AFTER A BRIEF hiatus from television following last year’s bittersweet finale of HBO’s Big Love, actor Bill Paxton, 57, returns to prime time in Hatfields & McCoys, the History Channel‘s first scripted miniseries, about the most infamous family feud in American history.
Paxton plays Randall McCoy, a Kentucky-bred Civil War veteran who becomes embroiled in a dispute with a former comrade and neighbor, Devil Anse Hatfield (Kevin Costner), which escalates into a bloody and tumultuous civil war of its own.
Or, to put it another way, there’s a lot of sex, violence, and booze. And also Tom Berenger, who plays Hatfield’s crazy uncle.
I spoke to Paxton about his role in Hatfields & McCoys (and that beard!), his Big Love wives, working with director James Cameron, and the likelihood of a Twister 2.
Justine Goodman 