Marlon Brando fans have been blown away by actor and Titanic star Billy Zane’s transformation into the Hollywood icon as newly-released pictures have come to light.
Zane, 58, will portray the silver screen legend in the biopic Waltzing With Brando, which is due to premiere at the Torino Film Festival next month.
The biopic follows Brando between 1969 and 1974, as he prepares to undertake massive leading roles in The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris.
The actor, who is lauded for introducing naturalistic acting to the mainstream, later won an Oscar for his performance in The Godfather – a second after his Best Actor award for On The Waterfront.
Waltzing With Brando will also cover the Oscar winner’s attempts to establish an “ecologically perfect” tropical retreat on a small, uninhabited island in Tahiti.
Zane is best known for playing Cal Hockley, the villainous fiance to Kate Winslet’s Rose, in the 1999 box-office record-breaker Titanic.
Zane has been cast to play two-time Oscar winner Brando
Getty
The 58-year-old said he was attracted to play Brando because of the On The Waterfront Oscar winner’s activism.
He told Deadline that Brando “championed civil rights”, before explaining: “He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King. He walked the walk for civil rights; he did it for Indigenous rights.“
“What no one knows about is what he did for the environment as an activist and the foresight he had on what in fact would [become] a climate crisis.”
Accordingly, Zane, along with Waltzing with Brando director Bill Fishman, has pledged five percent of the movie’s proceeds to the residents of Tahiti.
Fans were wowed by Zane’s transformation
Getty / Torino Film Festival
Fans have been eagerly awaiting news of the movie after pictures of Zane’s uncanny likness to Brando in the role began to emerge.
The internet was sent into frenzy as the first official pictures showing Zane’s portrayal of Brando as Vito Corleone, the titular mob boss in all-time classic The Godfather, were published.
One fan said excitedly on X, formerly Twitter: “You could’ve said this was a photo of Marlon Brando and I would’ve believed it.”
Another agreed emphatically: “Holy C***! I honestly thought this was Brando.”
Other fans believed Waltzing with Brando could be the movie that redefines Zane’s career.
“This could be the role that puts him back on top if it’s done well,” a third weighed in.
Elsewhere, a fourth fan agreed and went further, demanding: “Give him the damn Oscar.”
The biopic will close out the 42nd Torino Film Festival, which will be marking the centennial of Marlon Brando’s birth.
Along with the premiere, the festival is celebrating the two-time Oscar winner’s life with 24-title retrospective of his most iconic films.
