Rocket Man

By: Pamela Harland
Date: Sunday, December 02, 2001

He is soft spoken. He is well mannered. His actions hardly reflect that of a radical bad boy. And yet, actor Owen Wilson's past paints a very different picture of him. Mid-way through his high school years, Wilson the star of two new films, BEHIND ENEMY LINES and THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS - was expelled for cheating and sent to military school. Although, this wasn't the first time he got in trouble at school.

"That's what I finally got kicked out for was cheating but it was an accumulation of things," admits Wilson. "In Geometry we had the teacher's edition book so I was handing in all these extra credit problems to make up for my bad test grades but the extra credit problems are obviously the hard problems. So the teacher was getting all these extra credit problems from the worst student in the class."

What ultimately got him kicked out of school, actually, was his unwillingness to name the two other students who were also cheating. Wilson prides himself on keeping his word and staying true to his family and friends, even in the face of adversity. Those commendable traits are noticeable in his continually working with actor brother Luke and friends Wes Anderson whom he met in military school and who is the director of Wilson's first film BOTTLE ROCKET, RUSHMORE and the upcoming THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS - and Ben Stiller, who has co-starred with Wilson in five films thus far.

Sans Ben Stiller

this time around, it makes sense, with his amateur military background and his strong sense of loyalty, that Wilson would be perfect playing a Navy pilot in BEHIND ENEMY LINES, starring opposite Gene Hackman - who actually recommended Wilson for the part after seeing him in SHANGHAI NOON. In the film, Wilson is shot down on enemy land and Hackman, as his commanding officer, goes against orders trying to save his life. Although the film's story is loosely inspired by pilot Scott O'Grady's ordeal, Wilson says, "It's pretty much a work of fiction."

Working with Hackman in both BEHIND ENEMY LINES and THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS was exciting for Wilson, but he says they didn't share very much screen time. In ENEMY LINES they were at completely different locations more or less during the whole shoot and in ROYAL TENENBAUMS their characters barely spoke with each other. Still, Wilson cherished the experiences and admires Hackman, feeling a connection between the type of acting Hackman does and the acting Wilson is hoping to create.

"[Hackman] is why I wanted to work on BEHIND ENEMY LINES," says Wilson. "I grew up liking his movies. And also I didn't really see myself as an actor, period, until I did BOTTLE ROCKET. But I didn't certainly see myself like someone like Dustin Hoffman who really seems like he can change [in each role he does]. I think of somebody like Gene Hackman who is really good in lots of stuff and who doesn't really change his appearance or his voice too much. So it's kinda inspiring that I could do stuff like that and make it believable for myself."

Not growing

up wanting to act, Wilson accidentally fell into acting when he met director/writer Anderson in school and Anderson put him in one of his plays. Soon the two were writing together and came up with the little seen but widely admired indie BOTTLE ROCKET. Wilson says it was Anderson's idea to have him act in the film and reluctantly he abided. Seeing his face and hearing his voice on screen, however, wasn't something that got Wilson instantly bitten by the acting bug.

"I had a hard time, like most people, hearing my voice and such on screen," says Wilson. "It's kinda strange."

In fact, after BOTTLE ROCKET test screened so poorly, Wilson thought about enlisting in the military but changed his mind when he received support, and a job, from an industry he still wasn't sure he belonged in.

"Ben [Stiller] wrote me a really nice note saying how much he liked BOTTLE ROCKET and then we just became friends in real life," says Wilson.

Stiller gave Wilson his next job, a small part in the critically bashed THE CABLE GUY - Stiller's follow up to his Gen X hit REALITY BITES - starring Jim Carrey.

To this day Wilson says that letter from Stiller is "... one of the best notes I've ever gotten. Not many people saw BOTTLE ROCKET and Ben was an established person. He took the time to write such a thoughtful letter - it meant a lot to me."

What probably linked

the two of them forever was Wilson's response to Stiller's letter, which was full of tongue in cheek humor, something that Stiller most assuredly could appreciate.

"I wrote a funny thank you note to Ben pretending like he was bothering me, that I really didn't have time to answer his letter, that I was dictating this letter to my secretary," laughs Wilson. "I get his name wrong and I say, 'Your comments are duly noted.' He actually has that letter up in his office."

And while working with those close to him grants Wilson a great deal of comfort, he wouldn't give up the chance to work with the likes of Robert De Niro in MEET THE PARENTS, Eddie Murphy in I SPY - the upcoming feature film based on the TV show - and Hackman in his two most recent films, not to mention the opportunities being in big studio films with huge stars affords him. For example, while researching his role for ENEMY LINES, Wilson was able to go down to a Naval base and hang out with pilots. He even completed an underwater training course so he could fly on an F-18 jet.

"The thing that I found interesting was that those guys were really smart and funny and could easily be making lots of money in the business world," acknowledges Wilson in regards to the servicemen he met. "They were choosing or volunteering to do this and to fly jets because they love to fly and because they believe in what they are doing."

Finding the ENEMY LINES shoot

to be a much more rigorous job than he is used to, Wilson says he did a lot of the work, ironically, alone.

"A lot of the time I wasn't playing off of somebody. I would just show up at work and [they'd say], 'Run here and now crawl through the mud here.' It was a little different," explains Wilson.

Firmly, and finally, set on keeping his acting career along with a growing writing and producing career, Wilson is through thinking about joining the military. But he does admit to giving into his old bad boy rebellious ways from time to time, but in a different way than from before.

"Probably in like a low-key kinda way," smiles Wilson.