Bill Paxton is calling collect from a pay phone at a Sizzler restaurant in Long Beach, Calif. "I'm shooting a movie in the back alley behind this place," he explains with hearty enthusiasm. "I'm playing an undercover detective and I'm all disheveled, wearing old clothes - an old hat and khaki pants with oil stains."
He's chuckling softly as he adds, "There's an attractive young woman here waiting for the phone, but she's keeping her distance."Paxton has been a supporting player in a number of recognizable films, "Aliens," "Weird Science" and "Near Dark." But 1992 was his year for lead roles in a pair of critically acclaimed thrillers, "One False Move" and "Trespass."
And he'll be at the Sundance Film Festival this week for screenings of "Boxing Helena," in which he plays the boyfriend of the title character. "Helena is like this beautiful femme fetale, like Liz Taylor in `Virginia Woolf' or Scarlett O'Hara in `Gone With the Wind.' I play a guy who is sort of her male counterpart, also very vain. I'm very excited about `Boxing Helena.' I hear it's terrific."
As for working with young first-time director Jennifer Lynch, Paxton said, "I love that. She made up in enthusiasm what she lacked in experience. The main thing for an actor in front of the camera is to be put at ease, to build up your confidence. And that's how you get a great performance out of everybody. I hear she did a really good job and I'm looking forward to seeing it. She's really great."
It's a mutual admiration society, since Lynch says of Paxton, "Ol' Wild Bill Paxton. He plays a real jerk in this movie, and I think people don't realize that he's such a great actor because he's so good at it. He does such a good, annoying, nasty job that people go, `Who is that guy?' But, you know, you're not supposed to like his character."
This won't be Paxton's first trip to Park City. He was here a few years ago to support a short film titled "The Roommate." And he'll probably be back again, since he's seemingly working nonstop these days. "Oh, there's always the odd month, but it's been great. No reason to stop now. You gotta stay busy, man."
The film he's shooting at the moment is "Tucker and Flynn," a buddy-cop movie that co-stars Lindsay Frost, Louis Gossett Jr. and John Hurt. "It's a thriller, another independent."
The movie that has really brought him some attention in recent months, however, is "One False Move," a low-budget picture that was almost exiled to video until Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert championed the film on their popular television program, "Siskel & Ebert."
"Yeah, it's really a time when the critics made a difference. This (movie) would have just disappeared into obscurity and gone straight to video if they hadn't picked up on it. This movie's been so good to me. . . ."
As for "Trespass," which is still in theaters after a Christmas Day opening: "I'm on every billboard around the city. I run into buddies and they say, `Hey, I saw your mug on a bus.' "
Paxton excuses himself to get some lunch at the Sizzler and to relinquish the phone to the attractive woman who has been waiting patiently. "Actually, I think she's afraid to come over and ask for it," he says with a laugh.