If you’re a nerd, you’ve seen him, laughed at him, laughed with him, been terrified by him, been on a grand adventure with him, battled the universe’s greatest foes at his side. From his iconic role as Private Hudson in Aliens, to the hated Chet in Weird Science, to his more recent role as John Garrett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bill Paxton was a mainstay in our favorite films and TV shows. Back in 2014, a few of us from TT3 saw Paxton speak at WonderCon in Anaheim, CA. He was promoting the movie Edge of Tomorrow, and he was a solo act up there on stage, talking to a room of a few thousand. When the crowd prompted him to say the line, “Game over, man!”, as I’m sure he’d suffered a million times before, he put all his heart into it. He was funny, he was gracious, he was kind, he was one of us.
Bill Paxton died today after complications from surgery. He is survived by his wife and two children. Our hearts go out to them and to all of us. We’ve lost an incomparable artistic force. But, it is certainly not game over. The generous body of work he left behind is more than any film nerd could ever ask for. Goodbye, Mr. Paxton, and thank you.
RIP
Tiny Table 3 