Don’t mess with Texas Bill Paxton discusses his latest History miniseries

It’s not every actor that gets the opportunity to play his own ancestor, but as fate would have it, Houston and Paxton are distantly related. Growing up, the actor maybe there was some kind of fate involved in me getting to play this role ... I still can’t believe it.”

Before the production had even secured financing, he

At the end of the meeting, Paxton told him: “You know, I would really like to do this, I feel like I was born to play this guy.” To which Joffé replied: “I believe you were, too.” getting certain aspects as close to authentic as we could. It adds a responsibility to try to get it right.”

“I had a pretty good handle [on the subject matter], but I love to do research,” he said, “especially when you have someone of this rich a personage [Houston] and that there’s so much written about. To me, the more research you do, the more conviction of character you have.”

His research has even made its way into the script. While reading up on his character, Paxton came across a letter Houston had written after the death of Deaf Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, “Watchmen,” 2009), who died of consumption some years after the events covered in “Texas Rising.” According to Paxton, his character has “kind of a bromance” with Smith, who’s looked at as the original Texas Ranger.

“The Rangers were the Texas army scouts, but they were really Houston’s elite guard,” he explained. “They were the king’s men, and they were the only guys he really trusted because his own officers were out to betray him and take over.”

In the passage Paxton found, Houston describes Smith as “my stay in darkest hour.”

“I thought: ‘What a beautiful thing to say about somebody.’ I get moved just thinking about it now, even. ... There’s a scene where I have to eulogize him and I put that [line] in there.”

At the end of the day, the native Texan takes a good deal of pride at bringing such an important piece of American history to a broader audience.

“I feel super proud. The story of the Alamo, when word spread ... of this siege, and this heroic standoff where 182 men held off the Mexican army of 5,000 for 13 days — everyone became a Texan when they read that story. I mean, this story is so big, it is so heroic. It’s modern mythology, like what the Spartans were to the Battle of Thermopylae.”

While he’ll ever be a presence on the big screen, Bill Paxton is also doing quite well for himself on History. This latest role is one near and dear to his heart, and wherever you’re from, this depiction of the Texas Revolution is one you won’t want to miss. The dramatic finale of “Texas Rising” airs Monday, June 15, on History.

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12 __ Valley (Area in San Francisco)

13 Ingrid’s character in “Casablanca” (1942)

14 Nullify

15 Whodunit style of show on HLN that features reenactments of crimes: 2 wds.

18 NBC comedy that Steve Carell starred on, with The

19 Mattel guy

20 Political title, e.g.

21 “__’ in the Rain” (1952)

25 Stanley who co-directed the movie musical at 21 Across with Gene Kelly

28 “__ Tree Hill”

29 “_ __ Back Down” by Tom Petty

30 Strips on window blinds

32 Swiss peak

33 Ancient person bound to the land in Sparta

34 “_ __” (Police drama of 1957 to 1960 on which Lee Marvin starred)

38 3 in ancient Rome

39 Single-named Australian singer

40 Singer/actor Ricky

44 The current sevenpart miniseries on BBC America “Jonathan

Strange & Mr Norrell” is based on the bestselling work by what English novelist?:

2 wds.

48 __-Rock (Music style in the 1970s)

49 Long-distance swimming great Diana

50 Philosophical principle

51 Ms. Hathaway

52 Cravings

53 Writer Ms. Rand

DOWN

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2 House topper

3 Sawing cut

4 Name of the ‘Beast’ on The CW’s “Beauty & the Beast”

5 Showbiz twins

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10 ‘Fluor’ suffix

11 Negative opposite, for short

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17 Banana fruit of Polynesia

22 Soccer feat

23 Particular preposition

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26 Wise birds

27 Alphabetic sequence

30 “Suddenly Susan”