Paint,’ whose first teaser trailer and poster debuted today — he’s back in his wheelhouse.
The narrative feature debut of writer-director Brit McAdams, the movie stars Wilson as Carl Nargle, the longtime host of a popular PBS paint-along show. When the station finally hires a new painter, Ambrosia Long (Ciara Renée), it throws a huge monkey wrench into Carl’s life.
Set to be released by IFC Films on April 7, the film also co-stars Lucy Freyer.
One look at the movie’s poster, in which an Afro-ed Wilson’s face is obscured by an oil landscape, will of course remind plenty of folks of Mr. Rogers and an art therapist.
A 20-year Air Force veteran who retired from the military and turned to painting, Ross became a celebrated vessel for unlocking artistic skill in normal, everyday people by using an “alla prima” painting style, and rendering pleasant landscape paintings in less than a half-hour, the same live-to-tape length of his shows.
Owen Wilson in IFC Films 'Paint.'
Though Ross ed away in 1995, long before the Internet, his fame grew through online clips. Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed.’
Wilson is a canny comedic performer who, despite his gift with silver-tongued dialogue, is also quite comfortable with pregnant pauses and silences. And for his role in ‘Paint,’ the Texas-born actor adopts a version of Ross’ consciously genteel, ASMR-triggering voice, offering up feel-good bromides (“There’s nothing like having the one you hold dearest nearest when the world turns cold”) and closing each of his shows with a signature sign-off: “Thanks for going to a special place with me.”
‘Paint’ comes to the big screen more than a decade since landing on the 2010 Black List, an annual index of the most ired unproduced screenplays in the entertainment industry.
In addition to seemingly offering Wilson the chance to slip into another lovable oddball character, there’s another connection to the material, too — Wilson’s father was actually an advertising executive and operator of a public television station. That just might help make ‘Paint’ a special place, after all.
