An Interview With Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson has been in more comedies in the last five years then any actor I can think of. In Wedding Crashers, he and Vince Vaughn play two bachelors crashing stranger's weddings and stealing women's hearts. I had a chance to chat with Owen Wilson about his upcoming projects, his strange nickname, and what it was like having to 'feel up' Jane Seymour.

How many weddings have you been to?

Owen Wilson: I was the best man at my older brother's wedding, and it was a great ceremony in Washington, D.C., ironically enough. That's where we filmed some of this movie. That marriage lasted almost nine months. (laughs) Bless their hearts, they tried. It was a great wedding, and you can't take that away. I gave a nice toast. I started to think that maybe I was like a jinx, because I went to another wedding that didn't go the distance, by any stretch of the imagination. Although I was at Ben Stiller's wedding and they're still married. That's going great, so maybe I'm too hard on myself.

Getting married yourself?

Owen Wilson: Well, I'm 36...

Not so young anymore?

Owen Wilson: No. They haven't got me to bend a knee yet. But one of these days I'm sure I'll get some great girl to lasso me and tame this wild mustang.

Have you heard of this nickname that they've created for you?

Owen Wilson: What?

The Butterscotch Stallion.

Owen Wilson: I did hear it. I love that. It's so funny, because a friend said it to me, like a month ago it was on the internet or something. The Butterscotch Stallion. That has to be one of the most ridiculous, insane nicknames, but some of my friends have really picked up on it, I think because they know it's so humiliating kind of, to me.

You've been hanging out with Harry Dean Stanton?

Owen Wilson: Yes, that's actually...did you hear that because that's one of the parties that I crashed? People were asking me, because I crashed Janet Jackson's record release party with Harry Dean Stanton. We had been out to dinner and we were gonna go have a drink at this old watering hole that he likes to go to, Dan Tana's, and on our way we saw a lot of pretty girls standing in front of this place, with spotlights going. And it was like a big hoopla. And we decided let's go in here for a second and it turned out to be her record release party. And I never got to meet Ms. Jackson, if you're nasty.

Did you get (kicked?) out?

Owen Wilson: On the Big Bounce. That was one of the nice things that came out of that movie.

So what was your favorite wedding to crash in the film?

Owen Wilson: My favorite wedding was, umm, my favorite sequence was probably the end sequence that ended with the girls falling into bed. It wasn't because of the reasons you think; it was because I felt that that was a beautifully shot scene. And it was a scene - you know, a lot of people like to say that I'm not the hardest worker, but that was a day that I showed up early and I stayed late, and a lot of these poor girls would say, "Geez, we've done 37 takes. Is that enough?" And I'd say, "No it isn't.   Get ready for number 38." We had to get it right.

You and Vince have great chemistry...

Owen Wilson: It's funny because they always...I guess when you're in like a "buddy movie" they always talk about like the chemistry, but to be honest, I had a great time with Jackie Chan, Ben Stiller, Vince and Eddie Murphy in Eye Spy. It's sort of up to the audience to determine the chemistry. If the audience likes it. Eddie and I had a really good time, but people didn't seem that into the movie.

Are you going to do another Shanghai film?

I hope so. I just saw Jackie Chan in Portugal, at the sports awards show. I love working with that guy. He's the best.

The scene with Jane Seymour...

Well, I felt that that was...that was a day where they had to heavily sedate me, because they didn't want any accidents. It was sort of like when you wave raw hamburger in front of a lion. So they didn't want me to go crazy. They'd given me a lot of strong tranquilizers, so I don't remember much about that day. The truth is that I've developed that anecdote to cover for the fact that I was kind of nervous that day, to make myself sound like this lion with (sounds like: "this uncontrollable passion"), but the truth is that I was nervous, not so much that I had to touch a woman's breasts, but because it was Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and there was something about laying my hands on here in a way that was definitely not a in a healing way; it was a very sexual, inappropriate way. But I got into it and the scene managed to come out ok.

Did you see the movie?

Yeah, I did see the movie. It's always hard for me to judge myself in movies, but it seemed like everybody else did a good job.

Working w/Vince - overwhelming?

He can be, yeah. (laughs) He's got a lot of energy. It's sort of like the way you feel at like the design, like actors in the future will be, like the Terminator model for comedy. He's like 6'5", rapid-fire delivery, can think of a million funny ideas. So it sort of gives me an idea of what the future will be like.

Did you always know that you were going to do comedy films?   Is that what you always wanted to do?

No. The first movie I worked on was Bottle Rocket. We intended it to be a comedy - not many people saw it or thought it was that funny, but yeah, that's just how stuff's worked out.

You'll continue doing that?

Probably, yeah.

Are you interested in doing Shakespeare?

Not Shakespeare. In college I took a Shakespeare class because I was an English major, and they had a Summer program called Shakespeare at Wingdale, which is out in the German Hill country in Texas, where you go out and live for two months and then you perform three plays at the end of that time. And people from Austin drive out and see it. I was supposed to be one of the two gentlemen of Verona. And I got out there and I just could not stand being out there. There were also so many lines to memorize that it was just overwhelming for me. So I ended up going home and I got an F.

Are you writing anything at present?

Nope. No plans to write anything, although I always say that I'm going to sit down and do it. But I always end up doing a lot of writing in the movies that I act in, and definitely on this movie I met with the director and the writers and we brainstormed and came up with ideas and even wrote some scenes.

Any plans to work with Wes Anderson again soon?

No, we have no plans to. We did the one in Rome and we had a great time. But the next movie that he's working on is an animated movie.

Talk about working with Isla?

Yeah, she's great. I went to Australia for the first time over New Years', and it was sort of like the way Australians...kind of reminded me of Texans, kind of a "what you see is what you get," and they don't take themselves too seriously. And Isla seemed to fall into that sort of...yeah, she's funny in the movie.

Improv?

Yeah, the nice thing about working Vince is, sometimes you work with actors that either aren't comfortable improvising or they get sort of threatened if you have ideas for their characters. And Vince and I knew each other and we both really have kind of a similar sense of humor and so we're real open to hearing ideas from each other.

What is your role in Cars?

I play the car...I guess it's kind of like the main car, who sort of starts off as this hotshot racer and then kind of gets his comeuppance over the course of the movie and learns some valuable lessons.

Jane had you over for dinner?

Yeah, she did. I didn't know after that scene if I would be welcome (in her home). But her husband's a great guy from Texas. James Keach. She has a wonderful family. She had the whole cast out there. That was nice.

Working with Rachel?

Yeah, I didn't have like a big awareness of her when she was cast in this movie, but then I saw The Notebook during the filming and I was blow away by...because I already knew how funny she was, but she's obviously someone who can do both comedy and drama. She looks great too, I think. She has kind of like a 1940s or 1950s movie star face. Very charming.

Are you working on anything right now?

I'm going to Hawaii next week for a film festival. My brothers Luke and Andrew directed a movie that I'm in and we're showing it there.

What's it called?

It's called the Window Baker Story.

Wedding Crashers opens in theaters July 15th