Owen Wilson's surprise TIFF appearance
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Owen Wilson's surprise TIFF appearance


Owen Wilson (left) and Peter Bogdanovich (right) at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

31 Oct – Hollywood actor Owen Wilson surprised fans and press members when he unexpectedly dropped by at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) on 29 October 2014 to promote his latest film, "She's Funny That Way" with director Peter Bogdanovich.

After the screening of the comedy drama film starring Wilson, Imogen Poots and Jennifer Aniston at the Toho Cinemas in Tokyo, a delayed Q&A session left little time for questions from the press as Bogdanovich had to start without Wilson who arrived a little later.

In coming up with the idea for the movie, Bogdanovich recalled his Singaporean ties.

"In 1978 I made a film in Singapore that followed an American living in Singapore who wanted to open a whorehouse. We had to meet with some real escorts and used some of them for the film. I remember that some of them said that they wanted to go back from where they came from, and I gave them some money and told them to stop and go home. That's where the idea came from, what happens when a director gives a girl some money to stop being a prostitute and cast her in a play. That's how the crazy idea started."

Entitled "Saint Jack" the 1979 film was banned in Singapore and Malaysia, with Singapore banning it on the grounds that the film would suffer many cuts where nudity and coarse language was concerned. The ban was lifted in 2006, according to The Straits Times.


Imogen Poots (left) and Owen Wilson (right) in a scene from "She's Funny That Way".

Wilson's first visit to Tokyo, Japan was met with cheering fans who were waiting for him outside the theatre that had clearly had set him off for a good mood.

On working with Bogdanovich, Wilson said that he had met the director via his long-time friend and frequent collaborator, filmmaker Wes Anderson, who introduced the two who formed a quick friendship.

"Working with Peter was one of the great pleasures of my career. You never know how it's actually going to be like working with a friend. I feel that we emerged as even stronger friends." said Wilson to the press.

With 10 more minutes to go, the English to Japanese translation, which is compulsory for all TIFF events, had consumed almost half the remaining time for the session before it had finally ended, with many more questions left unanswered.

With a noticeable dissatisfaction seen upon Bogdanovich's face at the theatre, Wilson then stepped in with a comforting hand on the director's shoulder as the event ended right on schedule.



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