The first trailer for Waltzing with Brando, a new film tracking Marlon Brando’s early ’70s plan to create a vacation resort in Tahiti, has been revealed.
Waltzing with Brando stars Billy Zane as Brando and Jon Heder as Bernard Judge, the architect and environmental planner tasked with building the resort. It takes place mainly from 1969 to 1974, during which Brando starred in legendary films like The Godfather and The Last Tango in Paris.
Brando filmed Mutiny on the Bounty in Tahiti in the early 1960s and fell in love with the region, leading him to purchase a small island there. He was deeply committed to sustainability and aimed to infuse this ethos into his new island retreat. The trailer shows Brando bringing the task to Judge, who commends Brando’s ambitions but worries about its practicality. Against turbulent weather, funding issues, and even a lack of running water, Judge and Brando work to achieve their goal and construct The Brando Resort, which still exists today. Watch the trailer below.
Waltzing with Brando was directed by Bill Fishman, who adapted Judge’s 2011 memoir Waltzing with Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti. Also starring in Waltzing with Brando are Richard Dreyfuss, Camille Razat, Alaina Huffman, Tia Carrera, and Mick Jagger’s son, James Jagger.
The film has yet to receive a release date, but the distributors VMI Worldwide have confirmed it will arrive sometime in 2025.