Did you know that Owen Wilson was from Texas?
Born in Dallas in 1968, Owen Wilson is the son of an advertising executive and a photographer. You could say that he grew up in an artsy household. Funny enough, both his brothers Andrew and Luke are also well known actors. But it was Owen who worked with tutors in Dallas to the extent that he was able to get into the New Mexico Military Institute. Following that, Owen went on to the University of Texas at Austin.
Owen didn’t start off knowing that he was going into acting. As a matter of fact he got his first taste when he enrolled in a playwriting class at the university, where he met now-famous director Wes Anderson. The two got together to create a 13 minute short titled Bottle Rocket, starring our very own Owen Wilson and his brother Luke. Into those 13 minutes they squeezed the story of two friends who burglarized another friend’s house as practice for a later heist of a book store. They took the short seriously enough to later enter a full length version in Sundance.
Unlike most actors, when Hollywood came calling, Owen didn’t go at it alone he brought his two brothers with him.
Luke Wilson was also an unintentional actor. Who knows what Luke would have been doing today if his brother Owen had not recruited him to act in Bottle Rocket and then follow Owen to Hollywood. Let’s be honest, the casting decisions probably had something to do with budgetary constraints! Actually now that I think about it Luke could have become an athlete as he was big into track and field, and sports in general.
Luke is the youngest of the three brothers but he took the same path of discovery as his brother Owen. While at Occidental College, Luke started taking courses in acting. He also had the benefit of tutors in Dallas but while at college he worked hard at refining his acting skill using coaches and classmates to bounce ideas off.
Andrew Wilson is the eldest and least known of the three brothers because his acting career just never took off. Andrew appeared in Bottle Rocket alongside his two siblings and that was his first major role especially given that he had - for years - been attempting unsuccessfully to land a role. An interesting fact: Andrew Wilson’s first somewhat significant credit is as an actor in a german made-for-tv movie titled Das letzte U-boot (The Last U-Boat).
Not satisfied with being the only brother without serious acting credits, Andrew went out and acted indeed. He had roles in Rushmore, Charlie’s Angels, Zoolander, Showtime, and The Big Bounce. Andrew has even tried his hand at co-directing via The Wendell Baker story which was released in 2005.
Bottle Rocket the short film turned feature length film really put all three brothers on the map. The trio, along with director Wes Anderson, was content to leave Bottle Rocket as a 13 minute short, but a Wilson family friend felt that the short represented the dawn of a new type of character that needed to see the light of day. The friend got the crew to submit the short to Sundance in 1994 where surprisingly it was picked up by Columbia pictures out of the customary twenty thousand submissions.
Some have drawn comparisons between the Wilson brothers careers and the types of characters they play - usually shiftless aimless unambitious somewhat sophomoric guys. Contrasts have been drawn between the Wilson style and that of Christian Bale who undergoes physical transformation so that he can become a crack addict or anything else that is required of the role. There is something to be said, however, for carving out a niche and thriving within it. Which is to say that not all actors are interested in playing a wide breadth of roles nor should they. There is nothing unambitious about knowing what you’re good at, what you like, and deciding to focus your energies on that swath of opportunities.
Life in Hollywood hasn’t been without its challenges, however. For example, Owen Wilson fell for his co-star Kate Hudson while filming You, Me, and Dupree in 2006. Almost a year later when she broke things off between them, Owen Wilson attempted to commit suicide but he was discovered in time and rushed to the emergency room to save his life. He recuperated and continued to make six more films afterwards, showing that his star hadn’t faded in the least.
Luke Wilson had an extraordinary issue with a longtime friend and assistant named Charles Lodi. According to Luke, Lodi took advantage of their friendship and his role as assistant by running up at least $90,000 in charges, and relieving Luke of roundabout $75,000 in personal property.
The remarkable thing about the Wilson brothers as actors is that all three were able to break inside an industry that usually chews aspirants and spits them out. Only a tiny percentage of those who attempt to be actors make it, so imagine how incredibly unlikely it was for 3 siblings to make it.
