Woody Harrelson & Laura Dern in talks for Craig Johnson’s Wilson adaptation

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Way back in 2010, Fox was looking to adapt the Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, Art School Confidential) graphic novel Wilson for the big screen, and Alexander Payne was being eyed to direct the film. Payne won't be helming the movie, but THR has learned he is attached to the project as a producer, and THE SKELETON TWINS' Craig Johnson will direct from a script by Clowes. The site is also reporting that Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern are in negotiations for the lead roles, and filming is expected to start next month in Minneapolis.

Graphic novel description from Amazon:

Meet Wilson (Harrelson), an opinionated middle-aged loner who loves his dog and quite possibly no one else. In an ongoing quest to find human connection, he badgers friend and stranger alike into a series of onesided conversations, punctuating his own lofty discursions with a brutally honest, self-negating sense of humor. After his father dies, Wilson, now irrevocably alone, sets out to find his ex-wife (Dern) with the hope of rekindling their long-dead relationship, and discovers he has a teenage daughter, born after the marriage ended and given up for adoption.Wilson eventually forces all three to reconnect as a family–a doomed mission that will surely, inevitably backfire.

I'm ashamed to admit the only Daniel Clowes comic I've read is Ghost World, but I love Terry Zwigoff's movie version, as well as his ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL. Wilson fans: what are your thoughts on Woody Harrelson possibly playing the titular character?