BILL PAXTON (Elliot Vaughn) has established a highly successful career playing memorable characters in both mainstream and independent films, alongside his own work as producer, director and writer.
Paxton has been familiar with director Martin Campbell's work since seeing the groundbreaking 1980s UK television series "Edge of Darkness," which Campbell directed, and was attracted to "Vertical Limit" by the opportunity to work with him. The story and the character also had great appeal, "I've always liked any kind of movie where it's man against the elements and obviously man versus nature is one of the themes of this movie."
"I play an eccentric Texas billionaire named Elliot Vaughn, a guy who made his money through oil, cattle, electronics. He's got the new money but he doesn't have the old class. He's a very much a self-made man with his own self-made laws and when push comes to shove, he's going to survive this thing at any cost. He's a character who doesn't apologize for his actions. It's great role to play."
For Paxton, the climbing training program for "Vertical Limit" revived memories of his teenage years: "I got to do some rock climbing as a kid. I was a dishwasher at a camp in the Carolinas and on the weekends the rock-climbing counselors would let me go climbing with them. So I got over my fear of heights."
Paxton is from Fort Worth, Texas. He began making movies while at school and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18, where he worked for Roger Corman's New World Pictures as a set dresser. He studied acting in New York under Stella Adler, then returned to Los Angeles where his acting career developed into supporting roles in mainstream action films like Aliens alongside lead roles in independent films like "One False Move" and "Traveller."
His major films include "Apollo 13," "Tombstone," "True Lies," "Twister," "Titanic," "A Simple Plan," "Mighty Joe Young" and "U571."
