody touched the causes. He stood up for civil rights, he marched with Martin Luther King. He participated in the civil rights walk. he did it for indigenous peoples' rights. What nobody knows is what he did for the environment as an activist and the foresight he had about what was actually going to happen with the climate crisis."

Brando famously fell in love with the area after filming Mutiny on the Bounty in the South Pacific. "It's a love letter to Tahiti, to him and his passion," Zane concludes.