The director Owen Wilson has always wanted to work with: “That would be the one”
Based on recent developments, Owen Wilson won’t be under consideration for whatever Quentin Tarantino’s tenth and final film ends up being, since the filmmaker has made it abundantly clear that he hates the mere sight of the actor’s face.
He could have just said that Midnight in Paris was one of his favourite movies of the 21st century, but no, he had to go full Tarantino by saying he “really can’t stand” Wilson, even though he played the leading role in something he adored, an earned a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Actor – Comedy or Musical’ into the bargain.
It wasn’t the first time he launched an unprovoked attack on a performer he doesn’t like, and it almost certainly won’t be the last, but does Wilson even care? It’s unlikely, since he’s spent the last 30 years working with some of the industry’s most notable, and notorious, in Woody Allen’s case, auteurs.
Beyond his countless collaborations with Wes Anderson, he’s starred in pictures from the likes of James L Brooks, Michael Bay, and Paul Thomas Anderson, sharing the screen with everyone from Eddie Murphy and Jackie Chan to Gene Hackman and Jon Voight, so it’s doubtful he’ll be losing too much sleep.
While he’s become synonymous with Anderson, dating back to their Bottle Rocket days, he’s covered almost the entire cinematic spectrum, whether it’s as a recurring character in Marvel’s cinematic universe, playing it straight, indulging his comedic chops, or that time he threw a baby off a rooftop in No Escape.
There are endless strings to his bow, and when he was asked by Screen Crush if there was any director he’s dying to work with sooner rather than later, he named an auteur who you can easily imagine Wilson slipping seamlessly into their signature aesthetic. Or, to be more accurate, he named two.
“I love the Coen brothers,” Wilson said. “I guess that would be the one. They’re great.” It’s hardly a stretch to envision the Zoolander veteran finding a place among the weird and wonderful world of the Coens, apart from the obvious fact that Joel and Ethan remain in the midst of a conscious uncoupling, with their constantly-mooted reunion yet to materialise.
If and when it does, they could do a lot worse. Sure, they’ve got their own hand-picked selection of frequent names that pop up in many of their movies, but there’s always room for more. He’s desperate to work with the Academy Award-winning siblings, but the question remains: are they desperate to work with him?
If they were, they would have cast him by now, so he might not be at the top of their list. Then again, should the siblings decide to relaunch their shared directorial career by wiping the slate clean and casting off all of their regular faces, they could do a lot worse than bring Wilson in for his Coen brothers debut.
