Bill Paxton's son James talks 'emotional' cameo in Twister sequel... 28 years after his late father starred in classic disaster flick: 'I did this one for Dad'

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James Paxton says he feels closest to his late father, Bill Paxton, on the set of a film or series that he's working on, so it makes perfect sense he would want to take part in Twisters.

In fact, that made it easier for the young actor to want to take on a small role in the new disaster flick in honor of his father, some 28 years after he starred in the original  Twister (1996).

While the new movie doesn't have any of the legacy characters, the stand-alone sequel does pay homage to Bill Paxton by having his son play Cody, a disgruntled motel guest.

'Well, initially, my agents sent me an audition, and I had to read for a role. Some time went by and I didn't really hear anything, so I had made peace with, "Oh, I guess maybe it's not going to work out." And then, I heard from my team that they were offering a role,' Paxton told  Entertainment Weekly.

'It's really a cameo, so it's an Easter egg for the fans of Dad and the original. I did this one for Dad.'

It turns out the younger Paxton had to 'take a little bit of time to process' whether he should take part in the movie, considering 'the context of my dad and his significance in the original and him not being here.'

He added, 'It's an emotional thing. It wasn't something that I could really decide immediately, It took a little time just to process it, just the magnitude of it.'

To date, the 30-year-old actor is best known for his role as Lukas Waldenbeck in the crime-thriller series Eyewitness (2016) that ran on USA Network for one season.

He previously guest-starred on Marvel's Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC as an 'alternate version' of John Garrett, a role his father had played. 

The original Twister (1996) turned out to be a huge hit at the worldwide box office, grossing $495.7 million against a budget of between $88-92 million.

Directed by Jan de Bont who worked from a screenplay from Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, the OG starred Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz and Cary Elwes star as a group of amateur but spirited storm chasers who try to deploy a tornado research device during a severe outbreak in Oklahoma.

The cast also starrs the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lois Smith, Jeremy Davies, Todd Field, Zach Grenier, Nicholas Sadler, and Jake Busey, among others.  

For the long-awaited sequel, Lee Isaac Chung serves as the director who follows a script written by Mark L. Smith after basing it on a story by Joseph Kosinski. 

Haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado, Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) gets lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), to test a groundbreaking new tracking system, according to a synopsis on Wikipedia.

After crossing paths with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a charming but reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures, Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves in a fight for their lives as multiple systems converge over central Oklahoma. 

Along with Edgar-Jones, Powell and Ramos, the cast for the second installment includes: Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Kiernan Shipka, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sasha Lane, Daryl McCormack, along with James Paxton as Cody.

Eventually, James revealed that he decided to accept the Twisters cameo in order to be 'a conduit for [Bill's] spirit there and cheer everyone in this production on to success because I know he would be.' 

The proud son explained: 'I wanted to do something that really honors his presence in this new chapter and really do something for him. And I realized there's a lot of amazing people involved in this that I would love to get to know. And so it ended up feeling like the right thing to do, to be representative of Dad there.'    

Bill, who died at the age of 61, underwent open-heart surgery to repair to repair the damaged valve and correct an aortic aneurysm in February 2017.

The following day he was rushed in for an emergency second surgery to repair a damaged coronary artery but his condition worsened over a 10-day period and eventually he had a stroke and died.

James, who looked up to his dad, as the two were also best friends, maintains he initially wanted to study broadcast journalism and become a reporter. But as time went on and he got more experience in theater in high school and beyond he fell in love with acting.

'I talked to Dad about the possibility of just starting to work on film sets, not acting per se. And so I got a job PA-ing and then I worked in the art department in props on [my dad's movie] Nightcrawler (2014),' he explained.

The new disaster film Twisters hit theaters in the UK on July 8, and is now set to drop in the U.S. on July 17.