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In Passenger 57, villain Bruce Payne steals the plane and the movie. Bruce Payne doesn't want to talk about his parents. Nothing personal; he's just not in the mood. " They're both alive," he says. " That's all you need to know.

Say no more. Currently sneering onscreen as Charles Rane, a terrorist who looks glares - not to mention fists, feet and wit - with good-guy Wesley Snipes in the airborne thriller Passenger 57, Payne, 32, is making a career of convincing folks he is not a man to mess with. Already an established name in England -- where in 1982 his far-out Macbeth wielded a baseball bat onstage in place of a sword -- the British actor is now sending shivers down America's spine. " Bruce enjoys taking a gamble, " says Passenger director Kevin Hooks of Payne's sexy-seary appeal. " He likes to explore the dark side."

It is a side Payne at one time knew too well. He suffered recurring back pain; and a mild form of of the often crippling birth defect spina biffida was diagnosed when he was 16. Surgery saved his life but kept him on his back for more than a year. " I ended up behind in my studies," he says, " and hungry for knowledge. I like to learn things."

Things like jumping out of airplanes -- which he tried in preparation for Passenger. (" The view was so great, " says Payne , "I didn't want to pull the cord.")

 Payne ( as Passenger 57's hijacker ) says he studied with aniterrorist experts " to attain a certain truth" in his role.

Copyright People Magazine Dec. 7th, 1992.

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