SIX DEGREES OF BILL PAXTON

Maybe it’s coincidence, but Bill Paxton has a history of appearing in movies with bizarre filming locations. Although the NORAD underground bunker used as a set in The Colony may take the prize as the most unusual, there are other contenders from his acting résumé for the “weirdest place to film a movie” contest: Apollo 13 (1995): The Ron Howard-directed feature co-starred Paxton as astronaut Fred Haise. He and costars, including Tom Hanks, were airborne in a set that was specially designed to fit inside NASA’S KC-135 aircraft, also known as the “Vomit Comet,” which simulates zero gravity by diving in freefall. Each take got a maximum of 25 seconds’ worth of footage, before the next round of freefall, with the actors floating around weightlessly as though they were truly in space. Titanic (1997): As we all know by now, director James Cameron likes to think big. So he constructed a full-sized replica of the Titanic’s exterior (to 90 per cent scale) in Mexico, suspended in a 17-million-- gallon tank, for deck-side and seafaring scenes. Paxton played treasure hunter Brock Lovett. True, he never actually stepped foot on that replica ship. What’s your point? Aliens (1986): Paxton plays the memorably abrasive Private Hudson in this earlier Cameron flick, which was filmed inside the decommissioned Acton Lane Power Station in London, England. Paxton gives the often quoted line, “Why don’t you put her in charge?” when lead character Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, tells him that a “little girl” survived on her own while living with the alien creatures. In The Colony, Paxton nixed a similar line for his character during the first week of filming. “It was a little too familiar,” he told the Star.

Paxton is now in pre-production on Kung Fu, the movie, based on the popular TV series that starred David Carradine. The actor has been pegged to direct the feature. He says this time around the movie will feature a “culturally authentic” lead with an Asian background. It will also be filmed in China, not on a studio backlot. And we’ll be on the lookout for new and unorthodox filming locations.