Yahoo Lifestyle Glen Powell remembers 'legend' Bill Paxton on “Twisters ”release day: 'His boots are impossible to fill'
The late actor starred in the original "Twister."
Glen Powell is tipping his hat to late actor and fellow Texan Bill Paxton to commemorate the release of Twisters, the "standalone sequel" to the latter's 1996 disaster flick.
"As we release Twisters into the world today, I just wanted to look up and tip my hat to the legend that is Bill Paxton," Powell captioned a photo of himself alongside the late star. "A great friend of mine who saw poetry in the natural world. His boots are impossible to fill, but this life is all about chasing the greats."
Related: Perfect storm: How Twisters continues the legacy of a classic blockbuster with some, well, twists
Paxton died in 2017 from a stroke at 61. One of his most memorable roles remains storm chaser Bill Harding in director Jan de Bont's blockbuster hit Twister (1996), in which he starred opposite Helen Hunt.
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Powell's snapshot is from the set of the 2013 Western Red Wing, in which he starred opposite the late Paxton. During a recent appearance on Stephen Colbert's late-night show, Powell looked back at that time, sharing that he and Paxton had become close friends during filming.
Recalling how Paxton had become “so passionate about the weather" after starring in Twister, Powell said, "He would give weather reports and continued that tradition." He also recalled a handy acting trick Paxton imparted that was useful during Twisters.
“As an actor, sometimes you have to shoot outdoors, and you’re kind of squinting and whatnot, and he taught me this trick that if you close your eyes and you look up at the sun, it warms your eyes up to the sun and you can open your eyes," Powell said. "While we were shooting Twisters, I was shooting outdoors the whole time, so I’d used that trick my entire career since meeting Bill. And on Twisters, I really felt like every time I closed my eyes, I got to think of Bill, which was great.”
Minari filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung's new spin offers a modern-day take on the disaster tale. Powell stars as Tyler Owens, a reckless social media storm chaser. Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Kiernan Shipka, and David Corenswet also star in the standalone sequel (meaning none of the original cast returns, but the movie exists in the same world as the first film).
But there's one touching homage to the original: Paxton's actor son, James Paxton, cameos in the film as a disgruntled motel guest. "I did this one for Dad," the 30-year-old recently told Entertainment Weekly, sharing that it took him some time to process being offered the role.
"Just given the context of my dad and his significance in the original and him not being here," the young Paxton explained. "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." Ultimately, he said, "it ended up feeling like the right thing to do, to be representative of Dad there."
Twisters is in theaters now.
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