Anthem Magazine

Photography: Reto Sterchi
Styling: Cameron Greene
Grooming: Lucy Gargiulo
Special Thanks to Red Vintage Co.

Want to feel old? Twister, that ‘90s four-quadrant tentpole, is coming up on its 30th anniversary.

When the Jan de Bont blockbuster hit cinemas in May 1996, it was a commercial triumph, going on to become that year’s second-highest-grossing film only behind Independence Day. It sparked the ‘90s disaster subgenre, opening the doors to Volcano and Dante’s Peak in ’97, and Armageddon and Deep Impact in ’98. Twister seamlessly cohabitated action, comedy, science, romance—and airborne farm animals. It even managed to spur an uptick in Dodge Rams sales across America.

The premise of Twister is, of course, ridiculous. It is essentially a “one wild day” movie, co-scripted by best-selling author Michael Crichton. At its simplest premise, the movie concerns the lives of Oklahoma storm chasers who’ve known each other for years, yet taken different paths in life, and reconvening for the biggest weather brouhaha in decades. As one of the film’s co-leads, Twister marked a significant milestone in Bill Paxton’s career, even if its impressive box office returns wound up paling in comparison to that of Titanic the following year when he stepped back into a supporting role for longtime pal James Cameron. Upon his untimely passing in 2017, the outpour of tributes highlighted the impressive filmography the beloved actor left behind.

Nearly three decades after Twister’s release, fans have reason to celebrate as the film receives an update in Twisters. With Lee Isaac Chung at the helm, the standalone “sequel” to the former ’90s box office bonanza is powered by a new, young cast headed up by Glen Powell. What’s more, the film also pays homage to its predecessor with legacy casting: the inclusion of Paxton’s son, James.

Anthem caught up with Paxton in Los Angeles for an exclusive photoshoot and to discuss his involvement with Twisters, his father, and his solo career in music under the moniker Love, Pax.

Twisters opens everywhere on July 19.

Hi, James. It’s great to see you.

It’s great to see you as well.

This is a big month for you. New music. Twisters, of course. How are you feeling?

Gosh, it feels really good to get out there and talk about this stuff ‘cause you spend so much time working on them. Sometimes, many years have gone by before you get the opportunity to see them make their way into the world. So I feel really excited. I gotta say, I’m feeling really good.

Let’s go back in time: how old were you when the original Twister came out?

I was two years old. My mom took me out there [to Oklahoma] when they were filming in ’95.

Talk about a full circle moment you’re having.

Yeah, absolutely.

Did your dad enjoy working on that movie?

He was immensely proud of that film. He loved that film. I think that was a really great time in his life, too, because his career was at an all-time high. He had been working for a long time to reach that point. He was really at the top of his game. That film filled him up with a lot of confidence. 

I thought so because he tried to get a sequel made for years. He wanted to direct it, right?

Yeah. Around twelve years ago, he started talking about wanting to direct a sequel. At that point, he had directed a few features of his own. His plan was to maybe make a cameo in it as well. His vision was to have it be about his and Helen’s [Hunt] daughter who now wants to storm chase. He was researching bizarre weather phenomena, like ball lightning, which is when lightning strikes and forms a sphere that moves across a plain. He had reconnected with a lot of people in the storm chasing community. He went on a roadtrip with a buddy of his—the actor who played Preacher in the original [Scott Thomson]. They did a multi-state tour doing research, putting together the idea for this story. So he always knew there was opportunity for an amazing sequel. Twisters is, you know, less a proper sequel. It’s a re-imagining, introducing it to a new generation. Daisy [Edgar-Jones] and Glen [Powell] are both excellent. I think my dad would be cheering them on.

Didn’t Bill also want to shoot the sequel in 3D with the help of James Cameron? It appears that he got rather close. Twister 3D had an unofficial release date set for summer ’12.

That wouldn’t surprise me. James was my dad’s best friend. Anytime they got to collaborate together, it was magical. My dad met Jim when he was eighteen. Jim was a production designer on a Roger Corman film [Galaxy of Terror], and my dad was painting sets for him. They became lifelong friends. And I think my dad did want like a 3D, immersive experience. When you have an original that’s operating at such a high octane level, you want to push it even further with the sequel. That’s what’s exciting about Twisters. They went there. When my dad was thinking about his version of a sequel, he had been enjoying the directing process and wanted to be involved at every level of a film from conception to completion. So I know he would’ve wanted to direct it. But they found the absolute best person to helm this one. Lee Isaac Chung is fantastic. I’m a huge fan of Minari. He has a great way with actors. I’m really glad they found him because it’s a tough one to jump into. The expectations are high after the success of the original. It’s a large-scope film. It’s a return to the true blockbuster. I think it’s in really good hands. I wish them all the success.

Isaac isn’t the first guy you’d think of for Twisters. At the same time, he’s probably the best person for the job because the original had a lot of heart and soul fueling the adventure.

I think that’s what it needed: the human interest factor and the deep, character driven stuff. He’s got a very calming way about him. That’s helpful, especially on a film like this. I remember filming a scene where we’re running out of this motel, trying to outrun an oncoming twister. The window’s been blown in. There’s debris flying everywhere. It’s chaos. When they turn those wind machines on and this crane is simulating lightning, you don’t have to do much acting. It’s all there and it’s immersive. Your heart is beating really intensely before every take. I’m always riding on a little bit of adrenaline when I’m performing, but this was on another level. And, again, Isaac is there with this calming energy. I really liked him a lot. He was sensitive to the fact that this is a complicated thing for me to be a part of. I’ve been acting professionally for ten years now, and I have done a lot of work to set myself apart from my dad. By the same token, my dad was my friend. I always want to celebrate him and talk about him. So this was a purposeful homage and cameo. I wanted to do it for him more than anything. It was about infusing his spirit into the film. Isaac was very receptive to that. It was a lot of emotions for me. I had this metaphorical twister inside of me as I was doing it. I was thinking about dad a lot. I was talking to him out loud in private moments on set.

There’s always this instigating talk about nepotism in the business. I find it so refreshing that you make no bones about getting involved with projects through legacy casting. There’s Twisters, of course, but there was also Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Alien 40th Anniversary short “Containment.” There’s so much love in your pursuit. It overrides the distractions.

Thank you so much. I always try to look at it like, “Well, does this make sense? Is this something that’s gonna be fun for his fans as well?” I’ve done so much other work that he hasn’t been around to see, that has nothing to do with him, too. And I know that those are the projects he’s ultimately most proud of me for. My dad always wanted me to be my own man. He was always like, “You gotta take the craft seriously. You’re not necessarily going to build a career out of just being my son.” At the same time, like you said, I don’t wanna shy away from taking opportunities in which to celebrate him, and do something fun in the process. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a whole different experience because I was literally playing a young version of his character. I was really studying him because he did a specific thing with his voice. I wanted to emulate his performance. So I was nervous, and it was very well-received. The funny thing is, I’d read for that show for years, probably for four different characters. To then come in at the last season and do that, I was like, “I’m so glad this is how things panned out,” ‘cause it was a real acting challenge trying to be like my dad. The way it was received, people were going, “Who is this guy? He sounds just like Bill. They nailed the casting.” Then they realized, “Oh wow, it’s his son. No wonder.” It’s an homage, too. I never envisioned that these opportunities would come about. They excite me.

I recall you saying in the past that when you were really young, before you could even grasp the concept of what your dad did for a living, you knew he had a cool one because you were traveling a lot as a family. What was your first-ever set visit and where did that take you?

That’s a really good question, and that’s totally true. Before I had any concept of what he did, I knew that when I wasn’t in school, during summer breaks or whatnot, we got to go visit dad where he was working. And for about half of second grade, I was homeschooled ‘cause we were in London where dad was filming. My mom’s actually from London so we stayed with family. I was definitely too young to remember visiting the set of Twister… You know what? I think the first memory I have of visiting dad was on A Simple Plan. That was in Minnesota. The Sam Raimi film. Billy Bob Thornton. Bridget Fonda. It’s actually my favorite of dad’s film roles. It’s killer. They were filming that in winter and it was my first time seeing snow ‘cause I grew up in Southern California. I didn’t know what movie he was working on or anything, but I do remember going ice fishing with him. There was snow everywhere. I remember it being really, really cold.

You don’t have to tell me twice. I grew up in Minnesota.

[laughs] No way. Did you really?

So, you didn’t pursue acting in a straight line. You also studied broadcast journalism at NYU before taking a leave of absence, at which time, as it appears, your passion for acting took hold again. What do you think flipped that switch back on during that leave of absence?

That’s another great question, and that’s all true as well. I took a leave of absence because I got E. coli. When I was in ICU, I lost twenty pounds that I didn’t have to lose at the time. I was really sick. I was really upset about missing out on school. I came home for a while, fully intending on going back. But as more time went past, I ended up feeling like I wanted to stay closer to home. Meanwhile, dad was like, “You can’t stay here in Ojai. You gotta go. This is the time in your life where you gotta move somewhere else and learn things.” So that’s when I came out to Los Angeles. Funnily enough, I signed a lease with Sam Raimi’s son, who’s a friend of mine, in downtown. And I started working on film sets. Dad helped me get a little PA job on Nightcrawler. Then a week into filming that, the prop master asked production if he could get an extra hand. He asked them if they could transfer me into his department. I didn’t know this guy from before. Before that, as a PA, I was locking up a street in Echo Park at night, away from the actual scenes being filmed. He was like, “How’d you like to get a little closer to the process and watch everything?” Of course, I was like, “I’d love that.” And at the time, I was still thinking, “I’m gonna work out here for a while and then go back to school.” But through working on Nightcrawler, I realized I loved the set life. I loved that we were shooting somewhere different every day. I loved that there was always something new to troubleshoot. It keeps you so engaged. You never get bored. Well, I didn’t get bored. [laughs] So I think that’s when it started to flip the switch for me. Right after that, I started going to acting classes three times a week. I studied with a coach for almost five years, up until his passing. He was a huge mentor of mine. He helped me with so much. Then I started going to auditions, reading for a couple of casting directors. Francine Maisler was one of them. Mary Verno. They were the ones who contacted UTA and a couple of managements saying, “Somebody should pick up this kid. He’s green, but you should rep him. We’d like to see him read for stuff in the future.” All the while, going to acting classes at night, I was also working a lot of jobs. Then I booked Eyewitness. That was my breakout with Catherine Hardwicke. It was my first leading role in a straight-to-pick-up limited series. I haven’t looked back since.

Your very first acting credit was actually on Spy Kids 3. Seemed spontaneous, that one.

Incredibly spontaneous. There was no prior plan for me to be in that film. I was nine years old, doing a little Texas trip with my dad for the shoot. I was visiting him on set at Troublemaker Studios. I was just there for a week, hanging out while he was filming. They were shooting stuff on a green screen. Robert Rodriguez saw me hanging around and went up to my dad. He said, “I have an idea. The whole theme at the end of the film has to do with family. I think it’d be really fun to have James dressed as a miniature, junior version of you and have him pop into the scene. He can help you lasso these giant robots.” I had no idea what was going on at all. [laughs] I hadn’t seen a script. He says to my dad, “Do you think James would want to do that? We can throw him a line or two.” And my dad goes, “I don’t know, Robert. Go ask him.” I was so young that I didn’t have nerves or anything. I jumped in there. That’s how I got my SAG card. It’s really thanks to Robert.

And now you’re in Twisters. Did you reach out to them? How does it work?

I didn’t reach out. My agents at the time got the audition. I didn’t think I was gonna be a part of it, although I was obviously very curious to see what was gonna happen with it. So I auditioned and, a few weeks later, an offer came. It all happened pretty fast. I flew out for the wardrobe fitting, flew back, and flew out again. My first day filming was the same day the SAG strike went into effect so we had to shut down. We didn’t even get to work that day. They sent everybody home. I didn’t get to finish the part until that December when the strike was over. Even though I do a cameo in the film, it ended up feeling like I worked on the movie for a lot of last year because I had all of this downtime out there as well. I was recording music with a local musician in Norman, just below Oklahoma City. I took that time to stay creative. It was a really positive experience all around. 

This is a great segue into your music. You just released a track called “Count on Me” under your new moniker as a solo artist—Love, Pax. That song is totally about your dad. So coupled with the release of Twisters, this is like the greatest act of love bombing in history.

[laughs] It’s definitely an homage to my dad, and also my family. It’s about reflecting as you get older and coming to terms with regrets you might have, but also celebrating the memories you created. It’s taken me a long time to have the confidence to record my solo stuff. A lot of it is intensely personal and were born out of grieving my dad’s passing. I needed to find a creative outlet where I could put my emotions, feelings, and thoughts into. I’ve been working on some of these songs for many years. With “Count on Me,” I’d been slowly writing that song since my dad passed. I’d been in two alternative hip-hop and genre-blending bands for many years previously. Being in a band can feel like a shield ‘cause it’s not just you—things are done by committee. And that’s not to say that “Count on Me” wasn’t born out of collaboration. I wrote and played guitar, but a lot of the production and textural elements were done by that friend in Oklahoma, Nikolas Thompson, who I’m working on more stuff with. He’s such an incredible facilitator for a lot of my solo music, which I’ve been hesitant to record for a long time. I’m really, really proud of it. This is a sonic leap for me. It’s mellow, folk singer-songwriter kind of stuff inspired by José González, Elliot Smith, and Iron & Wine—the stuff I listen to all the time. I listen to a wide range of music, but it’s normally either hip-hop or mellow, calming folk music. It’s just a huge juxtaposition. 

Is “Count on Me” a standalone track or part of a planned, future album?

I definitely wanna release an album in the future. I have a lot of other Love, Pax music recorded already. But the thing is, you only get one chance at a debut album. I want to make sure I’m as confident as I can be with it. I’m planning to release singles for a while to build that up and, hopefully, a listenership. It’s so different from the stuff I’ve been doing over the years with my two bands. Speaking of which, one of my bands, Flamingo Dogs, has two songs on the Nightcrawler soundtrack. I don’t know where I got the confidence to do this at the time, but on wrap day, I handed [Nightcrawler director] Dan Gilroy a burned CD. I didn’t expect much of it, but I guess he put it on in his car. Then he gave it to his brother, John, who edits all of his films. So they put them in there. One song plays in the background when Jake’s [Gyllenhaal] in Venice Beach.

That’s really neat. Nightcrawler is an amazing film, by the way. It’s criminally overlooked.

Yeah, it’s a great film. I think it will stand the test of time.

So tell me about this music video. Namely, how do you have so much home video footage?

The video was directed by one of my closest friends. He’s a legendary photographer by the name of Greg Gorman. It was originally just gonna be an intimate performance video with a few angles of me playing guitar and singing to camera at his home studio. But then we started working with Isaac Dektor, who’s also the video editor at Flaunt magazine. I was taking to him about the themes in the song and reflecting on memories with my family, and he goes, “What if we intercut with family footage? Do you have anything like that?” I thought that was a great idea. I mean, my dad and his friends were making Super 8 films since they were teenagers. That’s where a lot of the old footage of my dad from the ‘70s came from. My godfather gave me a hard drive before he passed. My dad had his own archives, too. With the other footage of me as a kid, my parents were just filming home videos all the time. Thankfully, my mom had transferred all of that footage from VHS tapes to DVDs and those DVDs to digital files years ago. I’m so thankful that we had all of this because it works so well in the video. And this footage has never been seen outside of the family before. 

I know your dad was also in the band Martini Ranch, so there are echoes of his influence in your musical journey as well. The interesting thing is, your dad was much more interested in the music video aspect of being in a band than the actual music, right?

Definitely. In my dad’s case, it was a way for him to make music videos. He was always more into that: the directing and the production design. He did vocals in the band, but really, that wasn’t his primary interest. Also, the only music video James Cameron ever directed was for his band.

I did know about that, too. It’s pretty wild.

They were signed to Sire Records, which is part of Warner Brothers. Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo helped produce Holy Cow, their debut album—the only album they ever put out. These are fun memories. When I started getting into music at thirteen years old, my dad encouraged it because, as opposed to acting or filmmaking where there’s a lot of waiting around for somebody else to give you a role or a shot at something, you can craft music on your own time. Nobody tells you when you get to do that. Music was kind of my first passion. It’s only as I got older that, more and more, I wanted to do stuff that blurs the line a little bit. One of my first films was an indie movie called An American in Texas where I played the lead singer of a punk band in 1990. I did a real stage performance for that film. It was really cool to get to combine film with music. I think the two go hand in hand and inform one another in many respects. And there’s obviously a lot of actors now that are also singer-songwriters or part of bands. You have guys like Joe Keery, who almost has a bigger music career now than in acting. He’s so talented at both. I’m digressing…

When you occupy both spaces as you do, you’re bound to get asked, “What do you love more?” You must get asked this, too: “If you weren’t acting or making music, what would you be doing?” If you wanted to be doing something else, you would be doing something else.

Yeah. I think it ultimately boils down to creating in some capacity. For me, if one avenue closed, I’d find another path. I mean, I grew up with two artist parents. My mom’s an incredible painter.

I was curious about Louise. People only ever ask about your dad.

I got so much influence from both of them, and their bohemian artist friends. I grew up in a small town where a lot of artists go to retire. It’s a quiet and peaceful place where you can pursue your art, with things like painting and sculpting. I haven’t told anybody this: I got back into abstract drawings and paintings last year, and I started upcycling pieces of furniture. Basically, I look for old wooden furniture people put out onto the street to get rid of so I can sand ‘em down, paint ‘em a solid color, and take paint pens to design over the entire thing. Then I seal it with poly. The pieces take a long time to finish. It’s been a creative thing to do with my hands whenever I have any downtime. I wanna do an art for charity type of show. That’s my goal with it. There’s an interior design store in Malibu that’s consigning some of my pieces so, hopefully, I can see what they’re able to sell and figure out where I can price things at. Maybe I can auction pieces off for charity.

This small town you speak of, you called it by name earlier: Ojai. For anyone who mistakenly believes that your parents pushed you into entertainment, they were wary, too, right? That’s why they raised you further out, away from Los Angeles. They were protecting you, trying to give you a sense of normalcy. Were their intentions clear to you from the beginning?

Definitely. Wow, you really do your research. My parents moved to Ojai because it’s a nice small town with good public schools. It’s a good place to raise kids. And it’s only about an hour and forty north of Los Angeles. They didn’t really want to raise my sister and I around Hollywood. I mean, it was a juxtaposition for me. I had an unusual upbringing. There were many aspects that were normal and I’m thankful for that. It’s important to ground kids. Like you said, they didn’t push me into entertainment at all. In fact, when I was young, numerous times, my dad told me to do something else with my life. He said, “This is a hard road. If there’s anything else you wanna do, do that. I’ve had success in it, but it’s ups and downs.” He talked about all the downtime between jobs, and not knowing if you’re ever gonna work again. It’s a tough kind of life, you know? People see a lot of the ups in the media, but the fallow periods are rough. It’s true that if you’re gonna do this, you have to be really committed and not wanna do anything else. And I was stubborn. When I got Eyewitness, I was two solid years into auditioning. There was a sigh of relief from my dad. He was like, “You have a real ticket to ride now.” What he meant was, “This is your ticket to even bigger projects. You can build on this.” He was always calling me to keep me in check. He’d be like, “Did you miss an acting class this week?” I’d be like, “Yeah, I did. I missed one on Tuesday night.” He’d go, “Go to all three classes next week.” He was on my ass about it, which I’m thankful for. He wanted to make sure I was under no delusions about what this business is really like. He wanted to make sure that I understood how hard you have to work to scrape any amount of success from it. He said, “If you’re receptive to it, I’m gonna tell you as much as I can to save you time. I’ll give you advice that took me fifteen years to learn in this business.” And I listened. He used to leave me these voicemails: “You know the part you’re reading for next week that you were telling me about? Well, I had an idea for the character. I think I know what he gets off on, and I think this is how you should drive this part of the dialogue.” I still have those voicemails.

What an incredible resource.

Yeah, man.

You got a front row seat. And I’m sure you witnessed a lot the ups and downs just being around it all the time, too. It’s the difficult life of any artist. Bill wasn’t immune to that.

Right. I’ve been through a lot of the slings and arrows, too. Especially since he’s passed, it’s been tough. I experienced a lot of success pretty early on. It’s all about getting that next job and building momentum, and that momentum can get shattered. I’m not unique in that. There are roadblocks to building a career in this business. After my dad passed, there was a period of time where my reps thought the best thing would be to give me space to grieve. This isn’t their fault whatsoever, but in retrospect, I wish they had pushed me to go out on more auditions. You have to strike while the iron’s hot. Looking back, I think the thing that would’ve helped me most was to stay busy. I went through a long period of time where I wasn’t leaving the house. That slowed my momentum down. Then I built it up again with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Tacoma FD, and a feature called The Cleaner. Then at the peak of the pandemic, everything slowed down again. Then I built it back up last year with Twisters and Last Train to Fortune, which is a lead role in a Western opposite Malcolm McDowell, Bernadette Peters, and Laura Marano. Last Train to Fortune is my favorite project to date. I’m most proud of that one. So, again, I’m not unique in this. There’s so much that’s out of your control. It’s a little scary, you know? And you want everybody to succeed. You want everybody to be able to create. It’s just difficult to reach those peaks. But they’re worth it.

You also got to work with your dad on the CBS show Training Day before he passed. I bet you’re really pleased to have done that with him. You’ll remember that one forever.

I am, I am. For that one, I had just come off of Eyewitness so it wasn’t my dad going, “I’m gonna get my son on the show.” I was feeling pretty confident. But I do remember it being a little challenging because my dad was directing me more than the director was. [laughs] I would be in the scene with him and when the director wanted something a little different, my dad would go, “No, no, no. Do it this way.” I was like, “Huh?” I’m like being pulled in two different directions. I actually broke my nose on that set, too. The tip of my nose was hanging off. The guy at the hospital was like, “I could stitch you up, but cosmetics isn’t really my area of expertise. This is your face. I know you’re an actor.” So my dad helped find somebody in Beverly Hills and I got micro-stitches. What happened was, another actor dropped a gun on my face during a blocking rehearsal. It just slipped out of his hand. You’re unlocking a lot of memories I have from this experience. I’m really glad that I got to do this with my dad. I wish we could’ve done so much more together. He was at the point in his career where he wanted to continue directing, and he wanted to direct me in a film. He and I used to talk about that. That’s always gonna be a hard one to come to terms with. I’m just trying to keep the name and the legacy alive out there, and to be my own man.

It’s passing of the torch.

It is. I look at actors like Josh Brolin. A lot of people don’t realize that his dad was one of the all-time greats. Ben Stiller’s dad, too. I used to be insecure about it. But my dad would be like, “What if we were shoemakers from a hundred years ago? What if my father was a shoemaker, and his father before him? You’d probably go into the family business and become a fine shoemaker.”

We all share the universal fear of losing our parents one day. I don’t mean for this to sound morose: having a famous parent who was as loved as your dad was, I wonder if that might soften the blow a little bit. Because his fans are missing him with you, you’re never grieving alone. Also, he starred in so many iconic movies. He will never be forgotten. He’s cheating death, in a way, with the huge legacy he left behind. So, what do you want yours to be?

That’s a big question. Gosh, that’s tough. I want my legacy to be the same: to have had a beloved reputation and career. I have the best example of that in my dad. I want to live up to that. Those are big shoes to fill. It’s gonna be hard to notch and match a lot of what he accomplished. I wanna be a part of films and shows and music that stand the test of time—and all the better if I can communicate a positive message and be a part of things that have real, lasting impact. Again, it’s about honoring him and everybody who helped me along the way, and also being my own man.

The amazing thing is, you don’t ever have to keep the two separate. They can coexist.

I agree. That’s something to celebrate. You gotta champion your own stories. At the same time, I’ll never stop celebrating my dad—my best friend. I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud to be his son.