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Wilson's film future is 'safe'
29/08/2007 16:14 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Owen Wilson's film future remains bright despite his apparent personal problems.
Hollywood insiders say that the 38-year-old actor, who was hospitalised on Sunday after police responded to a report of an attempted suicide at his Santa Monica home, should continue to enjoy big-screen success.
His box-office track record - Wedding Crashers topped $200m, Cars brought in almost $250m - plus his on-screen image as an affable everyman who can charm the ladies while boozing with the boys has made him a favourite with both filmmakers and filmgoers.
"He's loved," Bernie Brillstein, a veteran Hollywood manager who worked with John Belushi and Chris Farley, said on Tuesday. "It's serious, but it's a singular case. Anyone can have a bad day, a very bad day."
Wilson's public perception is "very positive," industry analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Media By Numbers said on Tuesday.
"Owen Wilson has a really good reputation and people in general really feel bad for him right now."
That feeling seems to extend to studio executives, too.
Fox Searchlight had no comment on Tuesday about The Darjeeling Limited, which stars Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. The film is scheduled for release September 29.
'No impact on production'
Wilson's next starring vehicle, Paramount's Drillbit Taylor, is set for a March release, a studio spokesperson said, declining further comment.
Filming began in Hawaii last month on Dreamworks' Tropic Thunder, which is to feature Wilson, Jack Black, Robert Downey, JR, and Ben Stiller, who is also directing.
Wilson's hospitalisation "does not have any impact on the production," studio spokesman Marvin Levy said on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox declined to discuss Wilson's scheduled appearance opposite Jennifer Aniston in the upcoming Marley & Me.
"It's an inappropriate question to ask," he said. "All our thoughts and concerns are with his health and well-being. Owen asked his privacy be respected and we intend to honor that."
Wilson released a statement on Monday through his publicist, Ina Treciokas: "I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time."
Treciokas declined to answer questions on Tuesday about whether Wilson attempted to commit suicide.
Online soap opera
Dr Charles Goodstein, a professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center, said that while all suicide attempts merit serious attention, celebrities don't always get the psychiatric treatment they might need.
"People in the entertainment world are thought of as being kind of flamboyant, their moods can shift?therefore they elude detection," he said on Tuesday.
"Celebrities have good ways of sidestepping anybody recognising that they have a problem."
But where most people are allowed to deal with their demons in private, a different standard applies to movie stars and other public personalities. Inquiring minds want to know.
"It becomes like an online soap opera," said S Mark Young, a professor of entertainment business at the University of Southern California.
"Now Owen Wilson is someone whose life will be scrutinised by the people who follow this stuff. He's become part of the soap opera."
Wilson's emotional issues could have "a deep impact on his future employability and the ability to obtain insurance," said long-time publicist Michael Levine.
But Brillstein said that the problem lies in media coverage and the public's taste for ever more sensational celebrity news.
"There is no boundary," he said. "This (kind of thing) has happened for years but the press was never so vigilant in reporting bad news."
- AP
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South Africa
