Steve Coogan Addresses Old Rumors About Owen Wilson
Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson in Night at the Museum
Tropic Thunder co-star Steve Coogan recently addressed the lingering rumors blaming him for Owen Wilson’s 2007 suicide attempt in a candid interview with the Daily Mail. Blasting the allegations of ex-girlfriend Courtney Love that he was providing Wilson with drugs, Coogan acknowledges that while he and Wilson did have a rift, they have since patched up their friendship.
On the Courtney Love-fueled rumors:
‘That story gained more credence over here than there. It was a complete fabrication put about by someone who had a di fferent agenda.
‘In America they realised it was b******* as soon as they established that it was spread by someone who was trying to throw a grenade in my path. The industry made it very clear to me that they knew, so thankfully it had no e ffect on my career or my friendship with Owen.
‘Yes, Owen did have a bit of a personal wobble between the first Night At The Museum film and the one we’ve just finished, but he is totally fine now. I spent last Thanksgiving with his family in Texas. We’re working together again this year. It never aff ected my friendship with him at all.’
Coogan also provided this painful anecdote about an accident while filming Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian:
‘Honestly, on that film, I really thought I might go blind,’ he tells me. ‘During filming one day, I was running along - I play a toy soldier - scampering past these giant blades of plastic grass. But, being really old, I got out of breath, so I stopped. And as I bent over to catch my breath, one of these blades of grass went right in my eye.
‘It was horrific - it pushed my eyelid over the top of my eyeball and down over the other side. I bruised my ruddy eyeball - actually, I nearly blinded myself. I stopped and put my hand over my eye - I thought I’d have blood gushing out - I couldn’t see anything. My head went numb. I had a black eye for the whole of the rest of the film. They had to cover it up with make-up every day.’
Thanks for the link. I didn’t read of a rift between Owen & Steve in the interview, only that Steve acknowledged that Owen had “a bit of a personal wobble”. I remember Courteney really slammed Steve over here in the states, I’m glad to know he escaped that attack relatively unscathed and that his friendship with Owen was never affected.