Owen Wilson Talks About Being "Royal" and "Behind Enemy Lines" - Page 3

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Dec 7, 2001

"A lot of people ask if it's sort of like baggage acting with your own brother, but it really isn't," Wilson said. "I feel more relaxed acting with Luke and working with Wes than I do with somebody like De Niro or Eddie Murphy or Gene Hackman because they make me nervous. You have to get kind of relaxed working with those guys-- you have to fight through that. With Wes and Luke I am already relaxed."

Luckily for Wilson, by the time "The Royal Tenenbaums" started filming he was already used to not only working alongside his usual group of friends, but Gene Hackman as well thanks to the fact he had just finished up shooting Fox's "Behind Enemy Lines." In "Behind Enemy Lines," Wilson plays a NAVY pilot who struggles to survive when he is shot down over enemy lines while Hackman plays the commanding officer who goes against orders to carry out a rescue mission to save him. While some may think that Wilson had an influence over Hackman being cast in "The Royal Tenenbaums" after working with him so closely in "Behind Enemy Lines," Wilson insists he played little to no part in Hackman's casting.

"Gene liked me in "Shanghai Noon" and recommended me for "Behind Enemy Lines," which he already agreed to do, so they hired me for that," Wilson said. "We had always wanted him for "The Royal Tenenbaums" but by the time I met him in Slovakia Wes had persuaded him to commit to the movie."

As if writing and co-starring in "The Royal Tenenbaums" wasn't hard enough for Wilson, the action-packed "Behind Enemy Lines" put him to the test physically. Unlike Hackman, Wilson had no prior combat or military experience and could only relate his experience to the physical training one would undergo if they committed themselves to playing a sport.

"It was kind of like playing sports in high school," Wilson recalled. "You geared up everyday to get your adrenaline rushing. It was really a difficult movie for me not only because obviously I have never been in any type of combat situation, but also because I felt less in control. When you are doing a movie where you have lots of different scenes with actors or trying to be funny you kind of have a sense if it's working. With this it was just having to rely on the director. You'd show up for work and you'd run through a landmine or you'd run through this and you just don't know how it's going to all fit together cause he has it all in his mind. It all comes down to whether or not he can make it exciting."

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