Owen Wilson to Star in New Woody Allen Flick

Woody Allen, the prolific filmmaker who hasn’t taken a break writing/directing movies since the late 1970s, has a new movie in the works and has secured Owen Wilson to play the lead role. The crooked-nosed actor has attached himself to the new movie according to the Risky Business blog. He’s set to star alongside French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who accepted the role last November. I find myself asking, though: Is Wilson right for a Woody Allen movie?

Traditionally, Owen Wilson has aligned himself with director Wes Anderson. He’s starred in a number of Anderson movies (most recently Fantastic Mr. Fox) and seems a perfect fit for the roles Anderson puts him in. But what about Allen? Could Wilson play a neurotic, socially unaware complainer who never seems to understand women or sex? Hard to say. But I’m not sure that this point matters as much anymore. Allen seems to be shying away from movies that star himself or actors who portray him. Will Ferrell’s role in Melinda and Melinda was genius, and the 2008 flick Vicky Christina Barcelona had no portrayal of an Allen-esque character.  Whatever Works was likely the last movie with an Allen-based protagonist we’ll see for a while.

So what’s in store for the next movie? Much like other Allen movies, no one knows anything about the plot, characters, or anything else for that matter. He doesn’t like to reveal too much too soon, probably to build up hype about the movie. Both Wilson and Allen have projects coming next fall (Wilson has a role in Little Fockers, the Meet the Fockers sequel, due out in December, and Allen’s You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger is coming out in September). But I’m excited to see where Woody Allen is going next, and I’m crossing my fingers that he brings back the slapstick humor elements I love so much in his older movies.