While Ben Stiller has seemingly shifted into filmmaking full-time, he directed most of the hit sci-fi psychological thriller series, “Severance,” for Apple TV+; he’s obviously known for a celebrated comedy career. Directing and starring in hit comedies like “Zoolander,” “Tropic Thunder” and “The Cable Guy” (though only a tiny part in the latter), the comedian has reflected on the failure of “Zoolander 2” in a new interview with Fail Better podcast.

Continue reading Ben Stiller Was Shocked By “Blindsiding” Failure Of ‘Zoolander 2’: “I F—ed This Up” at The Playlist.

Where did franchise television go (almost immediately) wrong? Marvel television was supposed to enrich character stopgaps between blockbuster movies—a place to spend more quality time with your favorite supporting character who doesn’t get enough airtime. Disney+’s MCU TV strategy was supposed to be the salve. And while “WandaVision” did captivate viewers once it found its footing, you only need to look at Rotten Tomatoes scores for Marvel films before and after the D+ shows began to see just how much the TV shows have dragged down the originally pristine RT average.

Continue reading ‘Loki’ Review: “Glorious Purpose” Is Lost In Favor Of Murky Multiverse Plotting [Season 2] at The Playlist.

Sure, Marvel Studios and Disney had to imagine “Loki” was going to be a hit for the fledgling Disney+ streaming service when it debuted in 2021. Why else would they spend a ton of money to make it? However, what they didn’t expect was “Loki” to easily become the most-watched Marvel series on the streaming service. Needless to say, they couldn’t get Season 2 out fast enough.

Continue reading ‘Loki’ Season 2 Trailer: Ke Huy Quan Joins Tom Hiddleston & Owen Wilson On A Journey To Save The Timeline at The Playlist.

Inspired by the classic theme park attraction is not necessarily what you want to hear when you’re hearing about a new movie, but the reality is they seemingly made a killer movie about “Barbie,” and “LEGO” and even the “Pirates Of The Caribbean” franchise was based on a theme park attraction so inspiration can strike in many forms and sometimes, our cynicism towards certain films isn’t warranted.

Continue reading ‘Haunted Mansion’ Trailer: LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, & Owen Wilson Star In Justin Simien’s Frightening New Adventure at The Playlist.

What if genial TV painter Bob Ross was actually a serial philanderer with an obsessive need to be accepted by the art community? This seems, on paper, like an interesting concept for a film. Considering that Ross has enjoyed a revitalization during the pandemic, perhaps now is the time to interrogate his life and legacy. However, despite sporting a pretty wonderful wig and reenacting his mannerisms, Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson) is not Ross, and Brit McAdams’ feature debut “Paint” is not a biopic of everyone’s favorite former PBS employee. 

Continue reading ‘Paint’ Review: Owen Wilson’s Bob Ross Inspired Comedy Is More Amusing Than Laugh-Out-Loud Funny at The Playlist.

When it was announced that Netflix was going to foot the $130 million bill for the new Nancy Meyers rom-com with an A-list cast, there were many (myself included) who thought it was a bit crazy. That’s a superhero film budget, not necessarily the type of money you throw at an adult-focused romantic comedy. Sure, it’s Nancy Meyers, but a nine-figure budget? Wow. Well, it appears Netflix ended up thinking the same thing. 

Continue reading Nancy Meyers’ New Rom-Com With Scarlett Johansson, Michael Fassbender & More Searching For New Home After Netflix Bails at The Playlist.

Can someone be replaced without complications? When it comes to pop culture, there’s a constant flow of trends, but sometimes, a memorable figure breaks through to defy it all. Carl Nargle is striving to maintain his own relevance in IFC Films’ “Paint.” The comedy stars Owen Wilson as the unforgettable character with more than a passing resemblance to public broadcasting icon Bob Ross; Nargle’s place as Vermont’s top TV painter is jeopardized when an interloper threatens to destroy everything.

Continue reading ‘Paint’ Trailer: Owen Wilson Is A TV Painter In Brit McAdams’ Quirky New Comedy at The Playlist.

If you ask most film fans, they’d probably say Nancy Meyers is the queen of the rom-com. Over the ‘90s and ‘00s, some of the most popular and well-reviewed romantic comedies were probably at least written, if not directed, by the filmmaker. Sadly, we haven’t had a new film from the writer-director since 2015’s “The Intern.” However, that’s about to change in a big, big way. 

READ MORE: ‘Just Cause’: Scarlett Johansson To Star In Amazon’s Upcoming Streaming Series

According to THR, Nancy Meyers is teaming up with Netflix for her new romantic comedy film.

Continue reading Scarlett Johansson, Owen Wilson, Michael Fassbender & Penelope Cruz Eyed For Big Budget Nancy Meyers Rom-Com at The Playlist.

Next to Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney World’s The Haunted Mansion is one of the Magic Kingdom’s most essential rides. And Disney retrofitted both rides into films in the early 2000s, to great success with “Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl” …and not-so-great success with “The Haunted Mansion.” Now Disney tries again with “Haunted Mansion,” a new take on their beloved theme park attraction.

Continue reading ‘Haunted Mansion’ Trailer: Disney’s Cinematic Reboot Of Their Legendary Theme Park Attraction Hits Theaters On July 28 at The Playlist.

Yes, that is Owen Wilson. No, he isn’t playing Bob Ross. Yes, we are sure about that, even if Ross clearly inspires the character. 

“Paint” is a 2010 screenplay that landed on The Blacklist alongside “Argo” and what would become “Succession.” If follows Carl Nargle (Wilson), who has hosted Vermont’s number-one painting show for over two decades.

Continue reading ‘Paint’ Teaser Trailer: Owen Wilson Stars As A Bob Ross-Like Sensation In A New IFC Comedy at The Playlist.

Pixar‘s “Cars” franchise may not be the most critically beloved of the animation studio’s films. However, all three movies did very well at the box office, so much so that Disney made the “Planes” spinoff movies and other “Cars” shorts. Now, Pixar looks to continue the adventures of Lightning McQueen in Mater in a new show for Disney+, “Cars On The Road.”

READ MORE: Pixar Employees Are “Extremely Disappointed” By ‘Turning Red’ Going To Disney+

The upcoming series sees Owen Wilson and Larry The Cable Guy return to voice McQueen and Mater, respectively.

Continue reading ‘Cars On The Road’ Trailer: The Pixar Film Series Gets A Disney+ Spinoff Show On September 8 at The Playlist.

Fans of Disney+‘s “Loki” may need to wait a while for the premiere of season two, but Owen Wilson‘s next superhero adventure will be out before the summer is over. And this time, Wilson gets to be the one with the superpowers.

READ MORE: Paramount+ Announces ‘Halo’ Getting A Second Season Ahead Of Its Debut Next Month

Wilson stars as a father on the mission in the new original Paramount+ movie “Secret Headquarters.” Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the duo behind the recent Netflix superpower-adjacent actioner “Project Power,” direct the straight-to-streaming movie about a kid who suspects his dad, played by Wilson, might be a superhero.

Continue reading ‘Secret Headquarters’ Trailer: Owen Wilson Dons His Superhero Cape In New Paramount+ Movie This August at The Playlist.

Though tried and true romantic comedies area dying breed, Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson make a bid to revive the genre (with a musical twist) in Kat Coiro’s “Marry Me,” which hits theaters just in time for Valentine’s Day. Based on Bobby Crosby’s graphic novel of the same name, “Marry Me” follows global music superstar, Kat Valdez (Lopez), who plans to marry her equally famous fiance, Bastian (Colombian singer-songwriter Maluma), in a combination concert/wedding set to be streamed for millions across the globe. 

Continue reading ‘Marry Me’ Review: Owen Wilson & Jennifer Lopez Have No Chemistry In This Half-Baked Rom-Com at The Playlist.

We all know the rom-com formula by now, right? Disparate strangers meet and clash. Eventually, they begin to develop feelings before the inevitable crisis happens that threatens everything. But before the end of the film, all is good again and they live happily ever after. Knowing this and watching the trailer for “Marry Me” kinda paints the whole picture of the film, sadly.

READ MORE: ‘Wedding Crashers 2’ Reportedly Falls Apart After Owen Wilson Signs On For Another Film

As seen in the trailer, “Marry Me” tells the story of a pop star who discovers her partner is cheating on her right before she’s set to go on stage and publicly marry him.

Continue reading ‘Marry Me’ Trailer: Jennifer Lopez Randomly Marries Owen Wilson In The Upcoming Rom-Com at The Playlist.

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the finest actors working today. There’s no question about that. He’s fully capable of doing any sort of role that is thrown his way. While many know him for his award-winning dramatic work, he’s also very capable of doing comedy. (I mean, check out this clip from “The Sack Lunch Bunch,” it’s fucking hilarious.) And apparently, in his younger years, he auditioned for a role that could have made him a premier comedic actor in “Zoolander.”

LISTEN: Jake Gyllenhaal & Antoine Fuqua Talk ‘The Guilty,’ Directing Over Zoom & Challenging Streaming Viewers [The Playlist Podcast]

Speaking to Esquire as part of a 20th-anniversary celebration of the comedy film, “Zoolander,” director and star Ben Stiller talked about how a young Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for the role of Hansel in the film.

Continue reading ‘Zoolander’: Ben Stiller Says Jake Gyllenhaal Auditioned For Owen Wilson’s Hansel Role at The Playlist.

For years, it seemed as if a sequel to the massive R-rated comedy hit, “Wedding Crashers,” wasn’t going to happen. But then over the past six months or so, the buzz around the potential sequel built and built. Eventually, it seemed as if the stars aligned and “Wedding Crashers 2” was actually going to happen soon. Well, as the old saying goes, “Don’t count the Owen Wilsons before they ‘wowwww’” or some such.

Continue reading ‘Wedding Crashers 2’ Reportedly Falls Apart After Owen Wilson Signs On For Another Film at The Playlist.

As if the success of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise wasn’t proof enough, Disney has fully realized that theme park ride movies are a hit thanks to the recent “Jungle Cruise” box office success. Now, the studio is moving ahead with its next foray in the world of turning Disneyland/Disney World into a movie franchise by casting Owen Wilson in the upcoming “Haunted Mansion” film.

Continue reading Owen Wilson Joins The Cast Of Disney’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ From Director Justin Simien at The Playlist.

*Spoilers for the finale of “Loki.”*

Well, Marvel’s Disney+ series “Loki” has come to an end, and spoiler, we’re getting a season two. While the entire cast and creators played coy about whether we’d see “Loki” again and or if there would be a season two– Tom Hiddleston telling Deadline late yesterday, “I have learned, at this point, having said goodbye to the character more than twice, two and a half times maybe, to make no assumptions.

Continue reading Marvel Confirms ‘Loki’ For A Season 2 at The Playlist.

July 12th, 2021, Cannes – Reader, I ratatat out this missive in haste on my trusty Smith-Corona from the South of France, in the paltry hopes it may adequately convey my delight in viewing the latest cinematographic marvel from Mr. Wes Anderson, originally of Houston, Texas but more latterly resident of a nearby color-coded, symmetrical nebula almost entirely of his own design. “The French Dispatch,” Mr.

Continue reading ‘The French Dispatch’: Wes Anderson Dazzles With A Whimsical New Missive Of Wit & Short Story Delights [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

Alec Baldwin so enjoys the story of how he ended up narrating “The Royal Tenenbaums” that he told it twice at the virtual reunion that followed Monday’s Tribeca Festival anniversary screening. He used it to open the conversation, which he moderated, recalling that co-writer/director Wes Anderson “asked to do me a favor and do this narration for this film. He said, ‘I’m never going to use it, I don’t really want it, the producers are insisting that I have a voiceover track.’” It was only when Baldwin revisited the story nearly a half-hour later – “That’s what you said to me, ‘I’m never gonna use this, I’m never gonna use it’” – that Anderson felt compelled to pipe up: “I never said that!”

READ MORE: 2021 Tribeca Film Festival Preview: 15 Must-See Films To Watch & More

The story does fly in the face of what we know about Anderson and his meticulous process (and indeed, Matt Zoller Seitz, who literally wrote the book on the filmmaker, confirms that the narration was “always there in the screenplay”).

Continue reading Wes Anderson & The ‘Royal Tenenbaums’ Cast On Script Influences, Gene Hackman, & Voice-Overs [Tribeca Report] at The Playlist.

OK, last week on weekly The Playlist Podcast, Mike DeAngelo’s interviewed Luke Wilson about his new football drama, “12 Mighty Orphans,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last week. You can listen to the interview below, but we wanted to highlight a couple of interesting tidbits from it.

READ MORE: Luke Wilson Talks ‘12 Mighty Orphans,’ The 20th Anniversary Of ‘The Royal Tenenbaums,’ ‘Idiocracy’ & More [The Playlist Podcast]

We couldn’t help ask Wilson about his work with Wes Anderson and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Wilson and his brother Owen were college friends with Anderson, and all of them launched their careers in 1997 with the hilariously deadpan “Bottle Rocket” (the third Wilson brother Andrew appeared in it too).

Continue reading Luke Wilson Talks The Possibility Of A Wes Anderson Western & The Resonance Of ‘Idiocracy’ at The Playlist.

Recently, the internet went crazy when it was reported that a sequel to the classic comedy film, “The Wedding Crashers” was not only happening but was going to enter production in August. This was later corroborated by other outlets that said the sequel seemed like it was definitely happening. Well, sadly, for fans of the film, it appears talk of the sequel is still a bit premature, according to Owen Wilson.

Continue reading Owen Wilson Says ‘Wedding Crashers 2’ Isn’t Filming In August & They’re Still “Figuring Out” The Idea at The Playlist.

If, “How does it feel? Like it’s someone else’s,” was the starting point for the character exploration in “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier”— Steve Rodgers passing the shield to Sam Wilson, but the Falcon hero unsure if he’s worthy of the symbol— then, Frigga’s (Rene Russo) line to Loki in “Thor: The Dark World,” “Always so perceptive about everyone but yourself,” might be the keyline to understanding Marvel’s new Disney+ series “Loki” and the self-realization ideas it hopes to discuss.

Continue reading ‘Loki’: Marvel’s Mischief-Maker Reckons With His Glorious Purpose In The TVA Afterlife [Review] at The Playlist.

If you don’t already, you should know writer Michael Waldron if only because his career has greatly accelerated in the last two years. Originally working with Dan Harmon and as a writer on “Rick and Morty,” he quickly fast-tracked: he became the head writer on Marvel’s “Loki,” then was recruited to do a major rethink/rewrite on “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” and also penned an untitled “Star Wars” movie the Marvel boss Kevin Feige.

Continue reading ‘Loki’ Head Writer Says ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ ‘Before Sunrise,’ ‘Blade Runner’ & Mad Men’ Influenced His Marvel Series at The Playlist.

Since he first appeared in 2011’s “Thor,” Loki has become a fan-favorite in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As Thor’s adoptive brother and the most errant of the Asgardians, it’s hard not to see why. Where Thor has self-assured bravado, Loki revels in disorder for the sake of it, true to his folkloric trickster archetype.

READ MORE: Marvel Phase 4: The Films & Shows That Will Lead The MCU Into The Future

Still, Marvel’s beloved rascal has undergone positive reform throughout previous MCU films.

Continue reading ‘Loki’ Trailer: Marvel’s Favorite Trickster Travels Back in Time In Latest Disney+ Series at The Playlist.