LISTEN TO YOUR FRIEND BILLY ZANE

He’s a cool guy. He’s trying to help you

Hi billy, I’m 15, and thinking of pursuing acting when I leave school. What books on acting would you recommend I read? Yours truly, CY most practically for film acting I would recommend Jeremiah Comey’s The

Art Of Film Acting. I like it so much I wrote the foreword for mr Comey, one of my favourite teachers. For insight into the experience of stage acting, I would recommend you visit the rsc’s gift shop and see what interesting accounts of that process the shelves feature. there are many. For a most unique study into the preparation process, taken to curious extremes, I recommend Antony sher’s account of his boldly committed turn as richard III, called Year Of The King, whereby you will glimpse the most incredible commitment by a performer. sir Antony went so far as to emaciate the musculature of his own legs while using crutches solely for mobility, for months, thus over-developing his upper-body strength to the temporary detriment of his lower half. Juicy stuff. but the best book someone considering a career as an actor should read is How To Day Trade by ross Cameron. Not to discourage. Not a fall back. A parallel reality. Crush it and fund your own projects. Hi billy, My wife wants kids. I’m not sure. I don’t want this to cause tension, or break our marriage apart, but this doesn’t seem like a topic on which there can be a happy middle ground. What are your thoughts? Yours, mb If you are crazy about your woman, and can love and support her as she gets fully consumed by this life form for the next two years, do it. because she will adore you for the Herculean effort you will make to provide for them. It will mine character in you that you never knew you had, yet on a curious auto pilot, as if it is what we are hard-wired for as men. but don’t buy that bs from your friends. they are rationalising about half of the joys of parenting. It’s a shit show most of the time. pure comic tragedy. but once you’ve bought the ticket you wouldn’t trade it for the world, Daddy-o! Hey billy, My high-school reunion is coming up soon, and I’m torn about attending. Mainly because I hated school, and can’t imagine any of the people who made my life a living hell there have improved. On the other hand, I’ve become a relatively successful businessperson, and would relish the chance to rub my success in their faces. What would Billy Zane do? Thanks for your advice, CJ this is why the world is in the state it’s in, period. First world, school boy bullying, and the natural response to shove it in someone’s face using money. sorry for your lost youth but don’t feed the beast. break the chain, bro. You’re right — they’re probably the same assholes they were. Just look to any tool that is a so-called respectable professional now and they are behaving the exact way they did as kids. It just becomes unfortunate when they pursue stations of great influence in our culture without developing past that low character bar. so, go. You might be surprised by a turnaround. You may surprise yourself. but don’t go with fear or hate in your heart, or they’ve won, way back then. be bigger. be unfazed. Let the clothes, shoes and great love or hot date you bring do the talking. Don’t brag. be humble. my favourite state in any situation? bemused. Go get ’em, tiger. Zane, out.