Billy Zane’s Art Career Began on the Set of Titanic —and It’s Still Going Strong
Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
There’s a scene in Titanic where Rose (Kate Winslet) is unpacking some art. Her fiancé, Caledon “Cal” Hockley, played by Billy Zane, enters and says, “Oh God. Not those finger paintings again. They certainly were a waste of money.” Rose disagrees. The work of the up-and-coming artist, “something Picasso,” she says, “is like being inside a dream,” as she lays out the legendary artist’s 1907 painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Today, this works hangs in the MoMA. “He won’t amount to a thing. He won’t. Trust me,” says Cal.
The Picasso of it all is not the only irony here. It was while filming Titanic in Mexico in 1996 that Zane began his own career as a painter. “We had a lot of down time on set,” Zane tells AD. “I converted the garage in my condo into a studio and would invite other actors to come and get messy. It was just a fun way to pass the time and play and express ourselves. It was social, and it was personal as well. It was just a place where you could plug in a boom box and open a bottle of wine and spend hours having a great time.” He calls the work he made during that time “large-scale action painting,” and this sort of abstract expressionism, highly improvisational and often done outside in the sun, is still his most prominent, though he’s dabbled in many other styles.
Mainstreet Hospitality Presents: Foreign Substances
In the years since Titanic, Zane, who will play Marlon Brando in an upcoming film about the construction of the silver screen legend’s home near Tahiti (now a resort where Beyoncé spent her birthday), has exhibited his work all over the world. Currently it is on view at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a 250-year-old landmark of the Berkshires filled with beautiful antiques and charming eccentricities. The exhibit, called “Foreign Substances,” runs until August and includes a few of Zane’s abstract paintings, plus a series he’s calling Dutch Bastards, “a bastardization of the Dutch masters,” made up of doctored iPhone photos taken on the set of a circus-themed episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. This is alongside the work of British artist Charlotte Rose, a pop art series called Shakespeare Tobacco Company. (You can also find Zane’s work online at Billyzaneart.com.)
The Berkshires, an enclave of small towns in the mountains of western Massachusetts, is known for its well-preserved history, rich arts and culture scene, and notable residents ranging from Norman Rockwell to Dorinda Medley. After exploring the area around the opening of his exhibit, Zane says that “it lives up to all of my Hollywood and literary fantasies and references.” But of course, we were equally curious about Zane’s life back at home on the West Coast—read on for more.
Architectural Digest: What city do you live in?
Billy Zane: Pasadena, California.
Describe the style of your home in one sentence.
Midcentury modern conceived and realized by ArtCenter Pasadena students in the 1950s.
What is one kitchen item you use every single day?
A small steel saucepan of boiling water.
What is your favorite gadget or appliance?
I still marvel at the mechanics of an electric can opener the same way I did as a child.
What is your bedtime ritual?
Stretching, watching A Closer Look with Seth Meyers on YouTube, and random reading from six books I grab without looking from my bedside table before lights out. If my daughter cannot sleep, we watch David Attenborough documentaries and voice the animals until she laughs herself into exhaustion.
What is your ideal bedding setup?
Frette sheets upon a firm bed with a throw or duvet cover.
Classic sheet set
$500.00, Frette
Which room in your house is your favorite and why?
The terrace. I like the changing light and year-round tree coverage. I keep imagining hiring production designers from my films to build out the stern of a boat within it. I vacillate between the Orca from Jaws, complete with Quint’s chair, and a Riva-inspired yacht like Marc Newson’s design for Lure Fishbar. The space just feels nautical for some reason. It’s simply the place I imagine most boldly. It’s also where I paint when not in my studio.
Describe one item in your home that you brought back from a trip.
A very large portion of a B17 Flying Fortress fuselage.
What object in your house has extra sentimental value?
My parents’ art.
What is the oldest thing in your house?
An axe head from the time of Christ gifted to me during a live Bulgarian talk show. The next oldest is a Berber wedding headdress from the 1800s I bought near the Algerian border. Also likely the Greek yogurt in my fridge if I don’t get back home soon.
What is the newest thing in your house?
Hopefully the new dairy products awaiting me if my housekeeper timed grocery shopping well. That and ceramic knives, a treacherous marvel. If I had fingers left, I could count the times I’ve cut myself on both hands.
What would you change about your home if you could only choose one thing?
The address, naturally.
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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