Billy Zane, in a 2019 interview with Gustav Temple, discussed his forthcoming film Waltzing With Brando in its earliest inception
Gustav Temple met the actor in London in 2019 to discuss Curfew, the new series he was starring in for Sky TV. They also discussed his plans to play Marlon Brando in a film that was then still in development, about Brando’s attempt to build an eco compound on a remote island near Tahiti. The film, Waltzing With Brando, goes on general release in January 2025.
You’re going to play Marlon Brando in Waltzing with Brando. Many people were saying how much you resembled him as King Balek (below) in Samson (2018). Are you happy with that?
I’ve heard that since Dead Calm (1989), from age 21 to my fifties. I’m flattered, I mean it could have been Harpo Marx! I’ve been tempted to play Brando for years, but the period that always fascinated me most was this particular part of his life between 1969 and 1974 – between The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris. Because it wasn’t just the work he was doing, it was his personal life and what he stood for as an activist, for indigenous rights, tribal rights, civil rights. He walked the walk.
He got in trouble for his views, didn’t he?
It was very dangerous and highly unpopular to put your ass on the line, which he did, and he always backed the right horse. He always made the historically right and noble decisions, in terms of that support, and he’s not necessarily known for that. In this case he was ahead of the pack on environmental causes, by engaging one of the more progressive young architects [Bernard Judge] and getting him on the task to create one of the first sustainable compounds – closed loop, zero carbon. So the film takes place in Tahiti and LA, and it covers this seemingly impossible task of achieving that in the early 70s. With the budget skyrocketing, much to his accountant’s dismay, and Brando having to go and work on films he didn’t necessarily want to do, in order to pay for the house. One being a pesky gangster movie with a new director, called The Godfather! And then he won an Oscar for it.
Was that the period when he was seen as becoming a bit eccentric?
He was always seen as eccentric. In my experience, Hollywood calls you ‘difficult’ if you simply care. It’s an easy label to attribute to an artist. I think he ended up becoming and living the myth of the negative projection of what he was. Like, if you’re gonna call me that, then that’s what I’m gonna be. Almost like Joker Jones (Zane’s character in Curfew) – if this is madness I choose insanity. You think I’m difficult; I’ll show you difficult.
Brando was not in very good favour after Mutiny on the Bounty. He became the scapegoat for many of the variables of filming at sea. It’s always easy to blame the actors for any of the problems. And so he fell in love with the location and wanted just to retreat. The irony of it was that he wanted to become a recluse and get away from it all, but that’s not the way it turned out. Brando was filled with certain contradictions that were quite fascinating. It’s this relationship with his architect that the film’s about. They became fast friends, but there was a job to be done.
It’s an opportunity to shine a light on the character and the man during a specific period, without trying to take on his entire life. I’m not a fan of biopics; I don’t think they ever get it right and they usually leave a bad taste in your mouth. You skim over the truth and give just tabloid highlights.
I was very thrilled by the script, adapted by Bill Fishman, who I’d known and worked with on Posse (1993). We’ve been mates since working in the Actors Gang theatre company in LA, which Tim Robbins started. We already had a hisory and a shorthand creatively. When he revealed that he’d been developing this piece, it was pure coincidence that I had been focusing on wanting to do a Brando piece set in Tahiti. We were put together and it was Kismet; it was just meant to be.
Will this be the first time you’ve played an existing public figure?
No, I played a serial killer in The Case of The Hillside Stranglers (1989), which was really kind of harrowing. And then I played Jimi Hendrix’s manager in Hendrix (2000), and also an officer based on a real person in a First World War movie that focuses on a battalion of African-Americans (The Great War, 2019).
There was something you said once that an actor should go to an audition dressed like Cary Grant, not James Dean. Does this still hold true?
By nature, differentiation works. It’s memorable and shows a certain degree of confidence. If the waiting room is filled with actors aspiring to be seen as tortured youth, right out of the garage, that’s great if the role calls for it. But I always found that dressing for success regardless shows a degree of hireability. If you don’t look like you need the job, you tend to be wanted more. It’s just a weird human trait to deny what is asked of you.
I heard a good tip from a well-dressed man about changing one thing about your outfit just before you walk out of the door.
What do you think about my pair of gloves worn as a pocket square?
I think it works very well and is certainly better than no pocket square.
I like the idea of going against the grain, like Fred Astaire’s tie for a belt. I thought that was a great touch. There’s only so many pairs of skinny jeans a man can wear until he reaches a certain point. They work fine on a waif of a boy in a band, but I like a slightly wider leg, or going completely contrary with a higher waist.
With braces – or ‘suspenders’?
I think you can overdo that Newsies [a Broadway musical set in 1899] look, or a little bit barista. If you’re going to go there, you should mix it up. Like the old tucked-in sweater in the trousers, that 30s longshoreman kind of feel. You have these great speciality shops here like Holland & Holland, Beretta, country shooting gear. I’m not an advocate of blasting wildlife but I like the threads. So upper half of the body English country gent, lower half motorcycle delivery man.
I think mashing up those two looks works well in an urban context, but only until it becomes too prevalent. I was enjoying vintage motorcycling jackets and that round-collared Caffrey suit, until they were heavily reproduced and now they’re everywhere. I’ve been wearing this rancher hat with a sixties-cut cream khaki suit, skinny tie, with a cowboy boot. It’s a bit like Rock Hudson in Giant meets Elvis in Viva Las Vegas. That urban cowboy look has been my jam lately; kind of cowboy detective.
Waltzing With Brando is on general release on 7th January 2025
