Movies Billy Zane teases a Superman Easter egg in upcoming Marlon Brando biopic “It’s not your average biopic, it's not a cradle-to-grave story,” the “Titanic” star says. By Wesley Stenzel Published on June 22, 2024 10:00AM EDT Billy Zane is set to play Marlon Brando in a new biopic — and the actor tells Entertainment Weekly that the project will briefly touch on the legendary film star's time playing Kal-El’s Kryptonian dad in Superman. In a conversation primarily focusing on his Lifetime movie Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story, the Titanic star reveals that he recently shot a last-minute addition to Waltzing with Brando. “We added this one little Easter egg for the credit sequence that we just shot a week and a half ago. That's being color-timed and slotted in as we speak,” he tells EW. “Literally, we just added a little outtake as Jor-El — of him doing outtakes during the filming of [Superman]. We found that [footage] online and thought it was the funniest thing.” The footage in question is a flubbed line reading from the 1978 superhero film, wherein Brando says, "Develop such conviction in yourself Alal, Kal-El, Ralph, whatever your name is," forgetting the name of his on-screen super-son as he performs a dramatic monologue. Billy Zane and Marlon Brando in 'Superman'. getty; Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection Zane explains how the movie — which is an adaptation of a book by Brando’s friend, architect Bernard Judge — differs from other biographical films. “The tone of the movie is.... It’s not your average biopic, it's not a cradle-to-grave story,” he says. “It's a five-year period, and a unique friendship between his architect and him, trying to figure out sustainable design in the late sixties and early seventies in Tahiti. Random. It’s curiously a really great lens on a figure, as opposed to trying to tell a whole lifetime.” The actor thinks the relationship between Brando and Judge is key to the entire film. “They talk about their passions for civil rights, indigenous rights, and in this case, environmental [issues],” he says. “It was just a pleasure to play.” Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Billy Zane. Valerie Macon/Getty Zane previously told EW that the project’s unconventional structure attracted him to the material. “I’m not interested in making a tabloid, sensationalist checklist of all the speed bumps in [Marlon’s] life, the highs and lows because I don’t like the structure of biopics,” he said in a 2019 interview. “You can never cover a life objectively when you’re just trying to hit all the marks; it feels false and saccharine, and ultimately I don’t end up liking the subject at the end of a biopic.” Titanic: Billy Zane thinks Rose should have ended up with Cal The Phantom star also said that he was fascinated by the paradoxes at Brando’s core. “He may be the biggest star in the world — or so they said — or the most famous man…. but he was on the s— list and he was on the outs, and maybe [his] retreat was licking his wounds,” he said. “The man was a recluse who moved to an island, yet is up all night on shortwave radio [and] can’t sleep alone. He had many children. It’s like, what led to that? He’s full of contradictions. That was touching to me.” Marlon Brando as Jor-El in 'Superman'. Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Zane says that Waltzing with Brando should release some time this year. “We literally are finishing the mix right now,” the actor explains. “We can't wait to show it to the world. We're about to come out with it.” Billy Zane is Larry Ray in first look at Lifetime's Sarah Lawrence sex cult movie Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story airs Sunday, June 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Lifetime. Reporting by Kristen Baldwin.