Owen Wilson hosted the season 47 premiere of “Saturday Night Live” on October 2, with musical guest Kacey Musgraves. Despite his decades in the industry, this marks Wilson’s first time hosting “SNL,” though he made a cameo appearance as his “Zoolander” character Hansel in a 2016 episode of the NBC sketch series. Meanwhile, this is Musgraves’s second appearance as musical guest, following a stint in 2018. For his opening monologue, Wilson spoke of life growing up as a “forgotten” middle child, while his brothers, Luke and Andrew, watched from the show’s audience.
The actor went on to discuss his excitement over doing something live, in contrast with his typical mode of making a film, then waiting a year to get reviews. But as Wilson observed, “People are probably tweeting reviews right now.” He noted that while people say if you read the good reviews, you also have to read the bad ones, but he doesn’t subscribe to that line of thinking. “Bad ones don’t speak to me in the same way,” he quipped.
He brought up one notable pan of his work, which stated that his onscreen persona “has all the ambition of an old golden retriever laying next to a fire.” He admitted that he could occasionally be guilty of coasting, but hell, when Daniel Day-Lewis retired, that’s when he knew he had to do “Cars 3.” Who else was gonna do it?
Wilson went on to discuss the old standard of “SNL” hosts boasting about how great of a show they were about to put on, but he settled for a more realistic message. “Put on your coziest flannel and maybe we just chill out for the next 90 minutes,” he stated. “Close your eyes, get comfy.” After all, “Most people dream better with their eyes closed.”
Wilson is promoting his new role in the upcoming Wes Anderson film “The French Dispatch,” his eighth collaboration with the director. The actor co-starred earlier this year in the Disney+ series “Loki” as Mobius M. Mobius, as well as the Amazon original movie “Bliss.”
