'Texas Rising': Ray Liotta and Bill Paxton Talk the Tricky Art of Acting on Horseback

Mandi Bierly
Updated

Texas Rising, History’s 10-hour event series chronicling the Texas Revolution and the rise of the Texas Rangers, continues Monday night. Stars Bill Paxton and Ray Liotta have already filled us in on their characters — Gen. Sam Houston and the fictional, revenge-seeking Lorca, respectively — and ID’d their co-stars by their facial hair (watch that video below). But in the Q&A above, the duo takes us behind-the-scenes to talk about the challenge of acting on horseback.

Related: ‘Texas Rising’: Who’s Who (and Who They’re Playing)

“We learned in L.A. on regular horses that had done stunts before, that were trained for it,” Liotta says. “So after you just keep doing it, I became obsessed with it, and your horse is doing what it’s supposed to do. But then we were down [filming] in Mexico. The horses were Mexican horses that weren’t trained for movies. So it was really, really challenging at times because they weren’t regular stunt horses.”

“Just trying to get your horse to do the right thing,” Paxton says. He recalls one scene that called for Liotta to ride hard into frame, leading others behind him. “You have to ride up to a mark, and it’s hard, and then go into this whole ‘Vengeance is mine’ thing. Good lord, it was a challenge,” he says. (“But it was great. It really was. It was fun,” Liotta says. “If you got it right,” Paxton adds.)

Paxton, of course, has learned to roll with the punches after filming History’s Hatfields & McCoys miniseries in Translyvania on feisty stud horses that had him wrapping his ankles and wearing knee pads, elbow pads, and a back brace under his costume so he stood a chance of being able to finish the shoot should he get bucked off.

Related: 'Texas Rising’: Watch Ray Liotta and Bill Paxton ID Their Co-Stars by Their Facial Hair

Also as with Hatfields & McCoys, the large Texas Rising cast found themselves spending a lot of time together. “What’s great about this, in terms of the actors, is they’re guys who happen to act, as opposed to actors who are actors,” Liotta says. “No one was staying in character. At night, there’s not much to do. You’re at the bar and having dinner, and everyone just got along great.”

“But it was also like a dormitory, too,” Paxton says. “You couldn’t sneeze without somebody saying, you know…”

“‘God bless you,’” Liotta offers.

“Go screw yourself,’” Paxton jokes.

Texas Rising airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on History through June 15.