20Q: Luke Wilson

Ql

[Q] Playboy: In My Super Ex-Girlfriend you play a guy who breaks up with Uma Thurman after discovering she's a superhero. Do you really expect us to believe anybody would willingly dump Uma Thurman?

[A] Wilson: Yeah, I know. It's not that believable, right? When we were shooting the movie, she would do something really crazy and funny, which I find so attractive in a woman, and I'd have to remind myself, "Now remember, Luke, you want out of this relationship." I had to draw on all of my acting training. One time I had a cabdriver who told me, "I don't buy that at all. You leave Uma Thurman? No, that wouldn't happen. I hope the movie's funny, but it sounds like horseshit to me." I had to agree with him. But I tried to use that to fuel my character's anger toward her in the movie. "Why can't I leave a woman like Uma Thurman?"

Q2

[Q] Playboy: The premise—being punished by an ex-girlfriend with superpowers—is every man's worst nightmare. Will this movie put our minds at ease or make us more paranoid?

[A] Wilson: Maybe a little of both. It's like Fatal Attraction in a lot of ways. It'll touch a nerve with men, but they'll probably get the wrong message from it. I remember when Fatal Attraction came out, most guys didn't walk away thinking, Hey, maybe it's wrong to cheat. They left the movie thinking, You've got to be careful with the crazy women.

Q3

[Q] Playboy: If you had a choice, would you rather be the one who ends a relationship or the one who gets dumped?

[A] Wilson: I'm always the guy who tries to keep it going. I'll just act worse and worse and wait for her to end it. Or I'll say something like "Come on, we can make it work" or "I can change, I swear!" But it never seems to convince her, and then I just feel bad for groveling.

Q4

[Q] Playboy: You've remained friends with ex-girlfriends such as Drew Barrymore, who cast you in Charlie's Angels after your breakup. What's your secret?

[A] Wilson: To be honest, I'm not that good at staying friends. I like to move on after a relationship ends. If I break up with somebody, I don't want to see her or hear from her. Drew and I started out as friends, and I think that helps. I credit her with being the bigger person. Drew's the one who kept the friendship alive.

Q5

[Q] Playboy:My Super Ex-Girlfriend isn't the first time you've been matched with a powerful woman. In other films, such as the Charlie's Angels and Legally Blonde movies, you've been the gushing, admiring boyfriend. Why are you always picked for these roles?

[A] Wilson: I don't know. Once people get to know me and see that I'm very sarcastic and that I'll kid around to the point of being mean and will usually say something inappropriate, they can never understand why I always play the boyfriend. "How did you get to date Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde?" I don't know. It's just something I ended up doing.

Q6

[Q] Playboy: Would you rather play less likable characters?

[A] Wilson: Oh sure. I think I'm starting to do that now. (continued on page 122)Luke Wilson(continued from page 97) I just signed on to play the lead in a movie called Barry Munday, and my character is a womanizer. Sleeping around is his idea of a hobby. He ends up fooling around with a younger girl, and her father shows up and castrates him. [laughs] It was the first time I had difficulty describing a movie to my mother. When I told her about it, I tried to cough my way through the conversation. "And he [coughs] gets castrated." "I'm sorry, what?" "Yeah, anyway, the movie's about this guy's journey."

Q7

[Q] Playboy: You spent your formative years at an all-boys school in Texas. How did you learn about women?

[A] Wilson: I have no idea. I got a lot of very skewed, very bad information. Luckily, guys like us weren't trying to break secret codes during World War II. What we thought and what was real were two different things. We'd talk about girls and say things like "They like it when you don't take your time. Just go for it. What's the worst thing that can happen? Her brother will kick your ass? So what? Trust me, Wilson." Yeah, we didn't have a clue what we were talking about. It was like, "Girls really like it if they see you up in a sycamore tree, staring into their bedroom window." What the hell were we thinking?

Q8

[Q] Playboy: You star in Idiocracy, Mike Judge's upcoming science-fiction comedy in which everybody in the future is stupid. Does this seem like a realistic prediction?

[A] Wilson: Definitely. The movie is obviously meant to be humorous, but I don't think it's much of an exaggeration. In one scene, I run into a theater showing the number one movie in America; it's called Ass. It's just a tight shot on a guy's ass for three hours. The ass is passing wind, and people are rolling in the aisles with laughter. Part of it is just Mike Judge's twisted imagination. But if you think about it, a movie like Ass could be a hit. Ass could be as big as Beverly Hills Cop.

Q9

[Q] Playboy: Critics often say you play the Everyman in your films. Do you think of yourself that way, despite having more money, dating hotter women and dressing better than the rest of us?

[A] Wilson: I don't know about all that, but I do like to think of myself as a regular guy. It can be weird sometimes because it sounds like such an egotistical thing to say. But I haven't changed. I still have the same tight circle of friends. I still like to spend time in Texas, away from the whole Hollywood thing. As for the characters I play, I guess it sometimes seems I get cast that way. I'm usually a guy in his early 30s who is quirky-looking and disheveled. It's always a variation on the Everyman. I almost want to start introducing myself that way. "Hi, I'm Everyman Marty Friedman. I'm in my early 30s, I'm quirky, I'm disheveled, I'm a total slob. I'm lovable in a nonthreatening way. I'm the guy you'd want your sister to date if this were a movie."

Q1O

[Q] Playboy: You claimed you gained a lot of weight for your role in The Family Stone. Was that a character choice, or were you just feeling lazy?

[A] Wilson: Actually that was just something I joked about with David Letterman. I told him I'd gained 18 pounds for the movie and thought it was a really brave thing to do. Most actors are too vain to do something like that. Unless it's Robert De Niro doing Jake La Motta in Raging Bull, you don't see a lot of actors going out of their way to get fat. But it didn't have anything to do with the movie. I was just letting myself go. I'm a little older and fatter now, and I'm not exercising as much. My lifestyle these days involves a lot of beer and pasta. But there's something satisfying in letting your body go to hell. So maybe I won't get offered the same kind of role as before. So what? I'm happy to play the guy in his mid-30s who may be a little unhealthy. "Fat and arrogant" is what I'm bringing to the script.

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[Q] Playboy: During high school you were something of a track-and-field star. Do you miss having thigh muscles that could crack a coconut?

[A] Wilson: At the time, I did a lot of running, and I still hold school records for the 400- and 800-meter races. Those are 16-year-old records. I hate to sound like everybody's all-American, but at this point something tells me those records won't be broken. If somebody breaks them, I want that kid tested for performance-enhancing drugs.

Q12

[Q] Playboy: According to rumors, you have a long-standing rivalry with your brother Owen. There were even reports that you had head-butted him on the set of Rushmore. Is it safe to assume these stories are exaggerated?

[A] Wilson: I don't think I've ever headbutted him. I'd probably remember something like that. It's the sort of thing Owen would never let me forget. It's weird: Nobody ever wants to hear that Owen and I are friends and just want the best for each other. Owen had a great response when anybody would ask him about me. They'd come up and say, "I've worked with Luke, and he's great." And Owen would say, "Fuck him. The guy's a prick." I think some people didn't get his humor. They took it at face value. Maybe we should just give people what they want. We should find out where the hot nightclubs are and brawl in public.

Q13

[Q] Playboy: You lived with Owen for most of your 20s. Is it just us, or does that have all the makings of a hilarious TV reality show called The Wilson Brothers?

[A] Wilson: I actually lived with him for all of my 20s and some of my 30s. Yeah, it might've made a great TV reality show, but I don't know how funny it would've been. It might've just been depressing. Here's this guy who obviously can afford his own house, yet he chooses to live with his brother. It eventually got to the point where Owen said, "I want you out of here. Why don't you take your quirky, disheveled self down the road?" I told him, "I'm looking for places. It's harder than you think." I even bought a house and didn't move into it for almost a year. I just wasn't ready to make the change. I had to feel comfortable in my own skin, [pause] Would you do me a favor and add "he snickers" in parentheses after that?

Q14

[Q] Playboy: Why? Are you afraid of coming across as too touchy-feely?

[A] Wilson: "Comfortable in my own skin" just sounds like something an actor would say. It's like when actors do something to "stay grounded." They'll say, "Yeah, I work on classic cars. It helps keep me grounded." Yeah, the other 22 hours of the day they're a fucking asshole.

Q15

[Q] Playboy: You, your brother Owen and actors such as Will Ferrell, Jack Black and Vince Vaughn have been dubbed the Frat Pack by the media. Do you actually call yourselves that?

[A] Wilson: Oh God, yes. But the term doesn't seem to have the legs of the Rat Pack or the Brat Pack. It's not as cool. I think that's because it's clearly off the mark. You don't get the sense that Owen, Will and Jack are frat brothers. But the Frat Pack is more than just a name. We're a real organization. We've had a few meetings in Elko, Nevada. We talk about our upcoming projects, discuss initiating new members and spend a lot of time hazing one another. On some nights you can hear the paddles echoing through the canyons.

Q16

[Q] Playboy: On the set of Old School, you named your eyes Shorty and Kevin, respectively. Have the names stuck?

[A] Wilson: Oh sure. I talk about them as though they're people. Sometimes when working on a movie I'll say, "Kevin's kind of tired today. Can we cheat the camera toward Shorty?" Or "I slept on Shorty last night. Kevin's the go-to guy today." I'll squint Shorty in a movie when my character is deep in thought or trying to make a point. It was just something I came up with to screw around and make Will Ferrell laugh.

Q17

[Q] Playboy: Your characters in Old School and The Family Stone make some big mistakes while drunk. Just how much research does it take to prepare for these roles?

[A] Wilson: I've definitely had too much to drink in my time. I grew up in a beer-drinking culture, but I've never been the wake-up-and-have-a-shot kind of guy. Wait—do you mean do I drink on a movie set? Oh sure, I've done that. It definitely helps to loosen up. I would never tell a young actor to do that, but luckily not many young actors look for my advice. There's a fine line between being sloppy and just feeling relaxed. If you're doing a drunk scene all day, you can't start drinking at eight in the morning and keep it up till eight at night. At least I can't. But those last three hours? That's when I tell the director to shoot my close-up, because I'm gonna be bombed! And I'll give a heads-up to all my Teamster buddies: "We ain't goin' home, boys. We're hittin' the bars."

Q18

[Q] Playboy: You had a thick, ratty beard in The Royal Tenenbaums, but you've been mostly clean-shaven in your movies since then. Did a traumatic experience make you swear off facial hair?

[A] Wilson: No, having a beard was fun. I enjoyed looking like one of the Beach Boys on a downward slide. But it was itchy, and I probably wouldn't grow one again unless somebody asked me to. The beard gave me a new appreciation for Kevin and Shorty. I realized how much those guys mean to me. With the beard, I didn't have this great smile anymore. I didn't have high cheekbones or the smirk. All I had were Kevin and Shorty, and that's why I'm so loyal to both of them. You learn a lot when you have a beard. Like when a girl says to you, "My dad had a beard," the next thing you should ask is "And how was your relationship with him?" Because if Daddy was abusive, well, that's not very hot. Then the date is over.

Q19

[Q] Playboy: You performed in Willie Nelson's video for "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)." Is it possible to work with Nelson and not get a contact high?

[A] Wilson: [Laughs] There wasn't any marijuana on the set as far as I could tell. But I will say this: I lost a Rolex and my favorite windbreaker during the shoot. I'm not kidding. I have no idea what happened to them. That is the dark underbelly of Hollywood. It was a rite of passage. If you spend any time with Willie Nelson and walk away with everything you showed up with, you've done something wrong.

Q20

Playboy: You've played inept burglars in Bottle Rocket and Best Men. Have you learned from your characters' mistakes? If you were so inclined, could you commit the perfect crime?

[A] Wilson: Possibly, but I have no interest. The odds are against you. With DNA testing and fingerprints—all that CSI stuff—I don't think it's possible to pull off the perfect crime anymore. Besides, being a criminal is a young man's game. But if I had to commit a crime, it would probably be identity theft. I'd be pretty good at that. "Would I really have his credit card, ma'am? You're welcome to call his accountant on Monday, but please, I just need to get into the Presidential Suite as soon as possible." My victim would have to be another actor. I could do a good Billy Baldwin impersonation. Or maybe Brad Pitt, but I'd have to get into better shape. I might be convincing as Errol Flynn or Clint Eastwood. And I could pull off Matthew McConaughey in certain Texas towns.

"Hi, I'm Everyman. I'm in my early 30s. I'm quirky, I'm disheveled, I'm a total slob."