INT: Owen Wilson

Owen
Wilson and the

Wilson

clan have become found huge success in the past few years.
His work with Wes Anderson on such films as THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH
STEVE ZISSOU and THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and of course the indie classic BOTTLE
ROCKET. He has also parlayed his
comedic timing with Vince Vaughn for one of the biggest comedies in recent
years with WEDDING CRASHERS.

He’s
back for more with YOU,
ME AND DUPREE in the touching yet slightly crude for the whole
family flick from Universal. And
what’s not surprising is he happens to be a pretty funny guy, even without
a script. But what is surprising is
his very down to earth attitude. He
seems like the kind of guy that is funny without trying too hard.
I expected an “in your face” type of guy but he really is a quiet
and probably pretty deep dude; who spends a whole bunch of time on his
blackberry.

Owen Wilson

I
was wondering what jokes you had stashed in your blackberry?

You
know I get criticized for being on my blackberry, especially from my
girlfriends who are like; “you’re more interested in that than having
good conversation.” But I will
say in my defense that I feel like I do sometimes write down good ideas or
funny stuff, ideas for scenes and stuff.
Sometimes I’m just (texting) BS.

Do
you have a seventy-five year plan like your character in Bottle Rocket?

Yeah,
well… seventy-five, well that was actually a re-shoot that we added.
I remember that Wes and I had a five year plan and Jim Brooks was
like, why don’t you make it like a seventy-five year plan, you know, what
do you get out of being subtle? And
I’ve always remembered Jim Brooks saying that.
Because you do get more mileage, definitely more people quote that
“seventy-five year plan” and it’s also my handwriting cause I’m
left-handed I have kind of like a chicken scrawl and Wes always thinks
it’s funny when you see my handwriting; and I know in You, Me and Dupree
when they see me writing the thank you notes people started laughing, it’s
like, oh he’s doing if for the character (making) it so bad but that’s
my penmanship.

Dupree
is obviously a very lovable kind of character, how do you see him, was it
inspired by something, your interpretation by somebody you actually know?

Part
of Dupree definitely was kind of… well we had this Dalmatian that we had
when we were kids that my parents got us, named Nutmeg.
And this dog was just insane, it like tore up everything.
And my parents wanted to send it to go live on a farm, where it would
have more space. And we were
crying… no. And finally my
parents began to sort of fall in love with the dog.
And Dupree has a little bit of that quality.
That was the inspiration… our family dog, growing up.

Do
see Dupree going on with the successful, Dr. Phil style motivational speaker
in the end?

Well
somebody was saying that Tony Robbins used to live in his car and if Tony
Robbins can do it I don’t see why Dupree couldn’t become sort of a force
out there. Because I think his
message is kind of a good one; kind of stay loose, stay liquid and laugh a
lot. You know, what else is
there?

I’m
curious about “people chemistry” and when it has to carry a film
there’s different stakes than just hanging out with your friends, or for
that matter hanging out with your brothers.
I’m curious because Kate Hudson talked about contrasting all of you
guys in the

Wilson

clan and she also contrasted you with Matt Dillon because you have such
singular different personalities in terms of approaches as actors.
So can you rap a bit about “people chemistry” and trying to fit
in to that scenario in this movie?

Yeah,
I think with…and that’s like chemistry, seems like every movie I’m in,
they talk about, you know, if your in it with another person they’re
always talking about the chemistry. And
it just seems to be based on if the movie does well.
So you and Vince have chemistry, but you and Eddie Murphy, your
chemistry wasn’t so good. I
mean all I know is when Eddie and I were working we had a great time
together I mean we were really laughing a lot.

And
for whatever reason, the movie (I Spy) didn’t quite fly or connect.
But I think it’s just enjoying the people that you’re around and
being able to play off them. I
know with Kate (Hudson), I think the reason why, like Matt and I like her
and why the crew loved her and the directors (Joe and Anthony Russo), is
like Kate is really easy to get laughing and she’s always kind of smiling
and so you feel like wow, I’m really on fire.
And you realize she’s like that with, you know, the prop master,
the caterer, she kind of like makes everyone feel like they’re great.
And it doesn’t hurt that she’s super pretty.

What
about the chemistry with your brothers?

I
think with your brothers it’s feeling very comfortable and not just
comfortable to say you’re my brother and I love you which we will never
say; it’s feeling very comfortable to say, you’re driving me crazy and
say sometimes sort of mean stuff.

David
Spade just did a joke about Ashley Simpson getting asked for your autograph,
has that ever happened to you?

You
know, that has never happened to me but I have… people will call me Luke
sometimes, I don’t think we really look alike or maybe just being from

Texas

… another

Texas

person. But that would be the
main thing I hear. (People)
calling me Luke.

We
sure see a lot of you in this movie, are you particularly proud or an
exhibitionist?

Yeah
there is, I was thinking that scene where I kind of run out of the house
practically naked, just kind of covered by those pillows.
This might be one that my mother, I should give her a heads up on
cause she might wanna go see Cars for the second time.

Is
there some embarrassment?

Yeah
there’s a lot of embarrassment. Believe
me there’s other shots that they had in there that I was like, no!
Yeah, people say, like, was it hard, you know…

Was
it hard?

Touché…
And was it hard not cracking up, you know the scene where I have the
sock and the adult movie playing, I was like, no, it was embarrassing.
But it worked for the character.
You know, you got all the crew standing around and there you are
simulating something probably not meant to be seen.

You
have that great line that love is enough to last during all the challenges,
what’s your take on that?

Well
that’s what I think is kind of nice about Dupree, you know he definitely,
kind of wears out his welcome, he doesn’t have a job, he rides around on a
bike but he’s not like a cynical kind of jaded slacker.
He’s got a
Labrador
type of enthusiasm and he really does want their marriage to work out.

As
Dupree, you mention that Audrey Hepburn is your idea of a perfect girl.
What’s your idea?

Well,
my idea of the perfect girl… yeah, I like that Dupree’s idea is Audrey
Hepburn and when Kate’s saying she has a hard time imagining Audrey
Hepburn listening to Funky Cold Medina (by Tone Loc), and Dupree says he
doesn’t have a hard time, he can picture it very clearly.
My ideal girl… obviously you have to be attracted to them and be on
the same page sense of humor wise. That’s
kind of the biggest things, enjoying the other persons company.
Liking the stuff they have to say.

Favorite
romantic film?

Favorite
romantic film would be… I like that movie (The) End of the Affair.
I thought it was really, really good.
Ralph Fiennes movie… Julianne Moore.
Neil Jordan movie… that was great.

Obviously
you are perfect for this kind of movie; audiences can instantly buy you as
Dupree. Is there a part of you
that would like to try the Matt Dillon character?

Yeah,
well I definitely could identify with a lot of Carl’s feelings, you know,
the lines that he says. And when
I originally started working on the script with the writer, you know, he’s
pitching me the idea and I did think of myself as maybe playing Carl.
There was a possibility at one point that I was going to play Carl
and I think I could have definitely related to some of the stuff that he
goes through. But I think
everybody kind of… you’ve either experienced Dupree or you’ve been a
Dupree, in my case, both.

As
a writer, what is your favorite book?

I
would say that probably my favorite book is Huckleberry Finn or The Great
Gatsby. I love those books.
I don’t know; I feel like I get a lot of ideas from those
books. You know, there’s stuff
in like, Bottle Rocket, lifted kind of from Huckleberry Finn like the sort
of whole ending where Jim is already free but Tom and Huck go through this
whole sort of charade of freeing him. And
you know that’s kind of put into Bottle Rocket at the beginning where
I’m like trying to get Luke out of the mental hospital even though it’s
a volunteer hospital. And The
Great Gatsby, I just like some of the themes in that, being a little bit of
a dreamer.

How
do you find your “ness”?

Ah, I
think I try to find my “ness” the way that Dupree does; stay loose, stay
liquid and laugh a lot.

Have
you every thought about playing a villain?

I
think it would be fun to play… I saw Robin Williams in this movie
Insomnia, he was like a killer. And
I was like, what is Mork doing? And,
I don’t know, but I would like to do that also but I wonder if people
would have a problem with it. You
know, Behind Enemy Lines isn’t obviously a comedy.
And I think hopefully comedic actors… I think that I could probably
pull something off like that.

You
want to pursue it actively?

I
would definitely like to do a movie where the burden wasn’t on that you
had to get big laughs, kind of like set pieces.
I think it would be nice if it had funny stuff but it was more, sort
of, from the characters. You
know, I love that movie Sideways. That
had some really funny stuff but it has a lot of emotional stuff.
And I think that, Wes and I try and do that, some of the scripts that
we worked on. I can’t imagine
ever doing a straight, serious movie that didn’t have anything.
It’s funny because I don’t think life is ever really like that,
even in Raging Bull, you know, the scenes between (Robert) DeNiro and Joe
Pesci, some of those are hilarious.

Didn’t
you play a serial killer?

Yeah,
I did play a serial killer. The
Minus Man,

Hampton

Fancher… I had a great time working with

Hampton

. That’s like the only part
that I’ve ever gotten from auditioning.

Have
you ever had the experience of trying to get a girl back?

Oh,
yeah. I’ve definitely had to
try and win a girl back. You
know, all of a sudden your like… flowers, pretending there’s nothing
you’d rather do on a Sunday then go antique shopping.
Drive to

Pasadena

; hit the flea market. Usually
that relationship doesn’t last; only so long that you can fake that.

Writing
poems?

Probably
pawned off some poems as my own, that I got from like a song lyric.

Are
you and Vince in competition this summer to see which one will do the best
after Wedding Crashers?

Well,
it’s funny, we have the same agent and stuff and she was saying how Vince
gets so in to stuff and yet Vince kind of has this kind of natural
exuberance and now he’s like… I feel like he’s getting ready to do
press for You, Me and Dupree.

What
about you and your brothers?

Yeah,
I don’t think we’ve ever like been… you know, we’ll stand out on the
beach and throw rocks at a post for four hours… we’ll get in screaming
matches but we’ve never been competitive about this stuff because I think
if Luke does really well I know I can always get him to be in a movie with
me so…

How
many bikinis did you make Kate try on and how did you decide on which one to
use?

Probably
about seventy-three… And they were all good.
Yeah, that was a fun day.

Let me know what you
think. You can contact me at [email protected].