SPOILER ALERT: This piece discusses the first three episodes of Stick on Apple TV+.
Owen Wilson’s latest project, the Apple TV+ series Stick, watches the actor take on a plucky underdog of sorts — Pryce Cahill — a former professional golfer whose divorce is about to be finalized in the sale of the house he once shared with his ex wife Amber-Linn (Judy Greer).
Now working as a golf club salesman, it’s obvious from the pitch he makes in the opening moments of the series that he still loves the sport of golf. It’s this “positive” energy and that allows Pryce, who stumbles upon golf phenom Santiago Wheeler (Peter Dager) to convince the teenager to take his talents on the road and compete to become a pro golfer. A surrogate father and son relationship develops between the pair, but not without its bumps in the road as Santi sometimes takes big swings without heed for some of Pryce’s advice.
“You don’t know the right way to do it. You have somebody like Joe DiMaggio, I think the first time his dad ever saw him play baseball, he was already a center fielder for the Yankees. His dad was a fisherman. No interest,” Wilson said. “Then you have Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods is not Tiger Woods without his dad putting a club in his hand at age two. So what’s the right way to do it? Is it to stand back and let somebody do it on their own? There isn’t a set way, and there isn’t a foolproof guidebook to how to bring out the best in someone.”
Also along for the ride are Santi’s mother Elena (Mariana Treviño) and his former golf caddy and good friend Mitts (Marc Maron), who supplies the RV they travel in as well as the occasional dose of wisdom — golf and otherwise. On the road, they meet Lilli Kay’s Zero, who rounds out the ensemble, but who also challenges the dynamic that has begun to form between mentor and mentee.
“How much input do you give? When do you hold back? That’s what we see in the show,” creator Jason Keller told Deadline. “We see these individuals, these strangers to one another, start to better understand how to be a family. And with that comes all of these awkward dynamics.”
In the below interview, Wilson and Keller talk what the show’s first three episodes — now streaming on Apple TV+ — tee up for the rest of the series, how the characters balance past and present and what keeps them in Pryce Cahill’s orbit.
DEADLINE: What is it about Pryce Cahill as a character that keeps people coming back and rooting for him, despite some of the more questionable decisions he makes?
WILSON: It might sound superficial, but just the name Pryce Cahill is a routable name. But, of course, the guy has a quality that is nice when you come across it, even in real life, of somebody who is beaten, but still out there selling and trying to believe. I guess that means you haven’t given up if you’re doing that. That’s always nice to be around that kind of energy.
