{"id":669049,"date":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669049\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","slug":"how-bill-paxtons-son-took-over-his-fathers-role-in-a-western","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669049\/","title":{"rendered":"How Bill Paxton\u2019s Son Took Over His Father\u2019s Role in a Western"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMalcolm McDowell<\/a> is not known for his cheerier side \u2014 at least not in the roles he plays on screen. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe screen legend, 83, became a star in Stanley Kubrick\u2019s pitch-black A Clockwork Orange (1971). He later got swept up in the sword-and-sandal sordidness of Caligula (1979). More recently, he played Dr. Loomis in Rob Zombie\u2019s Halloween films.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo audiences may be surprised about his latest turn, playing a cheerful educator in the Old West with an affinity for the literary classics. The film is Last Train to Fortune, and its journey to VOD on Nov. 6 marks the end of a 35-year effort to bring the Western comedy to the screen.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe originally planned to make the film in 1991 opposite Bill Paxton<\/a>, who would have played the outlaw who agrees to safely accompany McDowell\u2019s character to his new post.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the time, Lindsay Anderson, who gave McDowell his breakthrough role in 1968\u2019s if\u2026., was attached to direct. But Anderson died in 1994. In 2017, McDowell suffered another shocking loss when Paxton died following heart surgery.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI talked to him two days before he went in and he said, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a routine thing,\u2019\u201d McDowell recalls of his last conversation with Paxton. \u201cI mean, it was terrible. It was just terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was veteran producer Brad Wyman, the producer of the 2003 Charlize Theron film Monster, who suggested reviving the film. McDowell still thought the script, by Michele Rifkin, held promise \u2014\u00a0and pitched James Paxton, Bill\u2019s son, for the part meant for his late father.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three sat around a kitchen table and took a crack at a read \u2014 and James proved to be an inspired choice. The screenwriter\u2019s son, Adam Rifkin, directs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film also serves as a happy re-pairing with Mary Steenburgen. Steenburgen and McDowell met on the set of the 1979 time-travel thriller Time After Time, fell in love and were married from 1980 to 1990. They had two children, including Charlie McDowell, a film and TV director who has helmed episodes of HBO\u2019s Silicon Valley. (Steenburgen has been married to Ted Danson since 1995.)<\/p>\n

\n\tMcDowell says he asked James to make the offer to Steenburgen to play the schoolteacher he encounters in the film\u2019s final act. She accepted, but later confronted her ex-husband on set.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe first thing she said, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you call me?\u2019\u201d McDowell recalls. \u201cI went, \u2018Well, you\u2019re here. Let\u2019s just leave it at that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t think of doing it with anyone else,\u201d he continues of their reunion. \u201cIt was so natural and so comfortable to work with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast Train to Fortune has drawn positive notices<\/a> \u2014 it holds an 86 percent positive score on Rotten Tomatoes\u00a0\u2014 with critics saying the film \u201cbelongs to McDowell\u201d and crediting its \u201ceasygoing charm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is available to rent or buy on Apple TV<\/a> and other services beginning Nov. 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malcolm McDowell is not known for his cheerier side \u2014 at least not in the roles he plays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[134321,321,93,61,60,283347],"class_list":["post-669049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-bill-paxton","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-malcolm-mcdowell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}