Bill Paxton was a famous Hollywood actor and filmmaker. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in the television series Hatfields & McCoys. The actor played a prominent role in the 1986 film, Aliens which was also nominated for the Oscars.
However, the star was not very fond of his character in the film. He felt his character would be disliked for the constant screaming and shouting.
Bill Paxton disliked his character in James Cameron’s Aliens
Aliens is a science fiction action film, written and directed by James Cameron. It was the sequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien. Bill Paxton played the role of Hudson, a boastful but panicky, Colonial Marine private. The actor had a firm belief in the success of the film, however, he was unsure of the impact of his character on the audience.
In an interview with the Alien series, the actor shared that he felt insecure about his character and thought the audience would hate him. Paxton shared,
“Being the hysteric of the group. I was always yelling and screaming. I was worried the audience would think, ‘Oh God, when is this guy going to get killed?’”
However, his worries were pointless, because, among the numerous likable characters in the film, he became the audience favorite. The star recalled getting fan emails over the years from around the world,
“And most of the time, they say they really like Hudson. They really identify with him.”
Paxton shared his thoughts on his character getting love from the fans,
“He was the most relatable to audiences because he was deathly afraid, as most of us would be. I mean, for every Ripley [Sigourney Weaver] or Hicks [Michael Biehn], there are a million Hudsons.”
The film was a box office hit and received positive response from the audience as well as critics.
Bill Paxton had asked James Cameron for a role in Aliens
The actor credited his casting in the 1986 film Aliens to his chance encounter with James Cameron at Los Angeles International Airport. In their conversation, he expressed the desire to work on his upcoming film, Aliens. Bill Paxton was already famous at the time, for his role in Weird Science.
Reportedly, Cameron had later coaxed Century Fox cast member Scott Rudin for his friend over 11 other candidates. Paxton shared in a conversation with Den Of Geek,
“Jim [Cameron] and Scott were doing an overseas call, they were going through the list and who the studio would support, and my name came up and Jim said, ‘Well I know Bill, would the studio be okay with him?’ and [Scott said] ‘Well he’s getting some very good notices for a John Hughes comedy called Weird Science,’ and so Jim said, ‘Well gosh I’d love to cast Bill,’ and Scott at Fox said ‘Well, we’ll back that.'”
James Cameron also revealed his reaction to Bill Paxton’s audition for Aliens. He shared with Entertainment Weekly,
“He blew me away with his reading for Hudson. He had a paper poster tube in his hands as a “plasma rifle” and he was just bouncing off the walls in our casting office in Pinewood Studios. I thought, “This guy’s gonna be amazing!”
Aliens released in 1986, and it grossed $131 million worldwide. It is streaming on FuboTV, Hulu, Starz Apple TV Channel, and DIRECTV.
Source-Den Of Geek, Entertainment Weekly and Alien series
