With over 80 TV and film credits on his resume, Bill Paxton is one of Hollywood’s busiest actors. In order to get a few minutes to speak with him prior to his appearance at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, GayCalgary Magazine had to pledge allegiance to the evil Hydra organization.

"Now you have come over to the right side, to the winning side," Paxton said of the twist to the first season of TV show Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. His character, John Garrett’s, true side was revealed when he turned his back on his fellow agents. "I think you will find, as it all plays out, it reveals a lot of the back story, particularly why Garret is who he is and his allegiance has shifted, and why (Agent Grant) Ward is the way he is. They have a very strange father-son relationship, but I don’t want to give anything away."

From Corporal Hicks in Aliens to Bill Harding in Twister to Chet in Weird Science – Paxton has played a wide variety of characters; heroes and villains alike. There is something about playing the bad guy that appeals to Paxton, who admitted later at his panel he would love to play The Joker.

"I have to say playing villains is a lot more fun," Paxton begins. "You can kind of relish them and they are a little more theatrical. The hero is usually stalwart and upright and just square. As much as I have enjoyed some of those roles I find there is a Jack Nicholson in me that is just screaming to get out. It is funny, the six episodes I did on S.H.I.E.L.D. I start out as the ally and rough and tumble friend. It wasn’t until I was unmasked, and you can see it in the performance, that I suddenly come to life.

"I have played enough straight guys. I came up playing character and supporting parts and I’ve kind of gone back to that and am really enjoying it. It is almost like a bit of a renaissance for me. I made a weird transition: I came up doing stuff like Weird Science and True Lies and Aliens and Near Dark in all these supporting roles. Then I ended up doing movies like Twister. Those were great parts, but you kind of had to be the anchorman and let the supporting actors play over you. Even doing Big Love I was kind of the stalwart anchor, where all these characters like Harry Dean Stanton and Matt Ross and Bruce Dern and Grace Zabriskie got to do all the fun stuff. So I am enjoying this renaissance into playing these antagonists and character parts."

At the Expo, Paxton was asked questions by host Emily Expo and fans during a panel held in the Stampede Corral. He shared an interesting story about his experience traveling to the wreck of the Titanic.

"A couple of years after making Titanic Jim Cameron asked me to go on an exhibition down to the ship. I thought he was putting me on. I never dreamed I would go down to the wreck itself because it is quite the ordeal. I thought I would be on the ship, and would give him a margarita when he came back from two and a half miles down. He wanted me to go on the dives. I tried to get Lloyd’s of London to insure me and they wouldn’t. It was amazing. I was freaking out when they closed the hatch. It takes about two and half hours to descend 12 and a half thousand feet into the North Atlantic. After a couple of hundred feet the sunlight doesn’t penetrate it. By the time you get down, they turn all the power off and you do this free-fall to the bottom of the ocean. Then they power up and they shine a light and you see this knife shape and that is the bow. They motored up to it and I looked at these little portholes that are not very wide. I am looking at the bow of the Titanic and thinking my god there it is.

"Even now it feels like an experience I dreamt more then I saw. Jim wanted me to go out again and I had a little apprehension. I felt like I had cheated death. I had a really rough night the night before and we were having breakfast and I was trying to find time to pull Jim aside and say I’m really not up for this and he went You are going. The Russians are very superstitious about last minute changes so you are going.

"That was an incredible dive but by the time we surfaced the waves were 15 feet. We just bounced up and down like being in a washing machine. I don’t think I’ve ever thrown up that much in my life."

In addition to his television role, Paxton has a new film coming out next month.

"I’ve got a movie coming out with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt called Edge of Tomorrow, June 6th.  I think I got the job because it has got a lot of DNA in Aliens and they needed someone to say game over man. I play a platoon sergeant, and we are on the eve of a counter-invasion against an alien hoard that has invaded Europe. Tom Cruise’s character keeps dying in the battle and waking up, and has to do it all over again. I am told he is a coward that has been impersonating an officer. I am telling him you are going to be born again son. I say something like combat is the great redeemer – the fiery crucible in which the only true heroes are forged."

Paxton’s appearance at the Calgary Expo was his first professional signing appearance. In addition to autographs and photos, he took part in a reunion of the cast of Aliens. The 1986 film still resonates today. It is evident in speaking to him that it is still a very special film to Paxton.

"Years ago in the 1970’s I had been living in LA and saw they were advertising at the LA County Museum Bing Theatre that they were going to show a brand new Technicolor print of The Wizard of Oz. They said there was going to be a mystery guest from the cast to introduce the movie. We went to the theatre and who comes out but Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow. He was obviously an elderly man and he said I have to say folks, that being part of this movie has meant so much to me in my life and the people it has touched. I am kind of getting that feeling here in Calgary.

"This is the biggest reunion of the cast of Aliens ever since the premier of the film. I had dinner with some of the cast; everyone is here. We all had to come to Calgary to see each other. That is the way life is. Everyone is kind of cast to the wind. Now here we are 27 years later and it has continued on to another generation. That is really something. It speaks to the movie and the characters. It is a great, undying source of pride."

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Contributor Jason Clevett |

Locale Calgary |

Person Bill Paxton |

Topic Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Aliens | Calgary Expo | Celebrity Interview | Celebrity Video Interview | Comic Expo |

Photo Gallery Bill Paxton |