The world according to ‘Wilson’
Long-time pals, Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern have been trying to work together ever since their planned pairing in “Benny and Joon” bit the dust more than 20 years ago.
But no film projects starring the duo ever managed to reach the screen, at least until now. In “Wilson,” they play a former couple who re-unite after more than a decade to try to locate the daughter they gave up for adoption 17 years earlier.
Both Harrelson and Dern believe that the movie wouldn’t have sparked the way it does if they had been forced to work with different actors.
“I think if Laura and I had just met, it would have been a much different thing,” says Harrelson.
The actors, who first met when they starred together with Glenn Close in the 1990 play “Brooklyn Laundry,” are big fans of each other’s work.
“Woody is the bravest, most beautifully open actor I could have ever have dreamt up,” says Dern, 50. “If I ever got to be Ginger Rogers, Woody would be my Fred Astaire.”
Harrelson is just as enthusiastic about Dern.
“I feel like Wilson has never lost his love for his exwife, which you know, very much parallels my relationship with Laura,” says the actor, 55.
“He’s never lost his mad and powerful infatuation and passion for her. You see, the movie really takes off the minute we get together. It’s building and then boom we’re together and it clicks.
“By contrast, when we’re losing each other, it’s painful. I just loved every minute of working with Laura. I think she’s one of the great actresses that we have. “
Written by “Ghost World’s” Daniel Clowes, “Wilson” centers on the title character, a cranky misanthrope who never loses an opportunity to vent his spleen. But his life takes a turn for the better when he discovers that he has a daughter (Isabella Amara) out in the world and he makes it his mission to track her down.
As it turns out, both Wilson and ex-wife Pippi discover they have much in common with the snarky teenager. But trouble ensues
thanks to Pippi’s overbearing sister (Cheryl Hines).
Wilson’s defining characteristic is his brutal honesty. He’s so honest, in fact, that many of those around him think he’s insane. Harrelson has a slightly different take on the character.
“I think he’s a very gregarious person and he really wants to connect with people but I do think that he has no censors,” notes Harrelson. “He’ll speak the truth.
“Think of all the times in the day that if you just spoke the truth you would be in deep [expletive]. It would be, ‘You like my dress?’ ‘No.’ Just basic stuff like that and you could be in really hot water all the time.
“But I do admire that he speaks the truth. I also feel like he has high expectations,
like he wants people to be their best selves and if he feels like they’re not meeting that, he’s just very disappointed.”
At times, Wilson’s “honesty” can be lacerating, particularly when he tells a blind date ( Margo Martindale) that he’s not interested in her because of the way she looks.
“I know,” Harrelson said.
“On the other hand, it’s not his intention to be cruel. It’s just he’s being honest. And it is cruel. Honesty sometimes is super cruel.”
Dern, for her part, is a fan of Wilson’s ability to speak the truth, no matter the consequences.
“Yes, honesty can be hurtful but ... then underneath the surface the question is, ‘Why do [truth-tellers]
seem more hurtful than liars?’
“Because more recently than ever, you can see that we buy into con men, and somehow America’s more comfortable with con men than a Wilson.
“Someone who’s direct and available to you in love and in politics: I’m up for that ride. I don’t want to believe in the lies any more. It’s gotten too many people in trouble and too many countries in trouble.”
When Dern first read Clowes’ caustic screenplay, it reminded her of some of the ‘70s movies she grew up loving. Some of Dern’s favorite movies from the era happened to star her parents, actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd.
“I think I speak for both Woody and I when I say these are the kinds of characters in ‘Wilson’ that you dream of playing. [It was even more meaningful for me] because I was raised
by actors in the ‘70s, and I watched them work with the directors that would have made a movie like ‘Wilson.’
“[My parents worked for filmmakers] like Hal Ashby and others that were looking for [scripts] about flawed, broken people who had a sense of longing and were trying to find their way home.
“Those kinds of movies are the ones I want to be part of. So, working on ‘Wilson’ felt very magical and very rare and incredibly subversive.”
While “Wilson” finds plenty of verbal comedy in Wilson’s interactions with everyday folks, the movie also boasts a rich vein of physical schtick to keep audiences amused.
At one point, Dern grows so exasperated with her ex, that she pummels him with her purse. Rather than letting a stunt man take the physical abuse, Harrelson insisted on doing the scene himself.
“It was literally painful for me to [hit him so hard],” says Dern. “Woody was begging for more. He was like, ‘Go! Go further. You can do it. Go. Do more!’
“Actually all of the physical comedy was just mind blowing. The fact that we both got to play out these very physical characters and how they use their bodies, and to find the humanity within that: it was the most delicious gift ever.”