Hollywood heart-throb unrecognisable 27 years after starring in record-breaking film

Titanic star Billy Zane has stepped out at the Cannes Film Festival looking almost unrecognisable to his 90s heyday.

Billy Zane and Kate Winslet in Titanic.

A 90s movie heart-throb looks completely unrecognisable after showcasing a brand new look.

It comes almost three decades after his leading role in a record-breaking flick which captured the hearts of the world.

Billy Zane, 58, has traded his clean-shaved look for a trendy stubble moustache and beard in new snaps.

The suave US actor played Caledon Hockney in the 1997 movie Titanic, where he donned smart suits and sported floppy brown locks.

Billy Zane and Kate Winslet in Titanic.

Now he has opted for a more relaxed look, covering up head with a floppy hat as he arrived at the Cannes Film Festival.

Zane has also chosen stylish tortoiseshell rimmed glasses for his more relaxed look, which also sees him donning a casual brown jacket instead of a suit.

During the annual French event, he removed his headgear to reveal his shaven head.

Billy Zane spoke at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

The actor sported a very different look.

Back in 2022, he opened up on the 25th anniversary of the movie and the fact it is always a topic of conversation in interviews.

“It’s never really been a curse,” he told vulture.com.

“It’s always a blessing. It’s a great honour, to be honest. It’s a wonderful film and it holds up.

“I like its reinventions with new technology. I really enjoyed the 3-D release.

“I’ve never seen a 3D movie that has so much dramatic screen time as opposed to action.”

Zane, whoshot to fame in the 1997 film Titanic, is sporting a more relaxed look these days. Picture: Araya Doheny/Getty Images for Janie's Fund

Talking about his friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio, who played protagonist Jack Dawson, he added: “We were friends prior, and mutual admirers of each other’s work.

“We’d run into each other socially. He was quite a bit younger, but we found ourselves at similar parties and events.

“It was great news to hear that he had been cast and we would get to work together. It was very comforting in that respect.”

The acting gang delighted film fans with a big reunion in 2017.

Zane reunited with his Titanic co-stars Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in 2017.

Meanwhile, Zane has also starred in Ghosts Of War, The Phantom, The Believer, and Hellblazers, to name a few.

Away from the movies, he previously dated British model Kelly Brook.

The pair met while filming Survival Island in 2004 and enjoyed a high-profile romance.

They even got engaged in 2007 before she starred on Strictly Come Dancing, yet split in August 2008.

It was reported that the break-up was down to them growing apart.

Yet, at the time, the Daily Mail claimed it was because Brook was hesitant to make Los Angeles her permanent home.

Zane and Kelly Brook enjoyed a high-profile romance in the early 2000s. Picture: AFP/Edmond Terakopian

Years later, on Loose Women, Brook revealed it was because the film star struggled with her father’s cancer diagnosis.

She was unceremoniously sacked from the Britain’s Got Talent judging panel of the 2009 series after a few days sitting alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and former judge Piers Morgan.

Previously she took to X to ask why she’d been axed, writing a message to Cowell’s friend and adding: “Ask him why he sacked me?!”

In her memoir Close Up, she opened up more and wrote: “Half way through filming he said: ‘You’re a singer, aren’t you, Kelly?’

“‘No,’ I replied. ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Absolutely.’

“After sitting next to him to begin with, on day two I was shunted down the row. I couldn’t help feeling I had managed to turn him right off the idea.”

She added: “My agent rang me and said: ‘I don’t know how to say this, but they don’t want you back’.

“I was angry and hurt, and the first thing I said is not printable!”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Hollywood heart-throb unrecognisable 27 years after starring in record-breaking film