ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Paint star Stephen Root about the Bob Ross-inspired movie and his thoughts on working with Mike Judge again on the upcoming King of the Hill revival. Paint is set to release in theaters on April 7, 2023
“In Paint, Owen Wilson portrays Carl Nargle, Vermont’s #1 public television painter who is convinced he has it all: a signature perm, custom van, and fans hanging on his every stroke … until a younger, better artist steals everything (and everyone) Carl loves,” reads the movie’s synopsis.
Tyler Treese: All the scenes with you and Owen Wilson are just hilarious. He’s such a pro and I feel like his career speaks for itself to an extent, but what really makes him a great comedic scene partner for you to work off of?
Stephen Root: I think in a lot of comedy, less is more. Owen goes to the very minimalist place as an actor, in this role specifically, because it’s such a soft-spoken character based on Bob Ross. The fact that he does almost nothing so low-key … that’s hysterical in itself, and then I think the script is pretty good. Those two things together make Owen just fantastic in this role. And the fact that his hair is a separate character [laugh] is fantastic.
Yeah, the hair is great. What really impressed me about the script was that the focus is on this character, Carl, but the supporting cast all have their own arcs and have their own little stories to tell. How great was it that you’re not just in a few scenes and stealing some humorous moments, but you actually have some character development throughout the movie?
Yeah, very much so. It’s an ensemble piece all the way through the movie, but as you say, each character has a backstory. That doesn’t happen in a lot of films, so you care more about the characters because they have a backstory. You want to know what happens with them. This is an astonishing bunch of female actors in this movie. They are so, so good. I mean, I’ve been a huge fan of Michaela [Watkins] and Wendi [McLendon-Covey] for a long time, but everybody in the film, I thought, was really well cast and that’s a tribute to Brit [McAdams, director] and the writing.
Your character, Tony, is running this local access station that’s struggling and he’s not really the most adept boss.
Yeah, he doesn’t want to be in that job, really! He doesn’t want to do that job. He’s not suited for that job. He’s a guy that probably just wanted to be in production and way behind the camera all the time, but got stuck in a place that he probably shouldn’t be, as you can tell when he tries to paint on camera. [Laugh].
Yeah, that’s a great scene. Brett did such a great job directing and writing this. What impressed you the most about working with him and seeing how he is on set?
Well, it’s great. I’ve worked with a few first-time directors on some big movies and on some small ones. What’s nice about working with Brit is that he, as the director, was also the writer. So you always had a writer on set the whole time you were there. We reworked scenes and had different dialogue on the day when we decided to shoot. So you have the writer right there in the room to help you achieve what you wanted to do in that scene. And that was a huge deal. The fact that he was a first-time director … it wasn’t a big deal, because he’s had this script for 13 years, wanting to do this thing. So he is incredibly familiar with it and did a great job and put together a fantastic team.
You’ve been so great on Barry, and with that show coming to an end, I was curious as to what your reflections are on having such a key role in such a critically acclaimed show. I think it’s great to see it not overstay its welcome, and it’s been quality the whole way through.
Thank you. I agree with you. You get very few projects where you’re extremely proud to be on them. NewsRadio was one for me, King of the Hill was one for me. I think this one really stands out because of the superlative acting in it. But Bill Hader’s writing, producing, and the fact that he directed all eight episodes of this last season is truly his vision. So I think what makes it so good is everybody’s on the same page and you have one vision of what’s going to happen in this season, and it’s pretty amazing.
You mentioned King of the Hill. That revival’s coming up, so how exciting is it to get to work with Mike Judge again?
Oh my goodness, Mike … the reason I have any kind of recognition is because of Mike Judge. Office Space kind of put my face in front of a lot of people. Obviously King the Hill doesn’t because it’s just a voice, but I’ve been recognized by my voice as well. So Mike Judge has made a lot of my career and I am thrilled to be able to work with him again. I’m also working with him on another project, another animation project that’s coming up I think you’re going to love. But just just to be around all those people who were a family for the 13 years we did the show … I mean, we saw kids being born, marriages, divorces, deaths, and births. And it’ll be lovely to get back together with them.
