Quotes

[what he thinks the best age is] I'm enjoying 40. Old enough to know better, young enough not to care.

My best evenings are at home with my lady.

I paint abstract expressions.

With me, it's always about first impressions. I trust my instincts. I love to prepare if it's something that requires training. But I don't like to prepare the psychology too much.

Every day is a surprise. There are confirmations of an interconnectivity and synchronicity which inspire, titillate and confirm the inherent comedy of the universe.

[on James Cameron] I had not met Jim before auditioning for Titanic (1997) and I found him thoroughly charming and a genuine wit. My impression of him revolves around his sense of humor, which he never gets any credit for. I don't think you take on incredible risks without a great sense of humor, and Titanic was the biggest film that anyone had ever worked on.

[on Back to the Future (1985)] That was my first gig. I had the rare and beautiful pleasure of being in town only two weeks before landing that film, which set the tone for at least the first half of my career. [laughs] I had auditioned for Biff, and everyone they liked as a runner-up became [his goon squad].

[on Dead Calm (1989) being his breakout role] Absolutely. I had everything to prove and nothing to lose. It's a dangerous combination for a 21-year-old actor. I remember once the film was in the can thinking, "If this plane from Australia goes down, I'll at least have that [performance]." I was satisfied and able to demonstrate my abilities as an actor, you know? After working with those guys, I had made a mark and I was content with that, honestly.

[on what caused his career to decline] One word: alimony. I was married at 21 for eight years with no children to a lovely girl, Lisa Collins, and we're still friends, but L.A. law had gouged my assets and required exorbitant ransom for the better part of five years, and I chose ultimate freedom, and was happy to do anything to pay off a ridiculous monthly alimony. Dude, it was heinous for a young man, and this was happening right in the middle of Titanic (1997). From that point on, if you see a nose dip, I was basically doing anything that paid to pay that off so it didn't get extended, because then there's a penalty.

[on Twin Peaks (1990)] Twin Peaks was awesome. It was an incredible gift playing that role and supposedly getting to deflower Audrey Horne [played by Sherilyn Fenn] on your private jet while saving an endangered species. I was like "Did I win the lottery?".

I'm a fixer. I like solutions. Life is a whiteboard, basically.

[on Zoolander (2001)] I swear I get more love for five minutes of playing myself in that than 30 years of character work! [laughs] I was living in New York at the time, and I'd see Ben out and about quite a bit, and he called and asked if I'd do a cameo. When I was there, it suddenly evolved and all that came out of improv. I love that I was the only one in Derek's corner. But we did so many different versions of that scene. "Stuff it, Zane!" "Put a cork in it, Zane!" "Save it, Zane!". The fact that he kept saying my name... "Billy Zane's a cool dude!". He just kept hitting it and I was very embarrassed on the day, but have come to be so grateful because I'm constantly met with strangers who claim, "Billy Zane is a cool dude." I just hope to live up to it. Or I hear "Save it, Zane!". It's certainly better than "You're the asshole from Titanic (1997)!". I'm like "Come on! I wasn't the iceberg! I didn't kill 2,000 people!".

Working with Leo [Titanic (1997) co-star Leonardo DiCaprio] was like having a little brother on the set. It got pretty silly. We were into hallway bowling.

[on The Phantom (1996)] That film was ahead of its time, in a weird way. If it came out any later, in the glut of superhero-dom, it would've been squeezed into the same sociopathic, postmodern, all-too-slick, forgettable fare that's out there. What fans seem to like about that movie is it has a very sweet, heroic heart. And it was Catherine Zeta-Jones's first American film.

When I had my first child I sold my motorcycle. I realised the amount of heavy lifting, literally, that you do with kids and thought I'd need both legs and both arms.

My character in Curfew (2019) drives a 1970s camper van that's been transformed into a tiki bar filled with drugs and cocktails. He was the most fun to play, part John Wayne, part Bill Murray, a bit of Hunter S. Thompson. Sort of myself but heightened... and on acid.

I never mind when people yell: "Listen to your friend Billy Zane, he's a cool dude" at me. It's a hell of a quote (from Zoolander (2001)) and complimentary. Plus, it tempers all the Titanic (1997) responses where they yell: "You're the asshole, I hate you."

Playing Marlon Brando [in Waltzing with Brando (2024)] is an idea that's been around a long time. The other person people always suggest is Lex Luthor.

If I was giving advice, I'd say there are no problems, only solutions. That, or dress for success.

Playing villains has been a lot of fun and very lucrative, but I really want to make the white-hat hero more attractive to young audiences. I think the post-modern anti-hero has contributed to a lack of moral high ground in our culture.

My worst habit is social smoking. I can put the cigarette down for months, but then I give in. I'm a bit of a pushover.

If I could go back to one era, it would be New York in 1999, because it was a period of great hope and promise. There was a booming economy and a lot of optimism in the air. It was a good time.

Fashion is important. I always say, pull from the canon of classic cinema and the archetypes that resonate with you and then put a modern twist on it. Throw a little street on top of a classic look: Cary Grant's suit from Bringing Up Baby (1938) but with some vintage Jordan high-tops.

The best advice I was ever given was: "Be of service." There's a word from my Greek ancestors, philotimo, which essentially means focus on the benefit of others and the tide will lift you.

I paint as well as act. My art is similar in style to my acting - improvisational. I often paint on set and then feverishly try and scrape buckets of paint off my fingers before filming.

When I was a teenager I had a complete infatuation with Nastassja Kinski. Then I got to work with her. I felt like Aladdin with the magic lamp - how many more of these wishes have I got? Because you don't want to waste them.

[on filming the Titanic (1997) scene where his character Cal gets so angry with Rose he flips the table during breakfast] We did 17 [takes] and they only had two dresses, and I spilled orange juice once. The wardrobe department was like, 'Thank you so much!' I think it was our first day. It was our first scene.

The bad guys are fun because they are challenging. I like to play them because they are usually a little less dimensional on page and need to be rounded off and require a challenging approach. Heroes I lean towards [though] because I'm a bit of a sentimentalist.