Owen Wilson is getting ready to go back to work for the first time since his suicide attempt a few months ago. He’s starting production on his new film “Marley & Me” with Jennifer Aniston. Yahoo News gives us this:
Wilson, 39, and co-star Jennifer Aniston begin shooting March 10 on 20th Century Fox’s “Marley & Me,” the studio said. It tells the tale of a couple who adopt a dog to give parenthood a trial run, then find the mischievous pooch more than they bargained for.
First thing that I want to say here is how great it is that Wilson appears to be back on his feet after his ordeal (even if it was self inflicted). We may never truly know what factors were involved with what happened to Wilson, and maybe that’s for the best. But whatever the motivation was, whatever illness or depression or circumstances pushed Wilson to where he found himself, it’s fantastic to see him back on his feet and apparently back to work. I’m a fan of Owen Wilson and I’m cheering him on.
Having said that, with Drillbit Taylor opening up on March 21st, you can sense that a lot of people are still feeling… I don’t know… “weirded out” (for lack of a better phrase), about the whole thing. If Johnny Depp had gone through the same thing, no one would bat an eye at his return to the screen (especially if he was coming back to another dreary Tim Burton movie), but Owen Wilson is a comedy actor. We’re accustomed to seeing him on screen and smiling, laughing and forgetting about the crappy stuff in life for 2 hours. Now, seeing the trailers for Drillbit Taylor just feels weird. I look at Owen on screen, and all I see is a depressed guy… obviously because my perception of him is still being tainted by what happened in August.
Part of the problem is that nothing has been done at this point to help the film fan community get past it. Wilson has never spoken publicly about yet (I’m not saying he should or shouldn’t have in general) and thus to most of us, our most fresh images of Owen Wilson publicly is of the shocking headlines. Some time ago he did that little interview about the Darjeeling Limited, but not a thing was mentioned about his crisis, and thus it stayed on everyone’s mind.
The question is not “Should we get over what happened with Owen Wilson?”. Obviously the answer to that question is “YES”. But “shoulds” aren’t always reality, and at this point, a lot of the movie going public is still thinking of Owen Wilson in terms of the near tragedy last summer, and trying to get people excited about seeing a movie with him right now where he’s trying to make them laugh is a hard sell.
Personally, I’m sticking with Wilson and I look forward to enjoying the rest of his career. But even I have to admit that it’s going to be very strange seeing him on screen right now… and maybe for a while.
How about you? Are you ready to see WIlson doing comedy with a clean slate? Or are your perceptions of him still a little tainted? What do you think it will take for most people to “get over it”?
