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Home Celebs 'You, Me and Dupree': Owen Wilson Never Outstays His Welcome

'You, Me and Dupree': Owen Wilson Never Outstays His Welcome


By Scott Huver, Hollywood.com Staff

You, Me and Dupree Movie Stills
Owen Wilson stars in You, Me and Dupree
“You’ve either experienced a Dupree or you’ve been a Dupree and, in my case, I’ve done both.”

That’s Owen Wilson on the character he plays in his latest comedy You, Me and Dupree, playing a loveable but ultimately unwelcome houseguest who invades the lives of a married couple (Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson). But when Wilson sat down with Hollywood.com to talk about the film he became a most welcome guest indeed.

Hollywood.com: Where did you find the inspiration for Dupree, who’s so sweet-natured on the one hand yet so potentially destructive for his friend’s relationship on the other?
Owen Wilson: We had this Dalmatian that we had when we were kids that my parents got us named Nutmeg. And this dog was just insane and tore up everything, and my parents wanted to send it to go “live on a farm.” That’s what they were telling us, where it would have more space, and we were crying ‘Noooo!!!’ And finally my parents began to fall in love with the dog, and Dupree has a little bit of that quality. That was the inspiration, after some of our family dogs growing up.

HW: Was your chemistry more important with Matt or with Kate?
OW: I think with chemistry, it seems like very movie I’m in with another person they’re always talking about the chemistry. And it just seems to be based on if the movie does well: “You and Vince have great chemistry, but you and Eddie Murphy, your chemistry wasn’t so good [in I Spy].” All I know is that when Eddie and I were working, we had a great time together. We were really laughing a lot but, for whatever reason, it just didn’t quite play or connect. But, I think it’s just enjoying the people that you are around and kind of playing off them. I know with Kate, I think why Matt and I liked her and the crew loved her and the directors is that Kate is very easy to get laughing and she’s always kind of smiling, so you feel like “Wow, I’m really on fire today!” Then you realize she’s like that with the prop master and the caterer. She kind of makes everybody feel like they’re great. And, it doesn’t hurt that she’s super pretty.

HW: We see a lot of you in this movie—literally. Are you an exhibitionist at heart?
OW: [Laughs] I was thinking, that scene where I run out of the house practically naked, I’m just covered by those pillows. Yeah, this might be one that maybe I should give my mother a little heads up on. She might want to go see Cars for the second time. There’s a lot of embarrassment. Believe me, there were other shots that they had in there that I was like “No, we’re NOT puttin’ that in.” People would say, was it hard not cracking up doing the scene where I have the sock and there is an adult-themed movie playing, and I was like “No. It was really embarrassing,” so it worked for the character. You’ve got all the crew standing around and Teamsters and stuff, and there you are kind of simulating something that is probably not meant to be simulated in front of 50 people.

HW: Dupree believes that love conquers all. Do you?
OW: That’s what I think is kind of nice about Dupree, is that he definitely wears out his welcome and he doesn’t have a job and he rides around on a bike, but he’s not like a cynical, jaded slacker. He’s got this sort of Labrador-like enthusiasm and he really does want their marriage to work out.

HW: Audrey Hepburn was Dupree’s idea of a perfect woman. What’s your idea of the perfect woman?
OW: I like that Dupree’s ideal is Audrey Hepburn, and when Kate is saying that she is having a hard time imagining Audrey Hepburn listening to “Funky Cold Medina,” 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, I think is the biggest thing. Just enjoying the other person’s company, liking stuff they have to say.

HW: Dupree also tries to get his girl back. Have you ever had the experience of trying to get a girl back?
OW: Oh yeah. I’ve definitely had to try and win a girl back. All of a sudden you’re sending flowers and you’re pretending that there’s nothing you’d rather do on a Sunday than go antique shopping, drive to Pasadena and hit the flea market, and usually that relationship doesn’t last because there’s only so long you can fake that.

HW: Are you and Vince Vaughn in a friendly competition this summer to see whose film will do the best after Wedding Crashers?
OW: It’s funny. We have the same agent, and she was saying that Vince gets so into stuff and Vince has this natural exuberance, and I feel like he’s now getting ready to do press for You, Me and Dupree to help this movie. Like this is one of his projects also.

HW: Do you and your brother Luke have a kind of competition?
OW: I don’t think so. We’ll stand out on the beach and throw rocks at a post for four hours and get in screaming matches, but I don’t think we’ve ever been competitive about this stuff, because I think it’s the feeling like “Gee, if Luke does really well, I know I can always get him to be in a movie with me.” It’s kind of hoping that a rising tide lifts all boats.

HW: Finding your best inherent personal quality—your “-ness,” as in your “Owen-ness”—is a key part of the movie. How do you find your -ness?
OW: I think I try to find my -ness the way that Dupree does, with “Stay loose, stay liquid, laugh a lot.”

Photo(s) by Universal Pictures- © 2006- All Rights Reserved

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