Daniel Radcliffe was the last Hollywood star to don an outrageous wig for his role in Weird Al Yankovic’s “biopic” Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
Next, we’ll see Zoolander actor Owen Wilson don an almost-identical hairdo for his role in Paint.
The first trailer for the film dropped on Thursday, with the actor a spitting image of iconic television painting personality Bob Ross – complete with an unruly perm, loose button-up and soft, hypnotic voice.
But he’s not really playing Ross. The film is clearly inspired by Ross’ story, the painter rising to fame for his instructional painting program The Joy of Painting in the 1980s.
Instead, Wilson plays Carl Nargle, a fictional TV painter from Vermont at the top of his fame.
In the trailer, Nargle can be seen eagerly taking inspiration from nature for his paintings.
It even shows his bizarre encounters with fans. In one shot, a group of wide-eyed women watch on as Nargle goes through the instructions for one of his paintings.
One obsessed fan even sucks melted cheese off his fingers, and another woman caresses one of his sandals against her cheek.
And it’s not just the ladies who love him. We see the elderly gather to watch him in their retirement home, and bar-dwellers step away from their games of pool to follow along.
As the film’s synopsis states, Nargle has it all: “A signature perm, custom van, and fans hanging on his every stroke.”
That is, until a younger, more skilful painter named Ambrosia (Ciara Renée) comes along and takes his place as top dog.
This sends Nargle into a spiral, and the pair embark on a ruthless battle for viewership and painting glory.
“You’re entitled to your favourite TV show. That’s what makes this country great,” Nargle concedes, before hurling a bucket of green paint over his many portraits.
Brit McAdams, formerly the director of Comedy Central series Tosh.0, wrote and directed the film, which is set to hit cinemas on April 7.
Never-ending nostalgia
Paint will be hoping to piggy-back off Ross’ enduring legacy and nostalgia.
The “happy painter” would show how to paint landscapes with simple techniques in less than 30 minutes.
From what he described as “happy trees” and “happy little clouds”, Ross made what might be a difficult task an easygoing and relaxing experience.
He was also known for reassuring his viewers along the way, with many taking comfort in his soft nature – making his show the pinnacle of comfort viewing.
“We don’t make mistakes,” the ever-positive Ross would frequently say.
“We have happy accidents.”
While the Paint trailer’s womanising element might appear out-of-place, many might be surprised to learn that it may not be entirely inaccurate when looking at Ross’ personal life.
A 2021 Netflix series Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed took a closer look at Ross’ life and legacy, featuring commentary from his son, Steve Ross, and others who worked with the star on his show.
In the documentary, Ross Jr. admits that his father was acutely aware of his appeal to his female viewers.
“A lot of the audience is women, so maybe I’ll try to whisper,” Steve Ross recalled. “He was trying to be a little sexy.”
Marriage-go-round
His son also dropped another truth bomb, revealing that Ross had issues with fidelity.
Ross was married three times – first to Steve’s mother Vivian Ridge from the mid-’60s to the mid-’70s. They had Steve as unmarried teenagers, and their marriage later fell apart over extramarital affairs.
Next, he married wife Jane, who he was with for 25 years.
In the documentary, Steve revealed that their marriage was almost torn apart – this time due to Ross’ supposed affair with his business partner.
“There was an affair between my father and Annette, yes,” Steve told the cameras, referring to Ross’ business partner Annette Kowalski.
He recalled an argument between Ross and his stepmother after she discovered he was having an affair. He said they worked things out before Jane died in 1992.
He married third wife Lynda Brown in 1995, but their marriage only lasted two months, with Ross dying from lymphoma that same year.
Health and legal battles
Ross, who battled lymphoma in secret, filmed more than 400 episodes of his show before dying at the age of 52, his fans clueless about the star’s deteriorating health.
With his health declining, a heated battle started between his former business partners and his family over his estate. Business partners Annette and Walter Kowalski reportedly became very aggressive, pressuring him to sign over the rights to his estate.
Ross wrote the Kowalskis out of his will, and left his estate and rights to Steve and his half-brother Jimmie Cox.
The Kowalskis eventually filed a lawsuit against the Ross family, and won, successfully taking over Bob Ross Inc. after his death – and gained ownership of all his paintings.
It has been nearly 30 years since Ross died. Yet, his legacy endures – and perhaps has even grown.
The official Bob Ross YouTube channel has amassed 5.43 million subscribers in the 12 years since it was created.
There, you can find all 400 of his episodes, each sporting hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of views apiece.
Still painting on SBS
In Australia, The Joy of Painting is still airing. You can find Bob Ross on SBS VICELAND weekdays at 5:45pm, with episodes of his show also available on SBS On Demand.
Meanwhile, the Kowalski family still holds control over Bob Ross Inc.
The Kowalski’s daughter, Joan, took over the company after her parents’ retirement and has made it more open to merchandising Ross’ name and likeness.
His legacy has inspired merchandise including a board game, a Chia Pet, and Bob Ross bobbleheads, as well as painting sets sold by Bob Ross Inc. A video game was also in development, set to be released on Nintendo consoles, though this never came to fruition.
And according to a 2019 investigation by The New York Times, the Kowalskis are still in possession of all of Ross’ paintings.
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