The Butterscotch Stallion is looking to star in a new version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a project that’s been floating around for years and years now. For a long time this was a Jim Carrey pet project, but I guess he’s moved on and Wedding Crasher Owen Wilson is filling his shoes. Steven Spielberg was also attached at one point (as a director, duh). Now Mark Waters, who helmed the shockingly good Mean Girls (seriously, I own it on DVD and really enjoy it) will be directing from the script by Richard LaGravenese, who also wrote The Horse Whisperer.
There was a previous film version of Walter Mitty, but this take is supposedly truer to the original James Thurber short story (you can read the whole thing by clicking here), which is about a loser whose fantasy life is much more exciting than his real life. You know, Walter Mitty is a lot like A Confederacy of Dunces’ Ignatius Reilly – they would have both been right at home on the Internet.
Owen Wilson is a weird choice for the role. I can’t really imagine him as much of an "every man" or a loser. There’s an ineffable coolness about the guy that I don’t believe he can submerge. It’s worth noting that this film is coming from Paramount, the studio most at war with original ideas these days.