Alexander Payne Attached To Direct Adaptation Of Daniel Clowes Comic ‘Wilson’

With Alexander Payne busy finishing up his latest effort “The Descendants” possibly for a Cannes debut, the director is keeping an eye on this potential next gig. Sure, he’s got the high concept comedy “Downsizing” — about a financially struggling man who decides he can have a much nicer life if he undergoes a process to shrink himself to the size of a little person — potentially lined up, but now he’s eyeing an adaptation of an acclaimed graphic novel.

Deadline reports that Fox Searchlight has picked up “Wilson” by the hipster approved Daniel Clowes as a possible vehicle for Payne. The comic “tells the story of an opinionated middle-aged loner who loves his dog and maybe nobody else. He begins a quest to find human connection, badgering friends and strangers into a series of one-sided conversations that get derailed by his brutally honest sense of humor. When his father dies, Wilson is really alone and sets out to find his ex-wife in hopes of rekindling their long dead relationship. In the process, he discovers he has a teen daughter, who was born after the marriage ended and given up for adoption. He becomes determined to reconnect all three of them as a family.”

Certainly, the material fits very comfortably in Payne’s thematic wheelhouse but it remains to be seen if he’ll take the gig. Clowes, who scripted the excellent “Ghost World” and the not-so excellent “Art School Confidential,” will adapt his own work, and we would guess that Payne will give it a look first before committing to anything.