[IMG:L]Since they first hit the Hollywood radar a decade ago with Bottle Rocket, the Wilson brothers Owen, Luke (who starred and co-wrote) and Andrew (who associate produced) proved that they knew how to keep any sibling rivalry away from a movie set. Now their latest collaboration, The Wendell Baker Story, is another family affair, marking Luke’s directorial debut, featuring a screenplay by Luke and Andrew, and starring Luke as the title character, a con man trying to go straight, and Owen as his nemesis, a corrupt hospital orderly trying to frame him for his own crimes. Hollywood.com corralled two of the Texas-bred bros, Luke and Andrew, to talk about their family business.
Hollywood.com: What are the pluses of working with your family?
Luke Wilson: I think like the pluses are that we get along and you do kind of know each other and you are able to hit the ground running. Sometimes when you get on a new movie you kind of have to figure out the way other people work and it can be like being the new kid in High School where you’re just trying to find out where your place is on the movie or on the set. And I don’t know what the minuses would be.
HW: No sibling squabbles at all?
LW: Not really.
Andrew Wilson: We didn’t really have time to have any sibling [issues]. We were on such a tight time constraint. You know, we had 35 days to shoot it and the producers called it an ambitious schedule which is euphemism for impossible, so we were just trying to get the thing done and we were always aware we really didn’t have time to mess around argue about this and that. Just try and get the best shot.
HW: How long had you had this in you? Were you inspired by Owen writing his scripts?
LW: Yeah, I mean that was kind of like the inspiration for it. Just kind of seeing, like the time he and Wes [Anderson] would put in. You get the script and you read it and it seems so kind of fluid and you just think, “Well, it just must have rolled right out of them.” But you find out it does kind of take time and hard work. So I think in-between watching Owen and Wes and the way they work, I think that kind of gave us a good feeling that you do really have to sit down and take the time and it’s not always really fun. You can’t always think, “Oh, I’m gonna wait till I get inspired.” Sometimes you just have to like sit down together and grind it out.
[IMG:R]HW: Do you all share a sense of humor?
AW: I think we do have a similar sensibility. I think we think the same things are funny. I mean, Owen obviously is a really funny, funny guy and he has been since we were little. I can remember, like my dad always saying, “You think you’re the funniest person in the world don’t you?” In a very negative way. And it turns out he may be one of the funniest people in the world. But yeah, we think kind of the same things are funny and when Luke showed me the script I thought it was funny and really well written. So, we tend to read the same things and be drawn to the same kind of interests.
HW: How is Luke like Wendell and how is he different?
AW: Not the con man, but just somebody that sticks to it. Wendell is somebody who has tried a lot of different things and some of them haven’t worked out, but he keeps plugging along.
LW: Delusional.
AW: You can kind of make that analogy for writing which is a very, very difficult thing to do. As Luke was saying, you sometimes don’t get the response that you want, but you’ve just got to keep trying. And that’s what I sort of admire about Wendell. He gets thrown in jail and ends up loving jail. He loves the camaraderie, loved the courts. That’s a quality that Luke has that I admire a lot. He sticks to it and is kind of tough.
HW: Did Will Ferrell owe you one? How did you get him to do his cameo?
LW: He’s great. I didn’t write that for him. It’s funny, he and I had gone to Europe and Andrew was actually on the trip to do press for Old School and Vince Vaughn was off doing a movie, but we just had so much fun on the trip and people would ask us what we were doing next. And we’d be in Germany and [they’d ask,] “What are you doing next?” And Will would say, “I’m doing a character named Ron Burgundy, he’s a sexist newscaster.” “And you?” I’d go, “I’m playing Wendell Baker, and he’s a con man.” We just got the worst reaction from those people and not only to those ideas, but they hated Old School. So, we had the best of both worlds. We had a hit in the states and a flop here, which is exhilarating in its own way. And we just got to talking about our own projects and Will said, “Yeah, if you ever want me to do a little part on Wendell, I’d be glad to.” And then he got me to do Anchorman and then it was really funny. I did Anchorman first and then like nine months later Wendell Baker came along and he was nice enough to come to Austin for a couple of days and we’d gone jogging the day he was going to work and I was saying, “You didn’t think you were gonna get that Wendell Baker call, did you? And he was like, “No, I didn’t. Didn’t really think you were going to be able to pull that one together.” It was just one of those things you are so kind of lucky to get him to do it.
[IMG:L]HW: Ivan Reitman just said he’s got a new script for Old School 2.
LW: Is that right? That’s the best news I’ve heard. The problem is, I’m always kind of hoping in the back of my mind for Vince and Will to bomb so they have to do it with me, because I need it! That would be great. I always had confidence that if Todd Phillips, who directed it, and Scot Armstrong, who wrote it, I just know they wouldn’t want to ruin the goodwill of the first one and the people who seem to like it. So, I figure it would have to be just as good or better. But, that’s pretty cool.
HW: Why haven’t they shown it to you yet?
LW: I don’t know. I always get people asking and I just never know. And it’s the kind of thing where once a year somebody will call, like my agent or something and go, “Hey, would you be up for doing Old School 2?” And I say, “Yeah, definitely.” It will probably end up being me and some two guys besides Will and Vince.
HW: How does that crossover thing work – the Frat Pack always doing cameos for each other?
LW: I think it kind of goes back to us, how we got started, Vince with Swingers, us with Bottle Rocket, just kind of getting started at the same time. Honestly, it’s one of those things where you make the first call and the agent always gives you the brush off. And sometimes you have to kind of dig up that home number and do a little Wall Street cold call. Where it’s like, “Will? Luke here.” Long pause. “Yeah?” You know it’s not going to be a “Hey, we’re having a BBQ” call. It’s a “We need you in Austin.” But no, with Owen and Ben, I just think we’ve always had fun doing each other’s movies. It’s always fun to do a little part like in Blades of Glory. I just like being around Will. Like I know when Vince got Will to do that part in Wedding Crashers with he and Owen, they just had so much fun. And Owen had never had the chance to work with Will. I think it’s just one of those things we just started doing. It was never anything by design. It was just one of those things we fell into.
