Steve Martin Going Bird-Watching With Owen Wilson And Jack Black

[Donna]

Loyal as I am to Jack Donaghy-- er, I mean Alec Baldwin-- it seems obvious to me that Steve Martin was the more successful of Sunday's Oscar hosts, probably just a little because he's done it several times before. And as an Oscar veteran, Martin knows fully well how to capitalize on that buzz, and has taken the moment to join relative whippersnappers Owen Wilson and Jack Black in Big Year, a comedy about bird-watchers. Yeah, really.

As THR reports it, the project has been in development for ages at Fox 2000, and at one point Dustin Hoffman was on board for Martin's role. The film , based on the 1998 book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession, follows three men who try to outdo each other in a bird-watching competition. The original nonfiction book apparently used the bird pursuit as a fairly bittersweet reflection of the mens' lives, but I can see the movie version quickly devolving into an escalating series of pranks that inevitably result in someone accidentally killing one of the rare birds. Please, for the sake of everyone's dignity-- not least the audience's-- don't let it go this way. We all know these three actors are capable of more, and given a script as intelligent as they are, they could make something pretty spectacular together.

also in the article:

A man holds a pair of binoculars, one hand wrapped around each side. His fingers are curled like fists, and they come together making a strong symbolic statement. You’re looking at a two-fisted bird watcher, buddy.

Birders were once portrayed as ladies in tweed and guys who looked like bookish nerds. But tough men and women are birding and they’re not tweedy or nerdy. They’re Army Rangers on patrol.

They stalk wild animals: Spring migrants that were in a South American jungle a month ago. Or winter visitors that crossed the Canadian tundra to get here.

Bobcats and bears are cool, and we see a few. But birds come in wild varieties, and spotting them is a physical and mental challenge; a two-fisted sport.

You just can’t hold a pair of binoculars up to your eyes without putting up your dukes. The two-fisted bird watcher is here. Maybe, the two-fisted bird watcher is you.

[Carol P.]

A man holds a pair of binoculars, one hand wrapped around each side. His fingers are curled like fists, and they come together making a strong symbolic statement. You’re looking at a two-fisted bird watcher, buddy.

Birders were once portrayed as ladies in tweed and guys who looked like bookish nerds. But tough men and women are birding and they’re not tweedy or nerdy. They’re Army Rangers on patrol.

They stalk wild animals: Spring migrants that were in a South American jungle a month ago. Or winter visitors that crossed the Canadian tundra to get here.

Bobcats and bears are cool, and we see a few. But birds come in wild varieties, and spotting them is a physical and mental challenge; a two-fisted sport.

You just can’t hold a pair of binoculars up to your eyes without putting up your dukes. The two-fisted bird watcher is here. Maybe, the two-fisted bird watcher is you.

I like it!  and by the way, there is no tweed in my closet.   

[Bird Crazy]

nor in mine.