Bill Paxton Wants To Work With Jack Nicholson & 2 Guns Preview

Kathie Lee & Hoda: Bill Paxton 2 Guns Preview

Actor and director Bill Paxton has starred in some of the biggest blockbusters of our time, such as Twister, Titanic, and Aliens. Now, he is playing a tough CIA agent named Earl in this summer’s latest blockbuster, 2 Guns. A clip showing him getting ready to play Russian Roulette with Denzel Washington‘s character shows just how tough he can be. In that scene, actually, Bill said that Denzel improvised a few really funny lines that Bill really enjoyed reacting to. Bill said that Denzel is very light on his feet on set, and that he was a lot of fun to work with.

Speaking of funny, Bill Paxton mentioned that 2 Guns has a perverse sense of humor, saying that the movie was designed as a bit of a throwback to the action movies of the ’70s. One movie Bill compared 2 Guns to was Charley Varrick, calling his part similar to Joe Don Baker’s role in that film.

Today Show: How Bill Paxton Prepared For His Role

Bill’s character takes on an accent for this movie, one that Bill worked on himself. He read in the script that Earl is supposed to be from Texas, but being from Texas, the character didn’t sound like any Texan he had ever known. To work out this kink, Bill watched a lot of old YouTube interviews of Tennessee Williams, which helped him get into the flowery writing he saw in the script, which made the character sound more like he was from Louisiana than from Texas.

When Bill Paxton first read the script, he thought it there was a mistake because he’s gotten scripts before where he was asked to play an exciting role, only to find out he was to play some inconsequential side character.

Kathie Lee & Hoda: Bill Paxton Wants To Work With Jack Nicholson

Before Bill left, he sent a shout out to Jack Nicholson, an actor that he has always wanted to work with, but has never had the opportunity to.

2 Guns hits theaters this Friday, August 2 2013.