Another guy that no one has heard much about of late is Owen Wilson. Although he has been in 3 films, and voice acted for another, since 2007 you really haven't heard much about the man. And again there seems to be a great reason.
Wilson tried to commit suicide back in 2007. He was suffering from depression, and it was obviously far worse than anyone suspected at the time. But since then he has slowly continued to work, no doubt in part thanks to Ben Stiller.
Stiller has been in numerous films with Owen Wilson over the years. Most of the films have hardly been worthy of anything but the bargain DVD bin. Generally Wilson has outshone Stiller, even though Stiller has more clout and better pay - which would certainly depress me.
Of course the films that Wilson has picked without Stiller have hardly been awe inspiring. Not including his work with Jackie Chan, Wilson has made films with Jennifer Aniston (Marley & Me), Nate Hartley (Drillbit Taylor - flop) and a few others, almost all flops with a notable exception of The Life Aquatic. So Wilson has not helped himself with his choices.
looking forward, it doesn't seem like anything will improve either. Wilson will be in another Stiller film, the Little Fockers - the dread just grows on me about that one . Plus he has plans for 2 more animated films that he will provide voice work for. One will be the sequel to the successful Cars 2.
The other is the just announced Marmaduke movie. Yes, that comic strip dog. And I think this might be his worst mistake in quite some time. Potentially the worst film concept that Wilson has ever been attached to.
The comic strip Marmaduke is a generally funny serial. It's popular, and has a huge fanbase built over decades of readership. There are even plenty of stories for writers to copy so that they never have to think about what they are doing, and Hollywood executives can be sure it has no originality that might skew their projections.
But the last 3 (why they did it again and again I will never understand) times that such an idea was tried - Garfield - the stink of the bombs was intense. It didn't work on any level. Even Bill Murray took a hit off of that fiasco.
I doubt that Marmaduke will fare much better. Because there won't be anything original or interesting. Because Hollywood is following a formula. Because Marmaduke is funny in 15 seconds, but not really for 90 minutes. Because it's a mix of live action and animation, and the fact that Marlon Wayans is onboard. How many other reasons do you need?
Wilson needs a good agent and a friend to stop him from jumping at every script he gets. He could be far better, but at this rate we will never see it.
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