“I think this role was a little bit of wish fulfillment for me as an actor—the chance to play a superhero,” mused Owen Wilson of his character in Secret Headquarters, the heart-warming, action-packed romp from iconic producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun: Maverick). Wilson morphs into the character of Jack here, a loving yet absentee dad who happens to be The Guard, a mysterious superhero who’s generated buzz for saving the world and then some.
But Jack isn’t your garden-variety, muscled-up superhero. (Think: guy-next-door thrust on a mission to save humanity.) An alien power source chose him to save the planet—a good thing, but it certainly puts a wrinkle in creating quality dad/son time with his kid Charlie (Walker Scobell of The Adam Project). The film, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (both of Project Power, Nerve, and Catfish) and penned by Christopher Yost, Josh Koenigsberg, Joost, and Schulman hits Paramount+ on Aug. 12. Clever, breezy, and playful, it grabs the creative baton from Spy Kids and turns it on its head in a tale, which, at its core, is about father-son bonds and a kid embracing bold new adventures.
“You see a lot of actors get an opportunity to play a superhero,” added Wilson, who became a fan favorite in Disney’s Loki series. “When this seemed like a possibility, I was excited to talk with Henry and Rel [short for Ariel]. It seemed dynamic and there was a unique approach to it, where it’s told from the point of view of the kids. And then you have the struggle between a father and trying to connect. I think we all can sort of relate to that, depending on which side you’re cast on.”
Creating Secret Headquarters
Secret Headquarters boasts a solid cast, featuring Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy), Keith L. Williams, Momona Tamada, Michael Peña, Abby James Witherspoon, Kezii Curtis, and Jessie Mueller. Cinematography by Larry Fong (The Tomorrow War, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Kong: Skull Island) infuses a level of believability in what audiences experience in the story, which has an interesting origin.
The genesis of the project most likely began with Yost. A self-confessed “comic book guy,” he wrote for Marvel and D.C. Comics. Secret Headquarters was the culmination of a lifelong goal to create his own superhero world. What a world it is. Jack stumbles upon alien technology during a family camping trip and suddenly finds himself on a mission to save to the planet. It takes years to wrap his head around the high-tech, of course—even though he is, technically, working in I.T.—but with creating jetpacks, and turning his VW into a secret G-Mobile, the learning curve is a bit high.
There’s also the “secret headquarters” itself, the mammoth underground lair where Jack can, well, superhero plan and such. Charlie and his pals—best friend, new crush, crush’s friend—stumble upon these digs below dad’s house, and suddenly all the pieces begin falling into place. Maybe the reason pops has been so hard to pin down emotionally is because he’s busy being an awesome superhero. But how? He can’t even handle hot wings.
Regardless, as long as Charlie and his pals have found the super-secret headquarters, why not explore? Adventure ensues and the filmmakers keep things moving swiftly as the kids learn more about the alien tech that can transform them and also give them the power to save the planet—or send it deeper into peril. Either way, a nasty posse of mercenaries are afoot—nobody wants them gaining access to the alien hi-tech, of course.
“The kids were great; so special,” Wilson noted of the young actors (Williams, Tamada, Witherspoon). “I think we all got on the same page.”
“The most important thing for making a good movie is that everyone needs to be making the same movie,” Schulman added. “In our conversations with Owen, and with [costar] Michael Peña, one of the first questions was, ‘Should we work out?’ The answer was no. Come as you are. It’s a movie about real dads.”
The Secret Behind Secret Headquarters
Joost, who shared the director’s hat with Schulman, appreciated the amount of creativity he was offered in making the film. He, Shulman, and Yost—and Bruckheimer’s brilliance—established a noteworthy level of integrity behind the scenes.
“It was really important to us to create an environment that felt as real as it possibly could,” Joost said. “We actually made a real ‘secret headquarters’ outside of Atlanta in an old shopping mall. We turned the food court into the headquarters itself. I think that makes a difference for the cast and the crew—just walking on a set and feeling like you’re really there as opposed to looking at a bunch of green screens.”
“The kids hadn’t seen it until it was fully ready—that scene where they’re brought on to see it [in the film],” Wilson shared. “And then I finally showed up [with them in the film], and I got my chance to get in the game. And Henry and Rel had told me not to work out but then said maybe I should work out… that there was a case for it because maybe I had committed too much to this kind of dad bod. They said we still want it to be entertaining and that’s when they loaded me up and gave me the perfect push-ups, so suddenly it was all about finding the right balance.”
Basically, carbs or no carbs.
Wilson chuckled. “Yeah, we definitely came down on the side of NO more carbs!”
Secret Headquarters streams on Paramount+ on Aug. 12.
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