The inspiration for Owen Wilson’s character in his new movie, Paint, is pretty on the nose (no Owen Wilson pun intended). The real-life artist figure Bob Ross, who had a popular art show on PBS in the 70s, had gained a newer pop culture status in recent years after fans reminisced about his unshakably calm and happy demeanor while showcasing his effortless talent at making amazing landscape paintings. What is equally iconic is his retro fashion that, even though it’s a look that never progressed beyond the 70s, has now become just as synonymous with this fascinating man.
In Entertainment Weekly, Wilson talks about taking up the Bob Ross persona. He actually has personal connections to the painter as his father was a TV executive who worked at a PBS station in his native city of Dallas in the 70s. “I remember, as a kid, my mom taking us down to visit my dad, and you’d see the cameras and cables and the hustle and bustle. There was something exciting about seeing that as a kid, and also seeing how small potatoes it was with the pledge drives and always trying to raise money,” Wilson recalls, as well as missing the opportunity to illustrate his wonder by saying his signature, “Wow!”
To get into the Ross-inspired character, Carl Nargle, Wilson spoke about taking art classes taught by Bob Ross instructors and getting some additional help from his friend, David Arquette. “My two boys joined in, and we took a class. And then David Arquette, actually, I went over to his house one day [and] he had even gone to Florida to take Bob Ross [Art Workshop classes]. We worked on some paintings. I mean, they’re good enough to get hung up in my house, so that’s saying something.”
To complete his transformation into the role, Wilson would don the iconic hairstyle with an afro wig. “You have to have a lot of trust in the people coming up with it and putting it on every day that it would feel real for this character. Luckily, we got to a place where it did, but it was a struggle. Some of the early incarnations of Carl Nargle’s wig were wildly off base and would not have worked. One of the wigs, we were saying he looked like a keyboard player for a band from the ’80s that didn’t get many gigs out of town.”
Paint from IFC Films is currently in theaters. You can read our review here.
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