Owen, Kate, "Wendell Baker"

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True story: I was sitting earlier today in the fairly famous Caffe Trieste, an espresso-cappucino joint on the border between North Beach and Telegraph Hill, when who walks in but Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson. I've written once or twice about how Owen and I used to talk with some degree of relaxation and trust in the mid to late '90s and how he stopped picking up the phone when he got big, but that was six or seven years ago. Move on, shake it off, be here now.

So I went over and poked him in the arm. Owen turned and lit up -- he has a smile that really beams -- and said, "Heyyyy!....howya been?...whaddaya doin'?" I smiled and muttered the same "yeah, yeah"-type stuff and gave him the rundown -- San Francisco Film Festival for three more days, Cannes in mid-May, Jett joining me, blah, blah. I didn't ask him for any recent news on his end. I'm fairly up to speed on his comings and goings.

Owen introduced me to Kate. "Hey," I said, shaking her hand and keeping my smile in check. "Friend of Cameron's." (Well, sort of. Crowe has treated me like a friend, at least, and I've tried to reciprocate without being a journalistic kiss-ass.) Owen said that he and Kate had just been to the famed City Lights bookstore and were told that "Wes and Luke had [recently] been there also."

I did my usual chickenshit thing when I meet an actor I know or like personally, which is to not be the journalist and pump him/her with questions. (I don't even think about taking a picture.) So I didn't bring up my feelings about The Darjeeling Express script or mention that I'd just re-watched The Big Bounce and liked it a bit more this time, or that I was curious to know how a script he's been co-writing with Mike Binder (who lives close to Owen's place) is coming along.

I did, however, mention that I saw The Wendell Baker Story, which ThinkFilm is bringing out on 5.18.07, "about two years ago." Owen's brother Andrew, who co-directed with Luke Wilson, showed it to me in a cutting room in the spring of '05.

Seymour Cassel, Luke Wison, Harry Dean Stanton on the set of The Wendell Baker Story

I told him I liked The Wendell Baker Story a whole lot except for the ending (I feel it's a little too upbeat), and that maybe we could do a sit-down interview of some kind during their press junket interviews in New York on May 8th. Owen side- stepped the slight criticism and said "there's a lot of good stuff" in the film, and he's right. "It's got that understated Wilson-y vibe," I said. "That flip, ironic, dry humor thing." An HE reader has described it as a "Rancho Deluxe quality."

I'll just say this and maybe the Wilson brothers will do something about it. The film's once-operational website, www.wendellbaker.com, is no longer running and the ThinkFilm site doesn't point the reader to some other Wendell Baker site. (Leading me to conclude that probably there isn't one.) This shouldn't be, and it's easy to fix.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 27, 2007 at 5:50 PM

comment #1

MathewM says ...

You should of asked him why with all of the advances in plastic surgery; why his nose still looks like a crooked penis.

Posted by MathewM at April 27, 2007 8:01 PM

comment #2

MilkMan says ...

Kate: Do you want to split a treat with me?
Owen: I'm not really that hungry.
Kate: I'm not that hungry either.
Owen: But get whatever you want.
Kate: I can wait.
Owen: Or you can wait.
Kate: It's just that I.
Owen: Whatever you do don't look to your left.
Kate: Why?
Owen: Don't look.
Kate: Who is it? Is it someone I know?
Owen: I know that guy.
Kate: Which one.
Owen: Stop looking around. Put your head down. Pretend I'm saying something funny.
Kate: Hah.
Owen: Don't laugh. Pretend I'm telling you something funny but don't laugh. Just smile. And nod. Like I said something funny because it's true. Something totally universal about the human condition.
Kate: Is it Chris?
Owen: On the count of three I'm going to get up from the table. Stay close. Keep your eyes on the floor.
Kate: You're scaring me.
Owen: It's too late. He saw me.

Posted by MilkMan at April 27, 2007 9:14 PM

comment #3

Craig Kennedy says ...

Good one MilkMan.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at April 27, 2007 9:32 PM

comment #4

NYCBusybody says ...

Good story, Wells. It's somewhat weird that, since I've been reading this column from back in the Mr Showbiz days (when I was a teenager), it feels almost nostalgic and a tad sentimental to read about this.

I only hope your t-shirt thread-count was suitably high for a chance encounter with Ms. Hudson.

Posted by NYCBusybody at April 27, 2007 9:55 PM

comment #5

scooterzz says ...

jeez, first rule: celebrities and publicists--they are not your friends....really...even though 'you're different'....nope, not your friends.....

Posted by scooterzz at April 27, 2007 11:20 PM

comment #6

JD says ...

Good post, but why does Jeff always have to fumble on the etiquette front. Did you really have to tell him about your Wendell Baker reservations? His brothers directed it, for God's sake. If you were smart, you'd emphasize your positive feelings and break out the criticism once you landed an interview. In any case, I've been really excited about this film for a long time. From everything I've read and seen, it looks like it has a kind of Rancho Deluxe vibe, which is exactly what I've been missing from Hollywood comedies in recent years: mellowness.

Posted by JD at April 27, 2007 11:25 PM

comment #7

Rich S. says ...

"You should of asked him why with all of the advances in plastic surgery; why his nose still looks like a crooked penis."

You should ask Jennifer Grey that question.

Posted by Rich S. at April 28, 2007 5:35 AM

comment #8

Joe Leydon says ...

JD: It definitely has the Rancho Deluxe vibe.

Posted by Joe Leydon at April 28, 2007 6:26 AM

comment #9

bipedalist says ...

Milkman, haha. And yeah, Rich S. You said it, bub. Can you imagine if Wilson got a nose job? End of career.

Scooterzz, you are SO right. They're "professional friends." Speaking of Hudson, Almost Famous covers this territory very well (speaking of Cameron). Journos are "the enemy" and "they" aren't friends.

Posted by bipedalist at April 28, 2007 8:25 AM

comment #10