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Although he has participated in a hundred projects after the film of James Cameron, Billy Zane will always be Cal Hockley, the villain of Titanic, the aristocrat who tried to separate Rose (Kate Winslet) y Jack (Leonardo Dicaprio) in one of the most remembered films in the history of cinema.
With a historic box office and 11 Oscars, the protagonists became celebrities. However, Zane did not suffer the same fate. Although his career appeared to be just as promising as that of Winslet and DiCaprio, his name did not take off.
Today, 24 years after the movie success, the actor no longer sports that lush hair but is bald and his figure has changed. Despite his strong physical resemblance to Marlon brando and his great acting talent, his career could not “float”. While doing some projects on the screen, where he also works as a producer and director, he found another great passion, through which he did obtain the recognition he deserved: painting.
Originally from Chicago, William George Zane Jr. showed interest in acting from a young age. While his film debut was in 1985 as part of the Biff Tannen gang in Return to the future, Zane went unnoticed until 1989 when he played a murderous psychopath in the maritime thriller Terror on board, in which they were Nicole Kidman Y Sam Neill. The role gave him the starring role in Ghost, an attempt to start a saga of superhero movies centered around the figure in the character of Lee Falk.
There, Cameron offered him the interesting task of becoming one of the villains of his new project: Titanic. The magnificent performance of this ruthless and selfish aristocrat – more concerned with his social status than love – quickly made him one of the most hated men in cinema. In fact, he is still remembered as the man who lost love, a diamond, and his dignity in his relentless fight to destroy Rose and Jack.
“The world is divided into two types of people. When women were young they said, ‘How can you do that to Jack?’ And now when they are grown up, they say to me: ‘What was Rose thinking? ”Zame joked in a 2016 with US Weekly. As for his eternal nickname of “bad”, he warned: “I was misunderstood. I was not the iceberg. I did not drown 2000 people ”.
Paradoxically, Titanic It was his greatest success as well as his punishment: no project in which he participated has managed to separate him from that shadow that haunts him every time he goes to a casting, that of the tyrannical wealthy heartthrob. “It is a gift to be part of such a wonderful movie, it was a blessing, but it has also been a curse in Hollywood. When it comes to casting, you always try to follow the same pattern. They always try to make last year’s movie instead of next year’s movie. and that is a mistake. I was synonymous with ‘bad character’ among the casting directors, ”Zane said, revealing how he managed to reinvent himself. “That forces you to become a little more creative, to embrace your independence and direct your films. Make your own life, “said the now producer and director.
Zane appeared in nearly a hundred projects, though most of them cheap and with little exposure. He was shown in secondary roles and, although he participated in hits such as Zoolander Y The scorpion king, most of his work went unnoticed. In spite of this, the interpreter confesses not to feel frustrated: “It is a strange thing what happened to me with the cinema. This of always being ‘the godmother of honor’, as they say to the girls, but it is always good to be on the edge, “he told the Daily Beast portal in 2012.
As for the small screen, the actor has also managed to take a tour. To the acclaimed series Twin Peaks (1991) the miniseries was added Cleopatra (1999), (where he met the Chilean Leonor Varela, with whom he had an affair for years), Boston Public (2001), Charmed (2005), Samantha Who? (2007) and the most recent DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (2017), where PT Barnum was.
However, Zane surprised with a hobby that very few know and that has allowed him to earn a living: painting. While critics assure that his paintings, drawings and photographs possess “a stark authenticity”, his exhibitions have reached destinations such as Los Angeles, London, Budapest, Milan and Miami, granting him the recognition that Hollywood denied him.
His abstract expressionist paintings are bold juxtapositions of kinetic application and an elegantly balanced color scheme derived from both intentional and natural contradictory influences. He likes to inform the process through self-imposed restrictions ”, assures the curator of his latest exhibition.
In addition to painting, Zane makes digital art, intervening images he takes on the street. According to the artist, he prefers to recreate “beautiful accidents”, which is why most of his works are done outdoors, “under fleeting daylight, with materials mostly found and recycled in remote natural places.”
A fan of nature, horse riding and cars, Zane knew how to reinvent himself in an industry that often turned its back on him. Far from giving up, the artist -who is about to turn 55- divides his days between his family life (since 2011 he has been in a relationship with the model Candice Neil with whom he has two daughters), his exhibitions around the world and his new projects on screen waiting for that role to put him back on top of success.
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