A Prayer for Owen Wilson

After Heath Ledger finished filming The Dark Knight, he had sleeping troubles and began taking prescription medication. He was found dead in his apartment after an accidental overdose of 6 different prescription medications. This got me thinking about the effect that some roles have on actors, and specifically Owen Wilson. (Note: I may be spoiling these movies for you if you're planning on seeing them)


Wilson's first movie was Bottle Rocket which he co-wrote and produced with director and childhood friend Wes Anderson. In the movie he plays a wannabe criminal whose elaborate, small-time plans never come to fruition. After bumbling his way through another heist, he finds himself behind bars.

The next film Wilson and Anderson made together was The Royal Tenenbaums. The two co-wrote the movie which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The film centers around a family of former child prodigies, and the attempts of their ever-absent father to reconnect with them. Wilson played Eli Cash, a drug addicted "friend of the family"; an outsider looking in who always wanted to be a Tenenbaum. Eli crashes his car into the Tenenbaum's house and he's admitted into a drug treatment facility.

Next, the two made The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou about an over the hill oceanographer, Steve, (Bill Murray)  who has run out of money and lost his passion for deep sea documentaries. Steve's long lost son Ned, (Owen Wilson) tracks him down and joins his latest maritime adventure. Ned and Steve are involved in a helicopter crash which kills Ned and he is subsequently buried at sea.


The Darjeeling Limited was the next film in line for the two which starred Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Adrien Brody. The three played brothers that travel to India to reconnect and have a sort of spiritual journey after their father died in the states. Wilson's character attempts suicide by jumping in front of a car. He has black eyes and is very heavily bandaged for the entire movie.

Shortly after filming The Darjeeling Limited Owen Wilson attempted suicide. We can't know all of the factors that lead to his attempt, but could it be possible that his movie roles played a part in it? Specifically the Wes Anderson roles that I just pointed out?

Those four roles aren't exactly the most appealing: A terrible criminal behind bars, a depressed, drug-addicted outsider, a man searching for his father and then dies in a fiery helicopter crash and a man who recently attempted suicide and is desperately trying to put his family back together.

Actors become their characters. They research these characters and live in their skin. This was Owen Wilson's makeup/costume for The Darjeeling Limited:

Wilson was in this makeup for literally the whole movie. Everyday of filming Wilson applied his post suicide attempt makeup himself, becoming that character. He attempted suicide shortly after filming this. This leads me to believe that his roles, especially this Wes Anderson role, played a part in his suicide attempt.

 My prayer for Owen Wilson is not to stop working with Wes Anderson (because they are so good together), but that Wes Anderson can, oh, maybe put him in a less depressing role. Just once.