Alternate Best Actor 2002: Bill Paxton in Frailty

Bill Paxton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Mr. Meiks in Frailty.

Frailty is a chilling directorial debut by Bill Paxton about a man (Matthew McCoanughey) recounting his childhood that involved his father claiming God has told him to kill demons in the form of people.

The one of a kind Bill Paxton cast himself within the co-leading role of the Meiks' father, who we initially meet in semi-idyllic settings where he lives as a single father, his wife having died in childbirth, with his sons Adam and Fenton. Paxton's performance beautifully sets up really the unnerving switch we will quickly see. Paxton creating this seemingly just warm and loving father. This in just an earnest demeanor as he hangs out with his two sons and has a generous caring demeanor. This quickly switches though as the film takes it turn, and exactly what this film is, is essential really to Paxton's performance. This is it is a horror mood piece, a scary sort of southern Gothic style story, not in a fully kitschy way, but in a definitely stylized fashion. I think one can almost take this as the type of performer Paxton was, which he had a style kind of within himself that was typically heightened. This made him far more ideal for certain roles more than others, however it definitely granted him an idiosyncratic presence that made him stand out nonetheless. This being ideal for his directorial debut here, where there is just something particularly skin crawling the moment Mr. Meiks wakes up his two sons in the middle of the night. This where he immediately begins to tell them of his vision from angel that he has been told that he must start killing demons on the earth and will be given tools to do so. Although this is technically lower key Paxton, Paxton is terrific in carrying that same earnestness before, but here speaking towards a concept that immediately raises more than just an eye brow.

Paxton though portrays the man with this sort of clarity of man that is in fact particularly disturbing as he shows his kids an axe and gloves given to him as weapons to destroy demons. Paxton speaks as though this would simply be a job for them at first. Paxton wisely does change this manner, though more info on why, later as he captures the first demon on the list, also seemingly just some woman. Paxton in the capture importantly actually shows more of a rush of emotion than any maniacal glee in the moment. When he shows her to their sons Paxton brings a certain undercurrent of fear into his own performance both upon looking at the woman but also after touching her allowing him to see her "true" nature as a demon supposedly. Paxton's delivery portraying this as not something wholly with conviction with the first kill actually. This in throughout the moment there is that undercurrent of a personal terror potentially at his own act, or potentially in seemingly the burden of his "mission". Either way though Paxton is terrifying though by making the emotional context so palatable and not portraying the moment with any distance. He rather shows very much the act of killing with his portrayal of Mr. Meiks as he goes about his perceived duty. This with the support of his one son Adam who claims also to be able to see the demons for what they are against his other son Fenton who claims to not see anything, which we as the audience also see.

Now as his mission continues and Mr. Meiks kills more people he claims are demons, while Fenton continues to doubt, Paxton's performance moves closer towards sort of the more extremes of the Paxton style. This entirely works in granting the sort of extremism needed as he paints Mr. Meiks fanaticism with this certain emotional desperation within it. This in speaking every word of his mission with a ferocity though within that an anxiety that makes it all the more unnerving as though the man is potentially trying to convince himself of his own mission. This element of his performance though actually basically has a double meaning. This as upon initial viewing it is easy to take Paxton on face value as just a desperate crazy man, but by the end of the film you learn that spoilers the demons are entirely real. With that in mind Paxton's performance works a bit differently as one can instead see that desperation as attached to both the burden of the duty and his genuine need for his son Fenton to see, the son who is in fact a demon. This informs Paxton's performance for the rest of the film as on initial viewing he is terrifying in creating the all the greater intensity of the man who is so emotional in speaking his zealotry like a deranged preacher, but upon re-watch he's a man with the same desperation trying to save his son. The key technically to this is when Fenton informs the local sheriff of the killings leading Mr. Meiks to kill the sheriff. After this kill Paxton presents Meiks differently as there is a sadness over it and there are no words that support his claims that it was an earned killing. This is against the final attempted demon kill where again Paxton shows in the view of the man, who is in fact not insane, in a way emotionally burdened still by his mission particularly as it pertains towards his son. Paxton's performance ends up working both was, and is actually quite powerful and disturbing both ways. This as Paxton portrait of a mental illness wrapped around in a wannabe zealot is chilling within that intensity he brings to it, but also works as a man being driven to a brink by the difficult calling he must fulfill. As much as the film itself is an impressive debut as a filmmaker, it's a shame his directing career was so limited overall, it is also an excellent example of his own talent as a performer. This in finding a role that effective wields his own unique presence to create a memorable impression as a deranged killer and as a burdened crusader.