Luke and Owen Wilson are among the most recognizable actors of their time. Their careers began to grow along with that of filmmaker Wes Anderson. Anderson and Owen became friends in college, where the seeds of their creative partnerships were initially planted.
The brothers were supposed to join the cast of the first installment of the popular Ocean's franchise. However, they would drop out of Ocean's Eleven in order to work with their longtime friend on The Royal Tenenbaums.
The end result would work out for everyone involved. The Royal Tenenbaums became a hugely successful film that ended up being nominated for an Academy Award.
Owen Wilson And Wes Anderson First Became Friends In College
Owen first met Anderson in his sophomore year of college. The two were both students at the University of Texas at Austin. The two shared classes and seminars together, with Anderson eventually casting Owen in his play A Night in Tunisia. It was Anderson's take on Sam Shepard’s True West. The two became roommates and developed a close friendship over the years.
Owen and Anderson developed a close professional relationship as well. The actor worked with Anderson on seven of his films, including The Royal Tenenbaums. While speaking to The Talks, Owen shared his thoughts on working with Anderson.
"I love that movie," Owen said of The Royal Tenenbaums. "I think my favorite scene in that movie is when Gene Hackman and Danny Glover come into the kitchen… Gene Hackman is kind of sitting there and they kind of have some contretemps."
"And Gene says, 'Are you tryin’ to steal my woman? …You heard me, Coltrane.' Danny goes, 'Did you just call me Coltrane?' Then Gene’s like, 'No, but if I did, you couldn’t do anything about it.' (Laughs) Just so it doesn’t seem arrogant that I’m quoting this line, Wes wrote that. I’m really appreciating it as a fan."
Owen also didn't rule out the possibility of working with Anderson again.
"I think The Grand Budapest Hotel might be my favorite of Wes’ movies; I really loved it. I thought that was so great, it would be fun to write something with Wes again, but you know, I have fun just going to dinner with him. But if I were to write something today, it would be something more personal to me."
Luke And Owen Wilson Drop Out Of 'Ocean's Eleven' To Star In 'The Royal Tenenbaums'
The Ocean's Eleven remake follows the same plot as the 1960 heist movie of the same name. In the film, Danny Ocean gathers a group of 11 career criminals to rob three Las Vegas casinos after getting out of prison.
George Clooney starred in the titular role along with Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, and Carl Reiner.
Luke and Owen were supposed to play the Malloy brothers in the film. Virgil and Turk Malloy offered a sense of comedic relief in the film with their sibling rivalry. However, Luke and Owen would ultimately drop out of the film in order to work on The Royal Tenenbaums.
In the end, Casey Affleck and Scott Caan were cast as the Malloy brothers.
The end result worked out just fine for the Wilson brothers, with Owen and Anderson being nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards. The Royal Tenenbaums received positive critical reviews and became Anderson's most financially successful film until The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014.
"Everything kind of went from black & white to technicolor on Tenenbaums," Luke later told The Playlist Podcast in 2021.
Luke also explained why it's been so long since Owen wrote a film with Anderson. The Royal Tenenbaums was the last time the two wrote a film together.
"I mean, yeah, we keep in touch and are always kind of talking about doing something, and it’s just a matter of putting the band back together. But, yeah, when I hear it’s been 20 years – it’s like, he’s been so busy, I’ve been so busy, Owen’s been busy. In my mind, when we started out, it was like, OK, we’re going to do one of these every two years!"
Ocean's Eleven was also a big hit, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2001. It also became a franchise, with two sequels being released in 2004 and 2007. There was even a spinoff titled Ocean's 8, with an all-female cast, released in 2018.
Luke Wilson Says He Is Open To Working With Wes Anderson Again
Like his brother, Luke also worked with Anderson quite a bit over the course of his acting career. He played the lead role in Bottle Rocket, a 1994 short film Anderson co-wrote with Owen.
Prior to Bottle Rocket, Luke and Anderson went to see The Doors when the film was released in 1991. He later told Vanity Fair about the experience.
"I can remember going to see The Doors with Owen and Wes in Austin, when it had first come out, and there was kind of the cool sequence where the Velvet Underground song ‘Heroin’ was playing through this sequence of Jim Morrison being out of control," Luke recalled. "Those guys both kind of clenched up because they’d wanted to use the song 'Heroin' in something. I’m just sitting there thinking, ‘God this is an incredible movie, what a scene, what a song,’ and they were both like, ‘Dammit, now we can’t use this song.’ These guys haven’t made a movie yet, but you get the feeling they’re in competition with Oliver Stone."
During an interview with Parade in 2020, Luke said that he would be happy to work with Anderson again.
"Owen and my brother Andrew and I are always talking about ideas," he said. "And it would be great to work with Wes again. Sometimes in this business you can drift apart—even geographically—so you have to make the effort to find a project together."