Owen Wilson’s Game

Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:

Owen Wilson's long game, Robert De Niro kills Costello, It's Always Sunny for Rob McElhenney, SXSW Memento, and red men.

Let’s go!

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OWEN WILSON’S LONG GAME

Midnight in Paris. Sony Pictures Classics.

Owen Wilson is a cultural phenomenon.

Although the height of his stardom was realized in the early 2000s with Zoolander (2001), Starsky and Hutch (2004), and Wedding Crashers (2005), he’s overdue for a renaissance.

He is set to star in a new, untitled Apple TV+ 10-episode series.

Here’s the official synopsis:

An over-the-hill ex-golfer (Wilson), fired from his job, sees hope in coaching a troubled teen prodigy after his wife leaves him, staking his future on the youth's success.

Like his latest character, Wilson was (bottle) rocketed to stardom by tying his career to a then up-and-comer.

A chance meeting with Wes Anderson in 1988 in the halls of the University of Texas ignited an 8-film partnership.​

Anderson said of Wilson:

“He’s deceptively intelligent and sometimes even hides his intelligence and how well-read he is. He surprises you in the course of getting to know him. People might underestimate him sometimes… people are drawn to him. If kids were picking teams, he might be good at whatever the sport is...”

Wilson’s range is often overlooked in part due to his cookie-cutter roles in the early 2000s, where he played (excellently) various copies of the charmingly uncertain and starry-eyed.

It’s this child-like quality that led to the memefication of his catchphrase:

“Wow”

And allowed him to work with auteurs like Wes Anderson, Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), and Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice), where he slips into absurd worlds with ease.

The Apple series is already lined up for greatness, with Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) set to direct.

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