Bill Paxton’s son James on his ‘Twisters’ cameo: ‘I did this one for Dad’

Twisters may not include any legacy characters, but the “standalone sequel” to the 1996 blockbuster still pays homage to Twister star Bill Paxton.

James Paxton — the son of the late movie star, who died in 2017 at 61 — appears in the new disaster movie as a disgruntled motel guest.

“It’s really a cameo, so it’s an Easter egg for the fans of Dad and the original,” James tells Entertainment Weekly, which can exclusively debut a photo of the 30-year-old in the new film. “I did this one for Dad.”

James — a series regular on the USA drama Eyewitness — previously guest-starred on Marvel’s Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC as an “alternate version” of John Garrett, a role his father had played. On Friday, he will release a new song, “Count on Me,” honoring his dad. He also stars alongside Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen in the upcoming movie Last Train to Fortune in a role his father was set to play when the film was in talks to be made back in 1994, the year James was born.

Ahead of Twisters hitting theaters on July 19, James spoke to EW about honoring his father, his career aspirations, and what it was like filming the new disaster movie.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Growing up, did you watch a lot of your dad’s projects? Or did you avoid them?

JAMES PAXTON: I think it wasn’t until I was around 10 years old that I started seeing a lot of my dad’s films. [Before then,] I just had this idea that he had a cool job because when my sister and I weren’t in school, we got to travel to these places where Dad was working. But I didn’t really understand the full extent of what that meant and what his job really entailed. I do remember from a young age being on sets like Frailty, where he was directing and acting. It was a horror film, but because I saw the way they put it together and everything, I kind of knew it was all make-believe, so I was able to watch these films at a younger age. It wasn’t until a bit later that I took an active interest in wanting to see everything he had done. To be honest, he wasn’t really pushing it on my sister or me. I think he knew we would find it when we found it. And Twister is one of those classics where it plays almost every day somewhere on television. I mean, I’ve been in hotel rooms just on the road, and I’ve turned on the TV, and boom, it’s already playing. It’s timeless that way.

How did you come to be a part of Twisters?

Well, initially, my agents sent me an audition, and I had to read for a role. Some time went by and I didn’t really hear anything, so I had made peace with, “Oh, I guess maybe it’s not going to work out.” And then, I heard from my team that they were offering a role.

That must have been exciting.

It took me a little bit of time to process it, just given the context of my dad and his significance in the original and him not being here. It’s an emotional thing. It wasn’t something that I could really decide immediately, It took a little time just to process it, just the magnitude of it.

What made you finally decide to do it?

I wanted to be a conduit for his spirit there and cheer everyone in this production on to success because I know he would be. I wanted to do something that really honors his presence in this new chapter and really do something for him. And I realized there’s a lot of amazing people involved in this that I would love to get to know. And so it ended up feeling like the right thing to do, to be representative of Dad there.

What was it like actually filming?

It was crazy because they really simulate the environment. It’s kind of wild. When you’re on set, and they turn those wind machines on, your heart starts to really beat. My character runs away from a tornado that’s coming towards this motel, and they turn on these crazy wind machines. They fly debris at you. There’s a giant crane light that starts to simulate lightning, and they’ve got rain machines, and it’s wild. I mean, it kind of takes care of the acting for you because you feel like you’re really in a tornado situation. It was exhilarating.

Did you always want to follow in your dad’s footsteps?

I never set out to be an actor. I went to school to study broadcast journalism, and I wanted to be a reporter. I wanted to do something that allowed me to travel and learn about different things. And the cool thing is that acting allows you to do that as well. I had been in school, but I left and came back to L.A., and I’d done theater throughout high school, and I talked to Dad about the possibility of just starting to work on film sets, not acting per se. And so I got a job PA-ing and then I worked in the art department in props on [my dad’s movie] Nightcrawler. In the meantime, I started studying acting classes and I really started to fall in love with it.

Did your dad encourage your new passion?

And at first, Dad was a bit reticent — just because he knows this is a very tough path and there’s a lot of ups and downs and adversity that you go through just trying to build a career of longevity in acting and filmmaking. And he said, “Gosh, if there’s anything else you want to do, even just as much or more, a little bit more, do that instead.” And I said, “Dad, I really want to do this.” And then, two years into auditioning full-time, I booked my first big break, a lead role on Eyewitness, directed by Catherine Hardwicke. It was just a life-changing, career-changing experience because it really set me on a path and gave me legitimacy as my own actor.

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Your dad must have been so proud.

It’s a tricky thing, because my dad was my best friend, and so I never shy away from talking about him and celebrating him. But also, when you’re pursuing the same thing, you want to try to set yourself apart. I always love homaging him in things like Twisters, and did it in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but I know that the projects he was also really proud of were the ones that I was able to do that had nothing to do with him. He’s been gone for most of my career, unfortunately. But he got to see Eyewitness, and he told me, “You’ve got a real ticket to ride,” which was his way of saying, “You got a ticket to the big leagues; you can go play now, but you got to take it seriously and study and buckle down.” And so now I feel closest to him when I’m working on sets. I just think back on all of the amazing work that he got to do, and that’s where I really feel him. I mean, I feel him all the time, but especially then. I kind of had a moment on the Twisters set where I walked off, and I went, “God, can you believe this?” And I was talking to myself, but also to him, in just a little private moment that I had.

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