by
Paul Fischer
Owen
Wilson
is rapidly emerging as one of Hollywood's bright young stars. Also a 
screenwriter,
Wilson first drew acclaim as co-writer of all three Wes Anderson films, including
his latest, The Royal Tenenbaums. Born and reared in Dallas, Wilson raised
enough hell in high school to get expelled from one institution in tenth grade,
but he managed to attend college at the University of Texas in Austin and graduate
in 1991. Along with his degree, Wilson's Austin years resulted in a budding partnership
with aspiring filmmaker Wes Anderson. Their first film together, a short
about a bookstore heist called Bottle Rocket, played at the Sundance Film
Festival in 1993, attracting the attention of producer Polly Platt and writer/director
James L. Brooks. With Brooks' support, Wilson and Anderson expanded the short
into a feature. Though it made little impression at the box office, this distinctly
offbeat comedy became something of a cult favourite. Alternating between supporting
roles in Hollywood spectacles, collaborations with Anderson and Ben Stiller,
and smaller independent projects, Wilson worked steadily for the rest of the 1990s.
By 2000, Wilson began to take centre stage in larger Hollywood projects, joining Jackie Chan in Shanghai Noon (2000) and nearly stealing the movie. Wilson worked with Stiller in Meet the Parents (2000), and Stiller's supermodel farce Zoolander. As this year of 2001 wraps up, Wilson continues his partnership with Wes Anderson in the black comedy The Royal Tenenbaums and adds action dramas to his resume with Behind Enemy Lines, in which he plays a pilot shot down in Bosnia and on the run from corrupt soldiers and a malevolent sniper. He co-stars with Gene Hackman in both films.
CrankyCritic:
Can you begin by discussing how and why Hackman got you involved with Behind
Enemy Lines and if that led to you hiring him for Royal Tenenbaums?
Owen Wilson: Gene liked me in Shanghai Noon and recommended me for
Behind Enemy Lines. I agreed to do it so they recommended me for that.
We'd always wanted him for the Royal Tenenbaums and Wes finally persuaded
him during Behind Enemy Lines.
CrankyCritic:
Is Gene Hackman now your adopted father?
Owen Wilson: Ah, no. He's not. It's funny. The reason I really was excited
about working on Behind Enemy Lines is because of him, but we didn't have
that much stuff together. He's on the ship. I'm behind enemy lines [laugher] so
we didn't do a lot of stuff together.
CrankyCritic:
You're not really perceived as an action hero, yet you have done a few films in
which that comes through. Was the attraction of Behind Enemy Lines the
opportunity to reflect the action hero within?
Owen Wilson: No, not really. The attraction was more to work with Gene
Hackman. In fact, it was a more difficult movie to do because I felt less in control
than when doing a
run
through land mines. You don't know how it's all going to fit together because
he's got it all in his mind. It all comes down to whether or not he can make it
exciting.
CrankyCritic:
How physically daunting was it to shoot?
Owen Wilson: It was more like playing sports in high school. Kind of like
gearing up every day; that was kind of the feeling that I had. Get your adrenaline
flowing. That was the only thing I could relate it to because obviously I've never
been in this type of combat situation. I could just relate to the kind of adrenaline
you get playing sports and stuff.
CrankyCritic:
Where do these quirky films comes from that you and Wes work on?
Owen Wilson: We kind of do stuff that comes naturally to us. And the stuff
that seems to come naturally is, I don't know exactly how you would describe it,
but I know the humor is not really clinical or mean-spirited. It seems to come
more from enthusiasm or earnestness. I don't know.The
things that Wes and I find funny are, derived from characters we all knew and
grew up with.
CrankyCritic:
What particular challenges did you face creating the multitude of characters in
Tenenbaums?
Owen Wilson: Well, trying to write an ensemble movie, rather than focusing
on one thing, and it ended up pretty much being Gene Hackman's movie, I think.
But early on we didn't quite know how it was going to work out.
CrankyCritic:
As with Rushmore, you're coming out at that Oscar time of year. While Rushmore
was shut out of the Oscars, you think you have a better shot this time round?
Owen Wilson: Well, Bottle Rocket was really hard for me to see because
it was so weird to see yourself and stuff. Tenenbaums I really loved. I
don't know how other people will react to it. I would hope that Gene Hackman will
get some recognition.
CrankyCritic:
Going back to Behind Enemy Lines, is the time right to see a war film of
this kind given recent events?
Owen Wilson: I would think so, yeah. I think that after September 11 there's
a sort of natural surge of patriotism that happened and pushed through a sort
of collective tragedy where the whole country sort of comes together. I mean,
you saw it particularly in New York in the few days after. Behind Enemy Lines
is not a movie about corruption in the military or anything like that. I can't
believe that there hasn't been a movie called Behind Enemy Lines; it's
such an obvious title.
CrankyCritic:
Are you still doing the sequel to Shanghai Noon?
Owen Wilson: Shanghai Knights, yeah, in February.
CrankyCritic:
Shooting in Ireland, right?
Owen Wilson: Well, it's supposed to be England, you know, if we go back
to Jack the Ripper time. I don't know where, maybe Prague and London. I would
like it to be Dublin, to be Ireland, because that's where my ancestors are from
and I think I get along good with Irish people. The director on Behind Enemy
Lines was Irish.
CrankyCritic:
Are you and Wes writing something right now?
Owen Wilson: No, we're not working on anything now. We have some ideas
for like a western and then yeah, a story with the ocean as the backdrop.
November 2001