First look at Owen Wilson as TV painter Bob Ross

The first look at Owen Wilson‘s new film Paint sees the Loki star transform into a seemingly youthful and hapless version of TV painter Bob Ross.

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The film has just dropped its first trailer, and gives a snapshot into the world of public access television (with a comic lens). Wilson is the film’s leading man, and plays small-time artist Carl Nargle. Nargle, complete with ginger afro, is the beloved host of a long-running instructional painting series on Vermont public television.

Trouble comes to Nargle’s world when a younger painter Ambrosia Long (played by Ciara Renée) is hired to attract a different demographic, exacerbating Nargle’s deep-seated insecurities about his own artistic talents – see the trailer below for more.

Though people may think that the film is based on the cult icon that was the American TV painter Bob Ross, nothing explicit has confirmed a link between the character of Nargle and Ross. However, it’s hard not to assume that Wilson’s character is a tribute to the TV icon.

Ross may be less familiar to UK and European audiences – given he still remains a cult figure in the US to this day. Ross starred on the public television series The Joy of Painting in the 1980s and ’90s before his death in 1995 at the age 52.

Public Access Television is a more familiar format in North America. It’s traditionally based aimed to capture viewers in the station’s local communities, and allows the general public to create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels.

The cast for Paint includes Michaela Watkins, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Lusia Strus and Stephen Root. Director Brit McAdams has also written the script for the movie.

Wilson’s latest hit role has seen him playing Mobius M. Mobius on Disney+’s MCU streaming series, Loki. The show, helmed by Tom Hiddleston, is set to return for its second season later this year.

The post First look at Owen Wilson as TV painter Bob Ross appeared first on NME.