edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

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Answering Horowitz about Wilson

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In the wake of yesterday's (8.28) Variety story about Owen Wilson dropping out of Ben Stiller's now-rolling Tropic Thunder, MTV.com's Josh Horowitz is exploring to what extent Wilson's reported attempted suicide will affect his other projects. Josh asked me for some comments this morning and wound up using a couple of them, but here's the unexpurgated chat as it unfolded 90 minutes ago.

Wilson agonistes

MTV question: Does this incident jeopardize Wilson's standing as a leading man?

HE answer: Owen is far too complex and interesting and whimsical to be a leading man. He's a flaky poet dreamer, a briliiant space-case...a witty intellectual adolescent whom women might find charming for a night or two, but he's the very antithesis of a Clark Gable oak tree. He's the kind of guy women can spot in a second as undependable because his basic nature is to go wherever his whims or dreams or ambitions may lead him at a given moment. His true inner whatever has always been hidden, and he doesn't wear his passion on his sleeve.

He's Dignan, he's Dupree in front of that classroom full of kids, he's that Wedding Crashers guy, he's that plucky oddball friend of Jackie Chan's. But he's never carried a film on his own shoulders. Look at what happened with Behind Enemy Lines, Minus Man, The Big Bounce. Owen is partner material, but the partner stuff that has happened so far is golden. He and Vince Vaughn could be the Hope-Crosby of our time if they wanted to -- I would go to see Vaughn-Wilson movies for the rest of my life. And the routines he's done with Ben Stiller in various films and on the Oscar show have been classic.

Career-wise, Owen will be fine if -- I say "if" -- he gets right back up on the horse. Face up, be honest, talk about it on TV with Jon Stewart or whomever, get back in the program, accept that he's had problems, etc. The only thing that might hurt him, on the other hand, is the notion that he's Andy Dick. If that concept takes hold, Owen will have a problem.

MTV question: Will audiences easily be able to forget something as serious as a suicide attempt when seeing him in a comedy?

HE answer: Tragedy and comedy are the twin faces of a very thin dime, and if Owen absorbs this episode in the right way, his sense of humor -- which was always dry and sardonic and even fatalistic at times -- will be even better. All Owen did, really, was fall into a slightly deeper pit that the sort of pit that almost everyone -- including Josh Horowitz -- falls into. Not everyone's into illicit substances (see the Us magazine story about the factors that may have led to Owen's suicide attempt) but everybody's been at the edge of the cliff once or twice or thrice.

MTV question: What do you make of the prospects for The Darjeeling Limited now?

HE answer: This probably doesn't help Darjeeling Limited, but I don't think it will hurt either. Everyone is now thinking of Owen as a fucked-up guy with issues to solve, and his Darjeeling character is a fucked-up guy with issues to solve. I mean, c'mon, he wears a big head bandage throughout most of the film. I don't see the problem.

Steve Coogan = drug jackal?<< previous | next >>Elley's "Atonement" review

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 29, 2007 at 12:08 PM

comment #1

jason4235 says ...

He should take a break from acting and co-write another movie with Wes. But that's just me being selfish really.

Posted by jason4235 at August 29, 2007 12:51 PM

comment #2

Geoff says ...

Vaughn and Wilson NEED to make more films. I agree that it's solid gold.

Posted by Geoff at August 29, 2007 12:55 PM

comment #3

Mark says ...

MTV quesion: Will HBO now edit out the whole 3rd act bit in Wedding Crashers with Wilson reading don't-kill-myself-books?

i thought the book wasn't yours.

forget about the book.

Posted by Mark at August 29, 2007 01:01 PM

comment #4

Rich S. says ...

Vaughn and Wilson as the Hope and Crosby of our time. Seriously, Jeff, that is a fantastic idea. I really could see them in a series of road pictures. Maybe not now, but still.

Posted by Rich S. at August 29, 2007 01:16 PM

comment #5

NYCBusybody says ...

It's all Alan Partridge's fault!

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 29, 2007 01:21 PM

comment #6

Gabriel says ...

Hopefully, Stiller's dad is giving Owen the "get back on the horse" talk right now.

"Sorry, Maury....I'm not a gymnast."

Posted by Gabriel at August 29, 2007 01:54 PM

comment #7

The Movie Man says ...

Jeez Jeff, nice to hear some compassion but don't you think this is overstating a bit? Wilson has talent, but only one performance is really noteworthy (Bottle Rocket) and the majority of the rest are phoning in and cashing out on a faux hispter cred that wore out its welcome (for me at least) nearly as soon as it started.

This most recent incident is regrettable. But it doesn't imrpove a body of work that is undeniably average and shallow (again, with a few exceptions).

Posted by The Movie Man at August 29, 2007 02:09 PM

comment #8

EDouglas says ...

The problem is that Owen Wilson won't be able to go out and promote the movie. He certainly won't be doing TV interviews unless he appears on Larry King or something because he (and his publicists) won't want him to get hit with the obvious questions. Without Wilson, it's going to be hard for Anderson to promote the movie because a lot fewer journos will show up for a NY Film Festival press conference if the biggest star is Jason Schwartzman.

Posted by EDouglas at August 29, 2007 04:03 PM

comment #9

futureman says ...

Natalie Portman and Adrien Brody can get coverage for The Darjeeling Limited.

Posted by futureman at August 29, 2007 04:15 PM

comment #10

Terry McCarty says ...

Re THE DARJEELING LIMITED:
I'll make a guess that the budget was lower than LIFE AQUATIC and that it's probably looking at a specialty audience with little mainstream crossover.

Therefore, Owen's presumed nonavailability for publicity shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Posted by Terry McCarty at August 29, 2007 11:13 PM

comment #11