‘I’m part of Team Awesome,
THE HOLLYWOOD faces just keep arriving on British television. The latest is Billy Zane, the star of mega hits from, as a teenager, sci-fi comedy Back To The Future to Titanic, where he played the fiancé of Kate Winslet’s Rose.
Arguably not the most relevant of roles to equip for him for the post-apocalyptic road race drama Curfew, a filmic explosion of gunfire, car chases and a collection of the most bizarre characters seen on TV for some time. It deserves to be a hit for Sky One, not least for launching one of the their most challenging and expensive home-grown originals.
We meet for breakfast in the ever-so posh surroundings of Blakes Hotel in South Kensington, which is said to be London’s first ever boutique hotel. It also has a reputation for protecting its guests from the prying eyes of the paparazzi who, incidentally, are nowhere to be seen. More on that later.
Zane, turned out in a roll-neck and looking just like a film director, sweeps into the room with an entourage of one. I was expecting him to be flanked by several PRs and publicists but, as I’m about to learn, he is surprisingly un-Hollywood. I’m expecting a quick coffee while we chat, but he instead insists on breakfast, saying I must try the healthy “green juice”. “You will love it!” he says, and I do.
That’s followed by scrambled eggs. He has black truffle grated over his as I thank him for sparing the time and suggest that he hasn’t done very much press down the years.
“I’m fussy about it. I don’t do many interviews,” he says, “because of the tabloid fascination in the past with my personal life.” He is referring to his relationship with his former fiancée, English model, reality TV star and one-time Big Breakfast presenter Kelly Brook. Zane is now in a happy long-term relationship with American model Candice Neil, mother of his two young daughters.
So how did he end up doing a Sky TV series? “The bizarre thing about this project is that they apparently wanted a ‘Billy Zane-type actor’ but have now got with the real thing! They pitched it and I loved it. I’m very happy about that.”
He adds: “The way I see the project is that if you’re a fan of things like Mad Max, Burt Reynolds or John Wayne you will go for this. It harks back to those sorts of action films.”
It is actually billed as the “world’s deadliest
‘I started with a flat cap then moved on to the Stetson and I never looked back’
street race” as competitors in their souped-up cars, vans, even ambulances battle to win what is the “ultimate prize” – a new life away from the “curfew” that controls them. A sort of Wacky Races with big weapons.
Zane is one among an impressive cast that includes Sean Bean (Game Of Thrones), Adrian Lester (Riviera), Adam Brody (The OC), Phoebe Fox (Blue Iguana), Malachi Kirby (Roots), and Miranda Richardson (Churchill).
Every character appears to be on the edge of sanity and utterly desperate to escape a London which is boarded-up, alien looking and largely unrecognisable.
“What I liked about Curfew,” he says, “is that because it’s night and the roads are deserted, you can put a car through its paces. It’s not like a spy thriller with a car taking out other car mirrors on narrow streets like you’re in Paris.”
He was completely drawn to the character. “And being on Sky of course! And the story in general as well. Joker Jones, he’s called, and you glimpse him a little in episode one.
“But what I like about him is that much like the Dadaists and Surrealists after World War One – ‘If this is sanity, I choose insanity!’ – Joker Jones chose punk rock, ‘let’s go’!”
His character’s vehicle is a pimped-up Volkswagen – an old “surf wagon” – complete with its own bar which Joker doesn’t hesitate to use. “I’m part of Team Awesome and the three of us in it get on like a house on fire. It’s roomy, it’s fun and it’s wellappointed. What more can I say?!”
Zane reveals that it was used for accommodation too: “I slept a couple of nights in there during filming.”
It’s that lifestyle he loves – along with the dressing up. “There are costumes, and hats! I started with a flat cap, then moved on to the Stetson, and I never look back.”
He turns out to be a something of a petrol head. “I am, yes. I was a Mustang man for a while, a loyalist. I went through two or three models. The last one absolutely went but didn’t