KFC Hopes You Listen To Your Friend (And The New Colonel Sanders) Billy Zane

Following in the greasy footsteps of George Hamilton, Jim Gaffigan, Norm Madconald, Rob Riggle, Dolph Ziggler, and Darrell Hammond, KFC’s new Colonel Sanders is… wait, Billy Zane? As in, Titanic, The Phantom, Zoolander, and I Woke Up Early The Day I Died star Billy Zane? One and the same.

To promote the fast food chain’s new Georgia Gold Chicken, KFC — which recently commissioned Fred Armisen to record two songs about poultry and Nashville — painted Zane, from head-to-toe, in gold. (Feel free to make your best Donald Trump knife joke, then let’s all move on.) “Y’all think the key to success is hard work or learning?” Colonel Zane asks in the promo above. “Wrong. Success isn’t earned. It’s eaten, and nothing says success like gold.” (Okay, fine, one more Trump zinger, but that’s it, I mean it.)

The Jerk Who Tried to Keep Jack From Rose was picked to play the Colonel because, according to KFC CMO Kevin Hochman, “Cal from Titanic was evil, and our colonel isn’t evil. But the idea is to have an irreverent, playful take on things. The whole idea of the campaign is, you don’t have to be a millionaire to eat like one. Billy Zane’s playfulness comes through in the ad.”

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Zane. How has he kept busy?

That checks out.

(Via AdWeek)