Glen Powell honors late ‘Twister’ star Bill Paxton as ‘Twisters’ blows into theaters

MEGA/GC Images – Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Twisters, the action-heavy disaster thriller and standalone sequel to the popular 1996 film Twister, is finally in theaters.

To mark the occasion, Twisters star Glen Powell took to social media to share a tribute to late Twister actor Bill Paxton.

Powell wrote, “As we release Twisters into the world today, I just wanted to look up and tip my hat to the legend that is Bill Paxton. A great friend of mine who saw poetry in the natural world. His boots are impossible to fill, but this life is all about chasing the greats.”

Powell shared a photo of himself and Paxton from what appeared to be a behind-the-scenes snap from Red Wing, the 2013 film they starred in together.

Paxton, who starred in Twister alongside Helen Hunt, died in February 2017 due to complications from surgery.

Paxton’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the surgeon who operated on him; the lawsuit was settled in 2022.

As a tribute to Paxton, his 30-year-old son, James, has a cameo in the new film. According to Variety, he and his sister, Lydia, 27, walked the Twisters red carpet for the film. 

He told the trade the first time he saw the “exhilarating” original film was on cable when his father pointed it out to him. “‘Hey, look, what’s on. It’s your old man,'” James recalls him saying.

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