L.A. Times reporter John Horn has considered the Owen Wilson hideaway situation — i.e., his not giving interviews for fear of being asked to discuss his alleged suicide attempt last summer. This posture has now resulted in two of his films — last fall’s The Darjeeling Limited and now Drillbit Taylor — opening sans the usual all-media promotional hoo-hah (print interviews, entertainment show chats, talk-show appearances).

So how long does this go on? Will Owen also duck Marley and Me press duties next November and December? Gutter-ball journalists are never going to let this go, and the only way to handle it is to spill it all over the stage. Stand up and talk frankly about what happened last summer and why and how it feels and blah-dee-blah.
I completely agree that talking to Matt Lauer like you would a therapist in a private session is a loathsome prospect, but Wilson has no choice. Give a big interview to someone cool and respected, or write an article about it himself and just end it. And then refuse to discuss it any further.
Wilson is very good, after all, at expressing the ins and outs of delicate interior matters. That’s pretty much his specialty, in fact. As I wrote in ’06, “There is no other actor on the Hollywood landscape whose movie dialogue (large portions of which Wilson always seems to write or improvise himself) is focused so earnestly and consistently on matters of attitude and heart. Pretentious as it may sound, Wilson is an actor with a consistently alive and pulsing inner-ness. Is there any other actor who even flirts with this realm?”