Dubai: Hollywood heavyweight Owen Wilson had an audience at the Dubai International Film Festival in stitches yesterday.
In typical Wilson-movie humour, it was the more subtle jokes, laced with sarcastic undertones, which livened up an otherwise dry conversation about the actor's lengthy career.
In town to participate in an ‘In Conversation' segment of the eighth edition of the festival, Wilson also collected the Variety International Star of the Year Award which provided many jokes alone.
"It's great to collect such a tastefully designed award," he said to a few laughs. "This will fit perfectly in my luggage, although it weighs a bit," he added.
Landing in the UAE accompanied by his mother, the Dallas-born lad chatted happily, his southern drawl so recognisable from his many movies.
The Wedding Crashers star, smart in a cream suit, grey trainers and black and green-striped polo shirt, took time over each question, often dropping in funny stories from on set.
Hottest place
"He was always on his iPhone checking the weather," he said recalling working with director Woody Allen on recent movie Midnight in Paris. "That was our bonding thing. I'd always ask him "where was the hottest place in the world" and the funny thing was, you know, it was usually Dubai."
Filmed in full on the streets of Paris, France, Wilson said he didn't hesitate when offered the role but gave a sneak peak about life behind the scenes, in particular with Allen's daughter.
"She came to me one day and said she wishes her dad would put bloopers at the end of his movies. I remember thinking how weird it would be to put bloopers at the end of Annie Hall. But I said, ‘That's a great idea, you should pitch it to him'. She said ‘he'll never get it.'"
Midnight in Paris has proved Allen's biggest box office hit to date and Wilson was convinced he had the answers, humbly adding it was nothing to do with his performance. "Travelling back to this romantic period in Paris was appealing to people," he said. "I think Paris is a city which does a lot of the heavy lifting for us in the movie. I think that contributed to the success of it.
Punchline
"I know with Cars there are kids that have seen the movie like 50 times," he added, aware it was a strange comparison but urging for patience for the punch line. "Kids love the repetition. They haven't seen the movie once until they've seen it 50 times. It seems like with Midnight in Paris we were able to get adults to think like that."
Diff runs until Wednesday.
