Austin’s filmmaking scene suffered a tragic blow earlier this month with the death of beloved actor and musician Bill Wise. Now the community that was so affected by his work and personality will come together for a special celebration of his life and legacy at AFS Cinema on Monday, May 18 at 5:30pm.
A constant player in Austin’s screen acting scene, Wise appeared in dozens of locally created movies – so many that it would be nearly impossible to pick one role over another for such a tribute. However, the organizers have selected his unforgettable performance as the perfect 1970s crew-cutted Houston father in Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood.
Mike Blizzard, who was a producer on Apollo 10½, recalled that Wise “was the perfect Dad for the wonderful ensemble family cast. He played Dad when the camera was off too! Helping corral and be a father figure on set for the young actors – most of whom had never been in a film before.”
Seats for this rare theatrical screening are first-come, first-served, and will be followed by remarks, a reception in the lobby, and then a trip back into the screen for a supercut of Wise’s work intercut with remembrances and anecdotes from those that knew and loved him.
Those people were many, and tributes have continued to pour in. Wise’s representatives at the Collier Talent Agency described him as “a true Austin icon, a one-of-a-kind artist who made Austin weird and tried to keep it that way. Bill’s mind moved at lightning speed. He was a fearless performer and an absolute comic genius.”
Beyond his work on Apollo 10½, Blizzard called Wise “a stalwart part of the Austin creative firmament for decades, he brought such passion, kindness, and hilarity to everything he did.”
Bryan Poyser, who directed Wise in the video for Emily Bell’s “Can’t Talk Back,” echoed those sentiments by calling him “one of the brightest talents we’ve ever had.”
It’s been said that casting directors would say that, if Wise wasn’t available, they’d look for a Bill Wise-type. However, his eagerness to perform and be part of making movies made him ubiquitous, and a regular on the sets of many of the best-known Austin filmmakers. That included Andrew Bujalski, who shared multiple sets with Wise. “It became a kind of inadvertent running gag between us that I never had a decent part for him.” The director wrote. “As one of the encounter group folks in Computer Chess he dropped plenty of hilarious improv gold, which of course I had no place for in the movie (though it always makes me laugh to see him, in the background, absolutely *destroying* that loaf of bread in Annie’s lap) … In Results you barely catch him as the cop pulling Cobie’s character over … And when his audition video came in for another day-player bit in Support the Girls, I had to reach out and say, Bill, I don’t know if I can do this to you again – but if you want the unglamorous work, of course, I’d be happy to hang out for the afternoon and let you punch James Le Gros in the gut, which he did handsomely.”
Wise also worked repeatedly with Nick Ashy Holden, including on the upcoming Sell Out, who summed up the feelings of many when he wrote,“Bill Wise was such a bright star. He was a comedic genius and a brilliant, deeply caring friend. He had an enormous heart and a gift for lifting everyone’s spirits.”
