Post by Librarian on May 4, 2006 9:38:55 GMT -5
I love his stories about the car and going to Key West.
Luke Wilson Talks About the Family Friend Film, Hoot
From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movies.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Luke Wilson Chases Down Leads and Crashes Into Trees in Hoot
Luke Wilson stars as a bumbling but well-meaning cop in the family comedy, Hoot, based on the bestselling book by Carl Hiaasen.
While Hoot may not be Wilson’s first film aimed at the family audience, it's definitely different from his usual choice of project. Normally Wilson’s cast as the perfect boyfriend or in more adult-themed comedies. Hoot’s all about protecting cute owls and doing what’s right. There’s not a love interest in sight in Hoot and the humor is about as G-rated as possible.
The Appeal of a Family Film: “Well, I've done My Dog Skip so that was kind of in the same vein, but that was one thing that sort of drew me to this. I had this thing about when I saw movies as a kid, I never sat there and went, 'Oh, there's that actor.' You just kind of watched it with an open mind, but not that they're not critical. So yeah, I just got such a nice reaction on My Dog Skip that it was like, 'Yeah, it's nice to do a movie with no swearing and no sex scenes, one that everyone can see.' It seems kind of like an old-timey movie. This is like only the second movie like this besides something like Legally Blonde or something that.”
Getting Hooked Up with Hoot: Luke Wilson didn’t know producer Jimmy Buffett or writer/director Wil Shriner before signing on to Hoot. “I don't know how they came to me,” admitted Wilson. “I just got a call one day saying that Jimmy Buffett was doing a movie from a Carl Hiaasen book, and I mean, that right there sounded interesting to me. They were both people that I was a fan of.
I went out and got the book that day and read it and really liked it a lot. Then I got the script. You always kind of worry that they're going to do a good job with the script and just sort of adapting it, but I don't know how they settled on me. I think that it was just one of those things where someone suggested me. I agreed to do it before I even read the script just based on Carl Hiaasen and the book.”
On Developing His Character: “People have mentioned Barney Fife to me, but mainly it's all right there in the book,” said Wilson. “I have to say that I've never met a policeman this bumbling. I would see the policemen who worked on the movie looking at me and I said to them, 'Hey guys, this is not how I see police officers who I have the utmost respect for.' But they would see me kind of driving or doing a scene where I was sort of messing something up, and I just wanted them to know that this wasn't how I thought of them, that this was how the guy was written.
There was no one specific, but just from reading the book you got a real good sense of him. There are always little scenes and thoughts and ideas in the book where they just don't have enough time in the movie to get them all in there, but it helps when you just kind of do the character and sort of know him a little better.”
Tooling Around in a Squad Car and Parking Enforcement Scooter: Luke Wilson’s driving skills were put to the test in Hoot. “There were some really bad wheels in real life on that squad car. You had to go from drive up to reverse and back to drive. I was supposed to doing it real quickly and hitting the tree back and forth. You can see the crew going, 'Is this guy really that bad at driving to where he can't even drive badly?' I would just get real uncomfortable. I would just be like, 'Hey guys, this car is real messed up. It's not me.'
Then that little scooter was terrible. They couldn't get it started half of the time. They were always dragging it down the street. That was another thing. I would be trying to do lines thinking, 'Don't let this thing go out.' The guy would say, 'Look, you can't let this die because if it dies it won't work for the rest of the day.' So the director would be talking to me and I would be like [revving it up]. I was like, 'No. I'm listening.' 'Why are you doing that? I'm trying to talk to you and you're revving the engine.' I was like, 'I can't stop!'”
The Real Stars of Hoot – The Burrowing Owls: “I didn't even know if they were real. I had to ask one of the artists. I said, 'Are these actually real? Are there owls that really live on the ground?' ‘Yep. There are.’ I thought that Carl Hiaasen had made it up. I thought that they only lived in trees.”
Wilson did get the chance to verify for himself that the owls do in fact actually exist. “You know what? I got to work in two scenes with one of the owls. That's when I thought that people might think that they were fake because just the way it moved around. Its eyes during the scene I did at night, I thought to myself, 'That looks so fake with its robotic little movement.' They're a perfect shape and their feathers are just so… I don't know if they did use fake owls for any of this stuff. I wondered the same thing myself, but the scenes that I did there was a real owl there.”
The Film’s Environmental Message: Wilson was interested in the environment before taking part in Hoot. “I'm very interested in the environment. I'm friends with that tennis player, Pete Sampras, and he claims that I'm a tree-hugger. I feel like I could do more for the environment, but I've always been that way. My mom and my grandmother were big fans of the outdoors, and since I was a kid we've always gone to places like Yellowstone. That always had a big effect on me. But I don't do anything specific for the environment. I should do more, I guess.”
The Hazards of Filming in Florida: Hurricane Katrina hit the area while filming was underway but Wilson just managed to avoid that experience. “I missed it by about a week or so, but I was there for another smaller one.
One day it was just a nice sunny day and the next day it was just torrential rain storms and the power went out at the place that I was staying for about four days. I had to move out of there. And then you go out on the street and there's that much sand on it that's just blowing in from the beach and people can't see the lanes on the road.
It's a pretty intense state in terms of weather. I had only been in Miami a couple of times and had always wanted to go to the Everglades and stuff like that, which I had the chance to do. I still haven't been to the panhandle or any of those places, but I went down to Key West. It's just such a kind of beautiful place. You can see why Carl Hiaasen sets all of his books there because there is so much going on.
It was so much fun to take that drive down to Key West and see the house where Hemingway lived. There is actually Hemingway Day. I kept looking around and I thought, 'Wow. There are a lot of Hemingway-looking guys.' Then literally 10 minutes later a convertible went by with like eight of the guys in it, all dressed like that. I was like, 'Papa!' My girlfriend kept telling me to stop. I called them all Papa and they all said hello.”
Working with Wil Shriner: Wilson wasn’t worried about working with first time feature film director Wil Shriner. “I never think about that just because when I got started on 'Bottle Rocket' with Wes Anderson, he was a first time director, but he was like a seasoned vet. I think that it's one of those things that you just really want to do and I never got the impression of like, 'Oh, this guy doesn't know what he's doing.' I wouldn't have known if he'd done something wrong just by working with him. No. He definitely knew what he was doing.
The only thing that I get nervous about as an actor is if I did a good job in a scene or did I do what was on the page. Sometimes just because of time and money people will go, 'No! You got it. You got it. Let’s keep moving.' So you just have to kind of trust the person that they're going to get what's on the page. But I always felt real comfortable with Wil. I just liked the way he directed me and the things that he mentioned to me. It's always just a nice little partnership with the director.”
Just Acting and Leaving the Writing & Directing to Someone Else: Wilson’s a seasoned veteran who has not only starred in dozens of films but also writes and directs. Is it tough for him to just simply act? “Not really,” said Wilson. “I like it as long as you're working with people who you kind of trust and who's taste you agree with. Like, I just did a movie with Ivan Reitman [My Super Ex-Girlfriend with Uma Thurman] and it's just so fun to work with him because he's all for collaborating and having ideas. He was so good about taking a good idea and then other ideas he'd say, 'Are you crazy? That makes no sense.' So, no, it's not hard at all. But it also is fun to kind of be at the helm of a ship where you're making all of the decisions, but it's just as fun to be a part of a team.”
Mapping Out His Career: Wilson said he doesn’t have a plan; he just lets things happen. “I mean, I envy those people who seem to have a master plan. I would like to drive my own destiny and not just do things that sort of come my way, but I don't really have a plan. I just try and do stuff that I like, and keep it as simple as whether or not I would want to go see the movie myself. Sometimes that's not even the reason.
You do things for different reasons, but something like this I was glad to do. It doesn't really fit into any plan, but it is nice that it is something that the whole family can go to - not to sound like an executive. But I don't always make movies like that.”
From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movies.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Luke Wilson Chases Down Leads and Crashes Into Trees in Hoot
Luke Wilson stars as a bumbling but well-meaning cop in the family comedy, Hoot, based on the bestselling book by Carl Hiaasen.
While Hoot may not be Wilson’s first film aimed at the family audience, it's definitely different from his usual choice of project. Normally Wilson’s cast as the perfect boyfriend or in more adult-themed comedies. Hoot’s all about protecting cute owls and doing what’s right. There’s not a love interest in sight in Hoot and the humor is about as G-rated as possible.
The Appeal of a Family Film: “Well, I've done My Dog Skip so that was kind of in the same vein, but that was one thing that sort of drew me to this. I had this thing about when I saw movies as a kid, I never sat there and went, 'Oh, there's that actor.' You just kind of watched it with an open mind, but not that they're not critical. So yeah, I just got such a nice reaction on My Dog Skip that it was like, 'Yeah, it's nice to do a movie with no swearing and no sex scenes, one that everyone can see.' It seems kind of like an old-timey movie. This is like only the second movie like this besides something like Legally Blonde or something that.”
Getting Hooked Up with Hoot: Luke Wilson didn’t know producer Jimmy Buffett or writer/director Wil Shriner before signing on to Hoot. “I don't know how they came to me,” admitted Wilson. “I just got a call one day saying that Jimmy Buffett was doing a movie from a Carl Hiaasen book, and I mean, that right there sounded interesting to me. They were both people that I was a fan of.
I went out and got the book that day and read it and really liked it a lot. Then I got the script. You always kind of worry that they're going to do a good job with the script and just sort of adapting it, but I don't know how they settled on me. I think that it was just one of those things where someone suggested me. I agreed to do it before I even read the script just based on Carl Hiaasen and the book.”
On Developing His Character: “People have mentioned Barney Fife to me, but mainly it's all right there in the book,” said Wilson. “I have to say that I've never met a policeman this bumbling. I would see the policemen who worked on the movie looking at me and I said to them, 'Hey guys, this is not how I see police officers who I have the utmost respect for.' But they would see me kind of driving or doing a scene where I was sort of messing something up, and I just wanted them to know that this wasn't how I thought of them, that this was how the guy was written.
There was no one specific, but just from reading the book you got a real good sense of him. There are always little scenes and thoughts and ideas in the book where they just don't have enough time in the movie to get them all in there, but it helps when you just kind of do the character and sort of know him a little better.”
Tooling Around in a Squad Car and Parking Enforcement Scooter: Luke Wilson’s driving skills were put to the test in Hoot. “There were some really bad wheels in real life on that squad car. You had to go from drive up to reverse and back to drive. I was supposed to doing it real quickly and hitting the tree back and forth. You can see the crew going, 'Is this guy really that bad at driving to where he can't even drive badly?' I would just get real uncomfortable. I would just be like, 'Hey guys, this car is real messed up. It's not me.'
Then that little scooter was terrible. They couldn't get it started half of the time. They were always dragging it down the street. That was another thing. I would be trying to do lines thinking, 'Don't let this thing go out.' The guy would say, 'Look, you can't let this die because if it dies it won't work for the rest of the day.' So the director would be talking to me and I would be like [revving it up]. I was like, 'No. I'm listening.' 'Why are you doing that? I'm trying to talk to you and you're revving the engine.' I was like, 'I can't stop!'”
The Real Stars of Hoot – The Burrowing Owls: “I didn't even know if they were real. I had to ask one of the artists. I said, 'Are these actually real? Are there owls that really live on the ground?' ‘Yep. There are.’ I thought that Carl Hiaasen had made it up. I thought that they only lived in trees.”
Wilson did get the chance to verify for himself that the owls do in fact actually exist. “You know what? I got to work in two scenes with one of the owls. That's when I thought that people might think that they were fake because just the way it moved around. Its eyes during the scene I did at night, I thought to myself, 'That looks so fake with its robotic little movement.' They're a perfect shape and their feathers are just so… I don't know if they did use fake owls for any of this stuff. I wondered the same thing myself, but the scenes that I did there was a real owl there.”
The Film’s Environmental Message: Wilson was interested in the environment before taking part in Hoot. “I'm very interested in the environment. I'm friends with that tennis player, Pete Sampras, and he claims that I'm a tree-hugger. I feel like I could do more for the environment, but I've always been that way. My mom and my grandmother were big fans of the outdoors, and since I was a kid we've always gone to places like Yellowstone. That always had a big effect on me. But I don't do anything specific for the environment. I should do more, I guess.”
The Hazards of Filming in Florida: Hurricane Katrina hit the area while filming was underway but Wilson just managed to avoid that experience. “I missed it by about a week or so, but I was there for another smaller one.
One day it was just a nice sunny day and the next day it was just torrential rain storms and the power went out at the place that I was staying for about four days. I had to move out of there. And then you go out on the street and there's that much sand on it that's just blowing in from the beach and people can't see the lanes on the road.
It's a pretty intense state in terms of weather. I had only been in Miami a couple of times and had always wanted to go to the Everglades and stuff like that, which I had the chance to do. I still haven't been to the panhandle or any of those places, but I went down to Key West. It's just such a kind of beautiful place. You can see why Carl Hiaasen sets all of his books there because there is so much going on.
It was so much fun to take that drive down to Key West and see the house where Hemingway lived. There is actually Hemingway Day. I kept looking around and I thought, 'Wow. There are a lot of Hemingway-looking guys.' Then literally 10 minutes later a convertible went by with like eight of the guys in it, all dressed like that. I was like, 'Papa!' My girlfriend kept telling me to stop. I called them all Papa and they all said hello.”
Working with Wil Shriner: Wilson wasn’t worried about working with first time feature film director Wil Shriner. “I never think about that just because when I got started on 'Bottle Rocket' with Wes Anderson, he was a first time director, but he was like a seasoned vet. I think that it's one of those things that you just really want to do and I never got the impression of like, 'Oh, this guy doesn't know what he's doing.' I wouldn't have known if he'd done something wrong just by working with him. No. He definitely knew what he was doing.
The only thing that I get nervous about as an actor is if I did a good job in a scene or did I do what was on the page. Sometimes just because of time and money people will go, 'No! You got it. You got it. Let’s keep moving.' So you just have to kind of trust the person that they're going to get what's on the page. But I always felt real comfortable with Wil. I just liked the way he directed me and the things that he mentioned to me. It's always just a nice little partnership with the director.”
Just Acting and Leaving the Writing & Directing to Someone Else: Wilson’s a seasoned veteran who has not only starred in dozens of films but also writes and directs. Is it tough for him to just simply act? “Not really,” said Wilson. “I like it as long as you're working with people who you kind of trust and who's taste you agree with. Like, I just did a movie with Ivan Reitman [My Super Ex-Girlfriend with Uma Thurman] and it's just so fun to work with him because he's all for collaborating and having ideas. He was so good about taking a good idea and then other ideas he'd say, 'Are you crazy? That makes no sense.' So, no, it's not hard at all. But it also is fun to kind of be at the helm of a ship where you're making all of the decisions, but it's just as fun to be a part of a team.”
Mapping Out His Career: Wilson said he doesn’t have a plan; he just lets things happen. “I mean, I envy those people who seem to have a master plan. I would like to drive my own destiny and not just do things that sort of come my way, but I don't really have a plan. I just try and do stuff that I like, and keep it as simple as whether or not I would want to go see the movie myself. Sometimes that's not even the reason.
You do things for different reasons, but something like this I was glad to do. It doesn't really fit into any plan, but it is nice that it is something that the whole family can go to - not to sound like an executive. But I don't always make movies like that.”