Bill Paxton’s warmth could make a supporting part matter in minutes. We value his comic timing and the complications he found in ordinary men; casting him only as someone dependable left too much unused.
Fi1m perspective
In Haywire (2011), Bill Paxton plays John Kane, the heroine’s father, and supplies warmth in two brief scenes. Soderbergh has filled the film with famous men who are mostly there to underestimate its central woman. Paxton gives us a reason to care about someone between the fights. We felt grateful for him: the family connection brings a little feeling to a thriller whose coolness can become indifference. It is a small part, and a useful measure of what he could do.
James Cameron had already found a louder use for him in Aliens (1986), as the panicked marine Private Hudson. The Texan drawl made him easy to recognise; the fear made the comedy work. A leading role as small-town sheriff Dale Dixon in One False Move (1992) gave him scope to reveal complications beneath an ordinary manner. Cameron’s True Lies (1994) returned him to comic supporting work as Simon. We enjoy that film’s comic cast, Paxton included, though the cruelty of its marital detour makes it a qualified pleasure.
In Apollo 13 (1995), he put that ability to work alongside others to use within an ensemble. As actor and director of Frailty (2001), he took on the more difficult business of keeping a morally unsettling story under control. His handling of tone and child actors matters here as much as his own performance. The move to a sustained television lead in Big Love (2006–2011) allowed his dramatic work to extend beyond the short supporting appearance.
The danger was that his dependable manner could become all a casting director wanted. Treating him simply as wholesome overlooks both the agitation of Hudson and the complicated sheriff in One False Move. In Haywire, the warmth is welcome, but two scenes can only give us so much of him. That is no failure of the performance; we would simply have liked more of it. To see what he could do with a leading part, try One False Move.
Biography
Bill Paxton was an American actor. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on 17 May 1955 and died in Los Angeles on 25 February 2017.
Paxton began in the film industry as a set dresser for New World Pictures before studying acting with Stella Adler in New York. He appeared in small roles in The Terminator (1984) and gained notice as Private Hudson in Aliens (1986). Later credits include Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996), Titanic (1997) as Brock Lovett, True Lies (1994), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Nightcrawler (2014). He starred as Bill Henrickson in the HBO series Big Love (2006–2011) and played John Kane in Haywire (2011). Paxton also directed the film Frailty (2001).
He received Golden Globe nominations for Big Love and an Emmy nomination for the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012).
