Billy Zane on transforming into Larry Ray, enjoying the horror-comedy blend of Demon Knight, and adoring The Phantom

The actor: Billy Zane is one of those actors with a breaking-into-the-business story that makes other actors say, “I hate you so much, you’re my hero,” having made his way out to California, only to score his first role in a major motion picture within two weeks… and to have that picture be Back To The Future is just the icing on what was already a pretty sweet cake to begin with. Zane’s career is one that’s proven to be staggeringly consistent in terms of work, moving in a variety of directions that have provided him with the opportunity to do an arc on one of the greatest cult TV shows ever (Twin Peaks) as well as deliver a villainous turn in one the biggest motion pictures of all time (Titanic) and somehow score comedy gold simply by playing himself (Zoolander).

Of late, however, Zane is securing recognition for portraying a couple of real people: this weekend he’s playing an infamous sex cult leader in the Lifetime movie Devil On Campus: The Larry Ray Story, and later this year (specific release date still TBD), he’ll be seen on the big screen, portraying one of the greatest actors of all time in Waltzing With Brando.

Devil On Campus: The Larry Ray Story (2024)—“Larry Ray”

A.V. Club: I was able to watch the movie last night, and you’re decidedly intimidating in the role, as well you should be for a character like that.

Billy Zane: Yeah, it’s quite a fascinating character study, to say the least. The level of manipulation and the buy-in, the levering of charm upon a very susceptible group and demographic: a handful of kids in college, looking for perhaps that kind of stewardship. But, yeah, from a character standpoint, playing physically, putting on the weight and working on the accent and getting into it… It was really a fully immersive experience. And a harrowing tale, but well-suited on that platform, on Lifetime, because of the restraint shown by the network. I think, had it been on another streamer, it would’ve been too salacious and gotten lost in graphic violence and nudity unnecessarily and not the character work. So I really liked it. I’d never worked for that platform before, and I really enjoyed it for that reason. It was smart. Which was cool.

AVC: How much did you know about Larry Ray going in? Had you seen the documentary about him?

BZ: I knew nothing. I had no idea.

AVC: What was the most staggering thing that you discovered in the process of doing the film?

BZ: It was more about the victims. The buy-in I mentioned. People just kept returning. And just the human condition in general, how susceptible we are and how willing we are. Susceptible to suggestion. The manipulation, the mind games were pretty textbook, and wearing people down to the point where… Well, I guess that’s what cult leaders do. There’s a system, an operational standard there, in terms of convincing people that events had occurred that did not, and belief structures and systems that were their own. That was fascinating. And tragic, of course. And likewise was the cycle of trauma. What led to this guy being this way… He was clearly a product of some levels of abuse that triggered him. It was that theme that fascinated me as well from the portrayal. Bad for bad’s sake in fiction, okay, but… what leads to this? Why are bullies bullies and rapists rapists? Manipulative people clearly have been manipulated. How do you break that cycle of trauma and violence? It was fascinating to me.

AVC: Was there any particular moment that was most challenging for you as an actor?

BC: I mean, it was all challenging. I was asked that question in another interview, and I didn’t have an answer, other than, like, “No… and by that I mean yes, everything, and no, nothing.” [Laughs.] There was no one particular thing. It was all a challenge. But physically, putting on the weight, working on the accent… I mean, it’s the job. It’s what we have to do. Creating that level of improvisation within character and trust with the other actors, which was great. They were just wonderful.

Working with Liz [Röhm] was incredible. She was an actor’s director, and that really helped with the level of collaboration that we had, turning things on their head and leaning into the dark comedy of a situation. You know, that nervous laughter as a kind of catch-release. Like, the absurdity of it kind of made you giggle, and you’re, like, “What?!” Because we had to mine the charm. This guy had to be charming. How else could such a diabolical figure have such sway? Well, he had to be charming. And what’s charming? Humor. And dynamics. Not many people are funny. And if he was smart, he was funny. Maybe I was funnier than he was in life. Or maybe not. I don’t know. But I chose to use this kind of double-edged fine line to kind of engage them and keep it moving fast and also make the story unnervingly entertaining. Like, “Ugh, I can’t watch… but I’ve got to!”

Back To The Future (1985) / Back To The Future Part II (1989)—“Match”

AVC: We try to ask about an actor’s first on-camera appearance. In your case, was it really Match in Back To The Future?

BZ: Most notoriously, I think that would be it. I think that was the flashpoint. It sure was. Baptism by fire. In town two weeks, auditioned for Biff and got that, and then got to shoot it twice. No better film school than the back lot at Universal for six months!

AVC: So based on that comment, was Eric Stoltz still playing Marty McFly when you first got there?

BZ: He was. Great actor, great experience. It was a whole other movie, but it was really fun. But it was nice to get a second swing on your first time out. It was, like, “Okay, what would I do different?”

AVC: And did you, in fact, do anything different the second time around?

BZ: I mean, geez, you blink and you miss us. We’re running across the town square. I knew not to let the manure go in my mouth, how about that? [Laughs.] I figured that out!

Tales From The Crypt (1993)—“Miles Federman”
Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)—“The Collector”

AVC: Your Tales From The Crypt experience started with an episode, playing Miles Federman opposite Martin Sheen.

BZ: Yes! It was called “Well Cooked Hams.” Not to be confused with The Silence Of The Hams, with Dom De Luise and Larry Storch and John Astin and Bubba Smith and Shelley Winters. [Laughs.]

I loved the Tales From The Crypt period of my career. I loved that movie, Demon Knight. I was just texting with [director Ernest] Dickerson the other day. It’s like a starter drug for horror for a lot of fans. I meet ’em at the cons— I’m gonna be in Buffalo on July 27—and I just love the conversation at the tables, folks talking about, “My mom showed me this movie, and it made me really appreciate comedy in my horror. Gosh, why don’t we have enough of that? We need more!” It really just put the genre in perspective for a lot of people, to be in it enough but detached enough to enjoy it. Yeah, that movie was an absolute pleasure, and the episode was equally a lot of fun. Great people, great creators all around. I love all of Todd Masters’ gooey effects, the creature effects. Not too much CGI.

Zoolander (2001) / Zoolander 2 (2016)—himself
Holmes & Watson (2018)—himself

AVC: How did you come to play yourself in Zoolander and—several years later—the sequel?

BZ: I don’t know. Let alone how it happened in Holmes & Watson. It’s Owen Wilson. It’s all Owen Wilson’s fault. I mean, it started with Ben going, “Yeah, you should be here at this scene,” and then Owen just enjoying saying my name and making fun. We were just having a laugh, improvising one afternoon, with no idea what was going to come out of that. That was just simply… I was living in New York, Ben was in New York researching the fashion scene. I’d see him at a couple of shows, and he’d be, like, “Come to the Warehouse tomorrow!” I was, like, “All right, sure.” And then it was, ‘Yeah, back me up. We’ve got a walk-off.” “What’s a walk-off?” [Laughs.] So he quickly explained, and I went, “Okay, got it.” And we just spit-balled, and the rest is… weird history.

I get more love for playing myself than 40 years of character work. And then it just continued. I don’t know, I’m entirely honored by the absurdity of that and how it seems to keep popping up in all sorts of goofy references. I’ll get pinged by friends. “What? A shout-out in Rick And Morty?!” It’s just strange. So I don’t know how it all happened, but… blame it on Owen Wilson.

Silver City (2004)—“Chandler Tyson”

BZ: That was.,.. [Hesitates.] You know, it’s often about the people and the place rather than the character. My most fond memories were working with Danny Huston and Maria Bello, but I remember stumbling upon a private library in one of the locations that had first-edition Audubons and Shakespeares. And [Richard] Dreyfuss was an avid reader and lover of Churchill’s writings, and just watching him getting blown away by first-edition Churchills and reciting these things was kind of a unique, unexpected pleasure. And it was a very cool movie. Timely and clever.

The Phantom (1996)—“The Phantom / Kit Walker”

AVC: I think more people wanted me to ask you about this film than any other project.

BZ: Awesome. It’s one of my favorite characters.

AVC: It still holds up, too.

BZ: Well, I love that you love it. [Laughs.] It got a lot of stick early on because it wasn’t edgy at a time when all those movies were going dark. I’ve always held a torch for what I saw as a dying genre, which was adventure. I was raised on adventure, and I think it’s so easily overlooked as how critical it is to young boys and girls. Thank goodness it’s still in the fiber of Spielberg and will always be there to that degree, but action has kind of eclipsed adventure, and this was truly a nod to classic Hollywood cinema. I really understood the ethos of that, which is why I think I got the role. I just knew it and I was holding a torch for it… and it was a candle in the wind at the time, but then this thing came about, and I was, like, “A-ha! At last!” It was something that would benefit from this weird adoration and fixation on all things Errol Flynn and Tarzan. A happy hero. Go figure! No issues. Well-adjusted. Animal friends. Man cave. Girlfriend. The family business. Life is good!

AVC: I interviewed Treat Williams for this feature several years ago, and he said, “You can see my teeth marks all over the screen I chewed it up.”

BZ: [Laughs.] He was hungry! His lines… It was so funny. And I think it was Catherine Zeta-Jones’ first American film, and she was a hoofer in the West End and then on Broadway, and Treat came off the stage, and I was raised on early MGM and had done my share. Before takes, it was just like musical theater. I remember we were all crammed behind some flats and a fake door on Universal’s New York street before we went out chasing each other through the streets on horseback or in a cab or whatever. And right before “action!” it was always song and dance or one-liners or musical theater. It was such a whimsical and lovely group. And Kristy [Swanson] was great. Everyone was just so on-point. And the pleasure of meeting [Phantom creator] Lee Falk at the time was just killer. And getting his endorsement!

AVC: I did not know that. That’s amazing.

BZ: Yeah, we met in Australia. He was great. He was, like, “You’re it, kid. You got it.” I was, like, “Ah, that’s all I need!”

Dead Calm (1989)—“Hughie Warriner”

BZ: Probably the most important role of my career, because it set the stage. It was the wind in the sails, or the compass, or whatever nautical metaphor you want to use. [Laughs.] But that was an incredible opportunity, as helmed by the wonderful Philip Noyce, who encouraged participatory design and interesting challenge and a balance of humor, tension, catch-release… He’s a master of tension, and to really trust and play and use the colors I was inspired to bring, which was to instinctively offset what could otherwise have been a more… I don’t know, more predictably harrowing? It was a very good script by Terry Hayes, but when you come to execute, you need to deal with what is and then find a surprising antidote in real-time. That was just an incredible film.

I had met my then-wife in Australia, I loved working there. Lisa Collins, she was great in that film. I had been adopted by that country, and I had done maybe five of my favorite jobs in Australia. I was an early… guest, I guess. Before that, Eric Roberts had made a film called The Coca-Cola Kid, but not many other Americans had. They were surprised to see me at the immigration office, stamping my passport for a work visa to go film there. “What are you doing?” “I dunno. Just going sailing.” [Laughs.]

Twin Peaks (1991)—“John Justice Wheeler”

BZ: Ah, another fave. I mean, at that point, only David Lynch would cast against type. At that point, Dead Calm had come out, I didn’t want to do Sleeping With The Enemy… I kept being asked to be the crazy guy, right? [Laughs.] And I was, like, “No, I want to be the Phantom!” Long before I could be the Phantom. In my mind, that’s what I wanted, or something to that effect. And I was suddenly Screwball on a Boat, and that was my jam. And I was, like, “Uh, okay…” And I enjoyed mining the psychology of broken men, so I was, like, “Okay, I can go there.” But only David would cast me as seemingly the only sane person in the show, a straight-laced Gary Cooper of a guy. Only he would cast me. It took an artist to mine the opposite and flip it, and I was so grateful.

It was such an honor to jump in there toward the end of the second season, to make it in there just under the bell and, God, to get to play opposite Sherilyn [Fenn] and be Audrey’s… I mean, there are few words you hear on the phone that make you want to sit down and go, “Wha-whaat?” “Yeah, you’re playing Audrey Horne’s love interest on Twin Peaks.” You’re, like, “Excuse me! Check, please. Is that a fainting couch? Incoming!”

AVC: You were doing God’s work for the rest of us, and bless you for that.

BZ: Dammit, man, it’s a dirty job, but someone had to do it.

Community (2015)—“Honda Boss”

BZ: I was such a fan of the show. Another great call to come in and just play the… CEO? Chairman? of Honda. It was just so random. [Laughs.] But to improvise with those lovely people and play with weird moments… I just keep remembering the idea of, like, trying to hide but not hiding. “I can see him.” It was just peculiar. Peculiar and wonderful. I love my comedy. I think I secretly make everything a comedy, which is what makes the drama still kind of interesting. Don’t tell anyone!

AVC: Your secret’s safe with me.

BZ: Good. Good! Just you and me… [Laughs.]

Going Overboard (1989)—“King Neptune”

AVC: Speaking of comedies, this was kind of a notable one… or, rather, it became one in retrospect.

BZ: And it was called The Unsinkable Shecky Moskowitz at one point. Yeah, Adam Sandler’s first movie, if I’m not mistaken. It was…in the spirit of mad independent cinema. Your friends call and say, “We’ve got a cruise ship and a beauty pageant, and the ship’s leaving harbor out of New Orleans, going to Cancun. We’re gonna shoot a movie. I think we’re gonna improvise a movie on a boat. Can you make it?” “Yeah!” Lisa played Miss Australia, and I… had no idea what I was doing. I was just along for the ride! And they were, like, “I think we need a role for you.” And the Exxon Valdez had just happened, so I thought, “Let me be King Neptune and climb over the edge and put a hex on Exxon.” It was just a good lark. But, boy, that was fun. There should’ve been songs, though.

Titanic (1997)—“Cal Hockley”

AVC: One of my all-time favorite Random Roles was with your Titanic co-star, David Warner.

BZ: Oh, he was amazing. And I was always a fan. I remember seeing pictures of him as Hamlet, which set the British stage alight when he was, like, 23, looking like a wan, tortured English lit major, with a long scarf. He played him like a student in the ’60s, I think during a lot of the student uprisings and protests. It was a very interesting interpretation. But I remember seeing photos of him and going, “That guy!” And then every one of his offerings growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, watching him turn up in some of my favorite films, from Time After Time to Tron to The Omen and The Island… It just went on and on. And then I got to work with him, and he was good friends with a wonderful actor named Peter Jason, whose career you should do a retrospective on. You should interview Peter. What a life he’s had, and what a career! And he was a dear friend of David’s. So to get to work with David Warner was an honor and a pleasure.

But, yeah, I’m forever grateful for that movie and that experience and collaboration with all the actors and with James Cameron. He’s just an amazing director and a very funny man. I keep saying that. I feel like it’s my mission to remind people in every interview how funny he is. Because he always has the reputation of, “Ooh, he’s a taskmaster.” He’s brilliant. And you’ve got to be smart to be funny. And he’s super smart, thus he’s super funny. [Laughs.] He loves wordplay, and he’s just clever. But Titanic was great on every level. It was just an incredible experience. I’m actually going to see Frances Fisher in a couple of days. She’s coming to an art show of mine in Santa Monica. She just pinged me. So I can’t wait to see her.

AVC: You were thoroughly despicable in the film, so congratulations on that.

BZ: Why, thank you, sir. [Laughs.] Another example of bad programming. “He wasn’t born bad, he was just made that way!”

Only You (1994)—“The False Damon Bradley”

BZ: Another extraordinary experience, a great location, and a lovely cast. I got a call from my pal [Robert] Downey, who’s, like, “Can you be on a plane to Positano?” “Uh, yeah. What are you doing?” “Working with Norman Jewison.” “No way! The Thomas Crown Affair? Fiddler On The Roof? You kidding me? Moonstruck? Nah.” [Laughs.] “But Marisa Tomei’s in it!” “I’m in.” And Bonnie Hunt, and Fisher [Stevens]…

Yeah, I flew out during mad fires. I remember flying out and seeing the fires across Malibu, and then I go fly into Pompeii, which I thought was ironic. But then landing in Naples and going, “All right, there’s a cautionary tale for you…” And then I ended up in Positano, and… I’ve been a shorn slaphead for years now, but I had my long wig from Orlando, and… I don’t know if they knew I was bald. Not many fellas were at the time. There weren’t many people buzzin’ it down in those days. I was an early adopter. But I brought the wig with me, and when I got there, Norman was like, “He’s bald!” I said, “Yeah, but look, check it out…” And I put on the wig. “Damon!” And this became the character: kind of a California dude with this weird hair. And I said, “And then I can take it off at the end!” “But that’s insane.” I said, “Eh.” [Shrugs.] “Well, all right!” “Cool!” It was cute. And what a lovely and fun time. Bobby was a dear friend for years prior, and it’s a beautiful romantic comedy. I think it’s thoroughly charming, and it holds up.

BloodRayne (2005)—“Elrich”
Attack On Darfur (2009)—“Bob Jones”

AVC: If pressed, do you have a favorite between your two Uwe Boll films?

BZ: [Long pause.] A favorite… of those two.

AVC: Well, the most memorable. How about that?

BZ: I think Darfur, for what it intended and tried to achieve early on, to bring attention to that absolutely harrowing crisis. I thought that was noble in intention. So that one, probably.

Waltzing With Brando (2024)—“Marlon Brando,” producer

AVC: How did Waltzing With Brando come about? I know you’re a producer on the film.

BZ: I am! Bill Fishman, the writer/director, was a friend. He had produced Posse back in the day, which I was in, and I knew him through the Actors’ Gang, a theater company here in L.A. for years. Randomly we reconnected, and he had been adapting the memoirs of Bernard Judge, the architect that Marlon had hired to realize his vision—his forward-thinking vision—for sustainable, zero-carbon-footprint design for his Tahitian compound in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Always ahead of the curve on social justice issues, civil rights, Indigenous rights. Certainly as a celebrity or as an activist, he was always the first to wade in and walk the walk, which was so impressive. I had no idea about his passion for the environment and thought it was such a unique lens on a character and an actor and a figure that’s always been kind of a specter around my career and references made. Which is a great honor, you know, but I thought that rather than a cradle-to-grave biopic, this five-year period and this unique relationship, almost a dramatic comedy, about these two gentlemen was a great, perhaps even deeper sense of insight into the man when you focus on someone’s passions, their true passions, like equanimity and humanity. Then you get a real sense of who they are.

So I’m very proud of the piece. We’re just finishing the mix right now. We added… [Starts to laugh.] We found these outtakes of him as Jor-El [in Superman] that we had to recreate. We just shot those last week. They were so funny, and I’m not gonna give it away, you’ve gotta see it, but it was like [Orson] Welles doing the Ernest and Julio ad. Him as Jor-El going up on lines and improvising… It was just funny! So we did it as a little Easter egg in the credits sequence. We said, “We’ve gotta shoot this!” We were in the mix, but we had to do it. We were recreating the Oscar scene with Sacheen [Littlefeather]. Roger Moore, and the Oscar moment for The Godfather, so while they were on set, I was, like, “Let’s get the white wig out. We’ve gotta do Jor-El and this outtake.” And it was fun.

AVC: Do you have a release date yet?

BZ: No. This year. We’re just about to show it. We’ve been keeping it close to the vest. I’ve been dropping pictures out there, which… [Pauses.] Film marketing has undergone a radical transformation. The whole industry is in such an interesting space. I just love the direct contact with the fanbase and just kind of sharing my experiences. It seems to really create an appetite. So that’s been fun, dropping a few of those pearls here and there. I think folks are gonna really dig it. And Jon Heder plays Bernard Judge. You know Jon from Napoleon Dynamite and Blades Of Glory. He’s a wonderful actor, funny as hell, and just really cool. We have a really great dynamic. It’s pretty awesome.