Billy Zane Movies

Comic actor Ben Stiller co-wrote, directed, and stars in this spoof of the fashion industry that began as a short skit for the 1996 VH1 Fashion Awards. Stiller is Derek Zoolander, an intellectually challenged but bone structure-blessed male model who's despondent after being eclipsed in popularity by an equally vacuous rival, Hansel (Owen Wilson). Upon his reluctant retirement, Derek is invited to a day spa by previously standoffish fashion designer Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell), where the befuddled model is brainwashed by the mysterious Katinka (Milla Jovovich) into assassinating the prime minister of Malaysia. In addition to Stiller's real-life wife Christine Taylor, Zoolander co-stars his father Jerry Stiller, along with Jon Voight, David Duchovny, Andy Dick, and Fabio. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This two-part, four-hour miniseries adaptation of Dean Koontz' best-seller Sole Survivor begins with a plane crash that takes the lives of the wife and daughter of reporter Joe Carpenter. No sooner has Carpenter absorbed this tragedy than he begins receiving evidence that the air tragedy may not have been the accident it first seemed to be. At least, that is the story of Rose (Gloria Reuben), the only survivor of the crash. Following up on Rose's firsthand account of the events, Joe is led to the mysterious Quartermass Organization, where secret experiments are being conducted to imbue innocent youngsters with the power to heal, perform mind-transference feats over thousand of miles, move objects through sheer will power -- and, from time to time, to commit murder. Although John C. McGinley is cast as the nominal villain, hero Joe Carpenter would be well advised to watch his back whenever "heroine" Rose is around. Dean Koontz' Sole Survivor was originally telecast on September 13 and 14, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The epic saga of the Queen of Egypt gets yet another retelling in Cleopatra, a four-hour, two-part spectacular produced for television. Leonor Varela plays Cleopatra, the Egyptian monarch who uses her wisdom, charm, ruthlessness, and seductive powers to work her way into the heart (and bed) of Roman leader Julius Caesar (Timothy Dalton). But Cleopatra shifts her romantic alliances to Marc Anthony (Billy Zane) just in time for Caesar's death and Anthony's rise to the throne. When Rome goes to war, however, Cleopatra realizes that she can only remain in power for so long, eventually making a late date with an asp when things get especially grim. This is at least the 12th film based on Cleopatra's life (the best-known being the infamously expensive 1962 version starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton). Produced by Hallmark for NBC television, this version first aired as a two-part miniseries in May 1999. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

For this animated direct-to-video sequel to Disney's 1995 animated Pocahontas, Irene Bedard returns to the title role -- with Judy Kuhn once again providing Pocahontas' singing voice. The story starts in colonial Jamestown before Pocahontas travels to England to meet with the king in hopes of preventing a British-Indian war. Her guide and companion is royal emissary John Rolfe (Billy Zane). They are attracted to each other, but Pocahontas yearns for John Smith (Donal Gibson, brother of Mel Gibson). After a conflict with the evil Ratcliffe (David Ogden Stiers), the missing Smith is presumed dead. Ratcliffe tells the king that the Jamestown Indians are savages, so Pocahontas enters high society, hoping to prove otherwise by presenting a civilized appearance at the Royal Hunt Ball. Ratcliffe schemes to sabotage Pocahontas' plan. New songs by Marty Panzer and Larry Grossman include the closing-credits tune, Between Two Worlds. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This spectacular epic re-creates the ill-fated maiden voyage of the White Star Line's $7.5 million R.M.S Titanic and the tragic sea disaster of April 15, 1912. Running over three hours and made with the combined contributions of two major studios (20th Century-Fox, Paramount) at a cost of more than $200 million, Titanic ranked as the most expensive film in Hollywood history at the time of its release, and became the most successful. Writer-director James Cameron employed state-of-the-art digital special effects for this production, realized on a monumental scale and spanning eight decades. Inspired by the 1985 discovery of the Titanic in the North Atlantic, the contemporary storyline involves American treasure-seeker Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) retrieving artifacts from the submerged ship. Lovett looks for diamonds but finds a drawing of a young woman, nude except for a necklace. When 102-year-old Rose (Gloria Stuart) reveals she's the person in the portrait, she is summoned to the wreckage site to tell her story of the 56-carat diamond necklace and her experiences of 84 years earlier. The scene then shifts to 1912 Southampton where passengers boarding the Titanic include penniless Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and society girl Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), returning to Philadelphia with her wealthy fiance Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). After the April 10th launch, Rose develops a passionate interest in Jack, and Cal's reaction is vengeful. At midpoint in the film, the Titanic slides against the iceberg and water rushes into the front compartments. Even engulfed, Cal continues to pursue Jack and Rose as the massive liner begins its descent.

Cameron launched the project after seeing Robert Ballard's 1987 National Geographic documentary on the wreckage. Blueprints of the real Titanic were followed during construction at Fox's custom-built Rosarito, Mexico studio, where a hydraulics system moved an immense model in a 17-million-gallon water tank. During three weeks aboard the Russian ship Academik Keldysh, underwater sequences were filmed with a 35mm camera in a titanium case mounted on the Russian submersible Mir 1. When the submersible neared the wreck, a video camera inside a remote-operated vehicle was sent into the Titanic's 400-foot bow, bringing back footage of staterooms, furniture and chandeliers. On November 1, 1997, the film had its world premiere at the 10th Tokyo International Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this action drama, an American mining engineer is deceived into returning to a civil-war-torn East African nation and forced into finding a missing plutonium shipment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The first superhero ever, created by Lee Falk in 1936, gets another shot at movie stardom 60 years after achieving fame in comics and serials. Billy Zane stars as Kit Walker, who discovers that he's the 21st in a line of purple-clad African superheroes known as "The Phantom" or, to superstitious Bengalla Island natives, "the Ghost Who Walks." When he's not fighting the evil Singh Brotherhood with his faithful wolf Devil and white horse Hero, the Phantom lives in the hidden Skull Cave. Kit discovers that Xander Drax (Treat Williams), a slimy industrialist, is plotting to take over the world by uniting the three long lost magical Skulls of Touganda. So he travels to New York, where he finds allies in crusading newspaper publisher Dave (Bill Smitrovich) and his niece, Diana (Kristy Swanson), who's also Kit's ex-girlfriend. Kit and Diana tackle Drax's forces, including the conflicted Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), in a quest for the Skulls that brings both sides back to Bengalla for a showdown. The Phantom's mixture of elaborate stunts with liberal doses of tongue-in-cheek humor was characteristic of screenwriter Jeffrey Boam, whose previous films included Innerspace (1987) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A woman throws caution to the wind in the pursuit of the man of her dreams -- whom she's never met -- in this romantic comedy. Eleven-year-old Faith (Tammy Minoff) and her cousin Kate (Jessica Hertel) are playing with a Ouiji Board when Faith asks who she will marry -- the magic oracle answers "DAMON BRADLEY," and Faith is convinced that she will one day meet this ideal love. Fifteen years later, Faith (Marisa Tomei) has yet to meet her perfect man and has settled for Dwayne (John Benjamin Hickey), a sweet but boring foot doctor whom she's engaged to marry, with Kate (Bonnie Hunt) helping her plan the festivities. The day before the ceremony, Faith gets a call from one of the groom's friends, who won't be able to attend because he's travelling to Italy instead -- and his name is Damon Bradley. Convinced that fate is trying to tell her something, Faith hops on the next flight to Venice, where she searches for the elusive Damon, and along the way meets the charming Peter Wright (Robert Downey, Jr.). This was Tomei and Downey's second romantic pairing, following their roles in the biopic Chaplin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This prison thriller is told in a series of flashbacks that lead to doubts about the guilt of a Death Row inmate. Mimi Rogers stars as Regina, a prisoner waiting for the date of her execution for the murder of her husband, James (John Terry). Curious about his beautiful charge, a prison guard, Colin (Billy Zane) begins questioning Regina about the crime and gets conflicting responses from her about the method of James' death and whether or not she truly intended to murder him. What becomes clear, however, is that James became possessive and abusive of his wife, fixating on an earlier romance that Regina's never gotten over. As she's led off to her death, the truth about what happened to James is finally revealed. Reflections on a Crime (1994) was alternately entitled Reflections in the Dark. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of Mel Brooks, this Italian comedy offers an episodic parody of classic thrillers and horror movies. Film includes cameos from several stars including Mel Brooks, John Astin, Larry Storch, Phyllis Diller, John Carpenter, and John Landis. The story begins as director Ezio Greggio is being stabbed ala Psycho in his shower. Before he dies he recaps the events leading to his death. The scene was L.A. and FBI rookie Jo Dee Fostar has been assigned to interview psycho inmate Dr. Animal Cannibal Pizza. Meanwhile Fostar's girlfriend swipes $400,000 bucks from her boss and ends up hiding in the Cemetery Hotel, run by Antonio Motel. Inspector Balsam investigates cases of dead hotel victims. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

R&B star Janet Jackson made an impressive film debut in Poetic Justice as Justice, a hairdresser at a small salon in South Central Los Angeles. Justice uses her poetry to deal with her grief after her boyfriend is killed in a shooting incident at a drive-in. Hired to work at a hair stylists' event in Oakland, Justice is stranded when her car breaks down, until she remembers that her friend Ieasha (Regina King) was going to hop a ride down to Oakland with her boyfriend Chicago (Joe Torry), a postal worker who is heading there with a truck full of mail. Justice tags along to discover that Chicago's driving partner is Lucky (Tupac Shakur), the postman who delivers mail to her shop and keeps asking her out. Ieasha and Chicago have to deal with their own rocky relationship while Justice has to decide if she's ready for a new love -- and if Lucky is the man she's waiting for. Along with strong work from Jackson, Poetic Justice features a surprising turn from Shakur, whose nuanced performance as Lucky is in strong contrast to his "Thug Life" public persona. Justice's poems were written by Maya Angelou, who also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Writer, director, and star Mario Van Peebles tried to correct historical misconceptions about African-Americans on the frontier with this action-packed western that's also an homage to spaghetti Westerns. During the Spanish-American War, a squadron of black soldiers led by Jesse Lee (Van Peebles) is assigned a dangerous mission behind enemy lines in Cuba by evil Colonel Graham (Billy Zane). Joined by a white gambler, Little J (Stephen Baldwin), the troupe is to recover a chest of gold. Realizing that Graham will slaughter them once they've relinquished the booty, Lee and his men retrieve the chest, wound Graham, and head for home. Ambushed by Graham in New Orleans, the "posse" heads for Lee's hometown of Freemanville, a frontier settlement of ex-slaves. Years ago, Lee's minister father (Robert Hooks) was murdered there by Klansmen, and the gunslinger wants revenge. There's new trouble brewing in Freemanville, however. Sheriff Bates (Richard Jordan), top lawman in neighboring Cutterville, plans to wipe out Freemanville's citizens and sell their lucrative property to a railroad. Then there's Graham, still on Lee's trail. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide