Daniel Clowes is the Mark Millar of the indie comics set, with two of his graphic novels—Ghost World and Art School Confidential—having been filmed. And now a third, Wilson, based on the GN of the same name, is back on track, with filming set for Minneapolis next month. The script is by Clowes.
The book was originally slated to be directed by Alexander Payne, back in 2010, and bounced around a bit before Fox Searchlight picked it up. If the Clowes tale—about a grumpy, socially awkward man who is painfully obtuse as he attempts to connect with other humans—was not written directly for Payne to direct, it night as well have been as all his films deal with familial estrangement. But it turns out the film will be directed by Craig Johnson, previously of The Skeleton Twins, and Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern will star as the misanthropic Wilson and his ex-wife/connection interest.
Payne will still produce, however, with his Ad Hominem Enterprises partners Jim Taylor and Jim Burke, Sam Raimi and Josh Donen all attached in some way.
I just happened to watch The Skeleton Twins the other night (it was edited and produced by Jennifer Lee, formerly of Vertigo, and an old Beat Pal.) It was a smart, deft film about…people awkwardly trying to connect with their true feelings, with Hader and Wiig shining. Harrelson and Dern are great 90% of the time, so this sounds like a quality project all around.
Here’s a pretty awesome photo gallery of the Dan Clowes art show opening at the Wexner Center for the Arts All photos including the above by Katherine Spengler © Wexner Center for the Arts, 2014
It takes a while for all the elements of this cover to sink in, but like Clowes’ previous efforts for the magazine, once they do, it’s a keeper.
Via the Fantagraphics blog.
Ayo:
There’s not much to grab onto with Clowes’ new work. Just upper middle class white male alienation. His tone is smug but he offers very precious few treats for the cartoon enthusiast who wanders into his worlds yet doesn’t share his worldview.
On the other hand, I disagree with everything Miller’s work is about. But there is so much on the page to work with! There is so much to taste and savor and bathe in, graphically.
Collins:
In your case, with the classism, it feels like something you’re bringing to the table rather than something Clowes is bringing to the table, and it’s clouding your view of the work. For example, you say the lead in Mr. Wonderful is “winning all day long,” but an under/unemployed lonely divorced man in his 40s whose sole relationship in recent years has been with a drug addict who robbed him can’t be said to be winning on any level other than the basics of not being homeless or in prison. A head up on many, to be sure! But that’s a hell of a misery bar you’re gonna require characters to clear if being upset about a life any less awful than that is unacceptable to you.
And some more on twitter. Note: it’s not really a fight but a discussion.
Re: Clowes. I just re-read THE DEATH RAY and it’s an amazing as always. I enjoyed it — and ICE HAVEN — more than either MISTER WONDERFUL or WILSON however, although I liked them both. I am not ready to gainsay the godliness of Clowes, but perhaps, as with many artists, when he turns to material which hits very close to home (he admits much of Wilson is based on his own reactions), i.e. middle aged white man self-esteem issues, his work becomes a teeny bit less engaging.
That said, I would not want Dan Clowes to draw like Frank Miller. No, sir.
I definitely wouldn’t have pictured Harrelson and Dern, but now that I’ve seen their names on it it sounds like a perfect fit.
Out of all the work Clowes has done it seems like a strange choice for adapting; its format was an essential part of the experience. (I think it was Alan Moore who commented, when The Spirit movie was coming, that “The Spirit is not about Denny Colt fighting crime from a cemetery; it’s about panels on a page.” Wilson was definitely that, with each page being a complete comic strip with a beginning, middle, and end and Clowes shifting styles throughout.)
The book’s themes of alienation and awkwardness are universal, of course, and I think Harrelson can definitely pull off a character who’s deeply unpleasant without actually ever seeming like he’s a bad person. I expect it’ll be a good film. I just think that the changes required to make it into a live-action film are going to make it into something that’s not really Wilson anymore.
(Now, if they were to animate it and play with different animation styles for every scene, that would be outstanding. But obviously I don’t see that happening.)