The Wilsons Tell "The Wendell Baker Story"

The Texas-born Wilson bros, Owen, Luke and Andrew, are a bunch of pretty cute and talented guys. You can see Owen and Luke acting together in the new offbeat comedy The Wendell Baker Story, written by Luke and co-directed by Luke and his foxy older bro Andrew. Owen plays a sleazy conman who runs a retirement home and pockets the residents' social security checks. Luke plays the namesake of the film and good ole boy Wendell isn't exactly law-abiding either. He sells fake driver's licenses and I.D.s to illegal immigrants. At least Wendell is good-hearted and sympathetic which can't be said for Owen's character.

We sat down with two of the talented clan, Luke and older bro Andrew, at the trendy le Meridian hotel in L.A. recently to jaw about what it's like for three siblings, their mom, uncle and, yes, even Luke's dog to work on the same film and for two bros to share a director's chair, what they learned from the older generation, what's next for the guys and what might be on the future "Wendell" DVD. Picture Andrew in sun-bleached surfer dude mode (he lives in Venice, Ca. near the beach) and dark-haired Luke in prim suit jacket; very different looks for these fellows but both are amiable and friendly....

TeenHollywood: This film was a real family effort. What are the plusses of working with so much of the Wilson clan?

Luke: I think the pluses are that we get along and you do kind of know each other and you are able to hit the ground running. Sometimes, when you get on a new movie, you have to figure out the way other people work and it can be like being the new kid in High School where you're just trying to find out where your place is on the movie or on the set. And I don't know what the minuses would be.

TeenHollywood: No sibling squabbles at all?

Andrew: We didn't really have time to have any squabbling. We were on such a tight time constraint. We had 35 days to shoot it and the producers called it an 'ambitious schedule' which is a euphemism for 'impossible', so we were just trying to get the thing done and we were always aware we really didn't have time to mess around or argue about this and that. Just try and get the best shot.

TeenHollywood: Luke, your real dog plays your dog in the film?

Luke: Yeah. He's great. He's currently residing in Texas, but I am gonna get him back out here as soon as the heat kicks in. But Andrew and I are going to Texas tomorrow to do some things for 'Wendell,' so I can't wait to see him. My mother said she saw him yesterday and told him that Andrew and I were coming into town and he just yawned and smiled. (Laughs.)

TeenHollywood: Luke, how long did you mull this story around in your head and were you inspired by Owen writing his scripts?

Luke: Yeah, I mean that was kind of like the inspiration for it. Just seeing the time he and Wes [Anderson] would put in. You get the script and you read it and it seems so fluid and you just think, 'Well, it just must have rolled right out of them.' But you find out it does take time and hard work. So I think in-between watching Owen and Wes and the way they work, I think that gave us a good feeling that you do really have to sit down and take the time and it's not always really fun. You can't always think, 'Oh, I'm gonna wait till I get inspired.' Sometimes you just have to like sit down together and grind it out.

TeenHollywood: Do the Wilson bros share the same sense of humor?

Andrew: I think we do have a similar sensibility. I think we think the same things are funny. I mean Owen, obviously is a really funny, funny guy and he has been since we were little. I can remember my dad always saying 'You think you're the funniest person in the world don't you?' In a very negative way. And it turns out he may be one of the funniest people in the world. But yeah, we think kind of the same things are funny and when Luke showed me the script I thought it was funny and really well written. So, we tend to read the same things and be drawn to the same kind of interests.

TeenHollywood: How did you decide who would be responsible for what on the set in terms of the directing responsibilities since you are splitting the task?

Luke: We didn't really have a planned way to do it. It just kind of worked out where I would block the scenes out with the actors. And Andrew and Steve Mason, the cinematographer, would kind of work out the shots. It was never the kind of thing were I had one idea and Andrew had another and we kind of had to take ten minutes to figure it out. If anything I feel like we kind of moved a little faster in doing it that way. I would be able to block it and he'd be able to lay it out and figure out what shots they were going to do. And I can be rehearsing at the same time with them. Yeah, I think it worked out pretty well.

Andrew: Yeah, there wasn't the kind of 'auteur' effect where you had a director with a vision of what it should be and a writer with a different vision and then a big star that wanted to do something else that only benefited him. We were all trying to do the same thing which was get the script which we all really liked shot in the amount of time we had. I've worked on some bigger movies where there is a ton of money and a ton of time and you find that there isn't the kind of creative tension that we had on this. When you know you only have a short time with a limited amount of money, it helped us come up with some good creative solutions.

Luke: And we knew we that didn't want to do the conventional like one master over the shoulder and then a tight shot. We knew wanted to do like a lot of one shots, just because we know that's what we like in Woody Allen movies and things like that.

TeenHollywood: Andy, how is Luke like Wendell and how is he different?

Andrew: [looking at his bro who shyly looks at the floor] Well, he's not the con man, but just somebody that sticks to it and isn't easily [put off]. Wendell is somebody who has tired a lot of different things and some of them haven't worked out, but he keeps plugging along.

Luke: [points to himself]Delusional.

Andrew: You can kind of make that analogy for writing which is a very, very difficult thing to do. As Luke was saying, you sometimes don't get the response that you want, but you've just got to keep trying. And that's what I sort of admire about Wendell; he gets thrown in jail and ends up loving jail. (Laughs.) He loves the camaraderie, loved the courts. That's a quality that Luke has that I admire a lot. He sticks to it and is kind of tough.

TeenHollywood: You are also working with some great old pro actors like Harry Dean Stanton and Seymour Cassel. Did you have to tailor things for them?

Andrew: Well, sometimes it take Harry Dean and Seymour a little white to get rolling in the morning. Harry Dean is sort of nocturnal, stays up all night and sleeps all day, so it would take him awhile. But, we had the flexibility to do things a little differently. We wouldn't be locked in to a certain way of doing things and I hope that made it better.

TeenHollywood: Wendell seems to learn some valuable lessons from the older retired guys in the film. Do you think young people can learn anything from the older generation? Like, maybe they're actually fun?

Luke: [smiles] Yeah, that kind of came about for me. I've worked with Seymour Cassel on Rushmore and he kind of looks like your grandfather and he's like 'Let's go out. It's half priced drinks Ladies night at Sharkeys!' And you're like, 'Huh? We have to be up at six Seymour.' 'Yeah, I know, I know. So, we gotta get going now!' [Laughs]. I mean the guy had more energy than I did. He was very vibrant to put it mildly.

TeenHollywood: That's so great! What a fun guy.

Luke: Yeah and then you think about all that these guys have been through and I just always like that they never got beaten down by life. And it's not like they haven't had hardships over the years. They have been in the biz since the 40's and the 50's. I felt like I had a lot to learn from them and it always made me be upbeat and that helped me with the character of Wendell, who is an upbeat guy, just kind of being around those guys.

TeenHollywood: And Kris Kristofferson is there too.

Luke: He's done it all from being a Rhodes scholar to a helicopter pilot, to a janitor, to a singer-songwriter to a movie star and still doing it today. And that's why when you year certain actors say, 'Yeah, I'm thinking of retiring and moving to Montecito', it doesn't ring quite true for me. These guys really love what they do.

TeenHollywood: How did you get Will Ferrell to do a cameo?

Luke: He's great. I didn't write that for him. It's funny, he and I had gone to Europe and Andrew was actually on the trip to do press for Old School and Vince Vaughn was off doing a movie, but we just had so much fun on the trip and people in Germany would ask us what we were doing next and Will would say, 'I'm doing a character named Ron Burgundy, he's a sexist newscaster [Anchorman].' 'And you?' I'd go, 'I'm playing Wendell Baker, and he's a con man.' We just got the worst reaction from those people and not only to those ideas, but they hated Old School. So, we had the best of both worlds. We had a hit in the states and a flop there, which is exhilarating in it's own way. Will said, 'Yeah, if you ever want me to do a little part on 'Wendell,' I'd be glad to.' And then he got me to do Anchorman.

TeenHollywood: Did he ever think he'd have to reciprocate?

Luke: I did Anchorman first and then like nine months later 'Wendell Baker' came along and he was nice enough to come to Austin [where they shot the film]for a couple of days. I was saying, 'You didn't think you were gonna get that 'Wendell Baker call did you?' And he was like, 'No, I didn't. Didn't really think you were going to be able to pull that one together.' (Laughs.) It was just one of those things you are so lucky to get him to do it. Will just comes up with [lines] waiting for them to light the scene.

TeenHollywood: How does that work.. I mean all of you guys (Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn) starring in each other's movies?

Luke: Honestly, it's one of those things where you make the first call and the agent always gives you the brush off. And sometimes you have to dig up that home number and do a little Wall Street cold call. Where it's like, 'Will? Luke here.' Long pause. 'Yeah?' You know it's not going to be a 'Hey, we're having a BBQ call.' It's a 'We need you in Austin.' But no, with Owen and Ben [Stiller], I just think we've always had fun doing each other's movies. It's always fun to do a little part like in Blades of Glory. I just like being around Will. Like when Vince got Will to do that part in Wedding Crashers with he and Owen, they just had so much fun. And Owen had never had the chance to work with Will. I think it's just one of those things we just started doing. It was never anything by design.

TeenHollywood: Will there be an Old School 2?

Luke: That would be great. I always had confidence in Todd Phillips, who directed it, and Scott Armstrong, who wrote it, I just know they wouldn't want to ruin the goodwill of the first one and the people who seem to like it. So, I figure it would have to be just as good or better. I always get people asking and I just never know. It will probably end up being me and some other two guys besides Will and Vince. (Laughs.)

TeenHollywood: Can you guys say what you are working on now?

Andrew: Well Luke wrote this script called Electric Avenue that we are going to try and get going. We would direct that together.

Luke: It's an idea I talked to Martin Lawrence about. A few years ago we did a movie called Blue Streak and we just had fun working together. And always said we should try and do something together. Yeah, he liked the idea but now we just have to show him the script and see if he's still into it or if he has the time. It's about a newspaperman whose life has hit the skids and I'm hired to keep an eye on him. It's kind of a buddy picture.

TeenHollywood: Austin is a hotbed of filmmakers now. Did you meet Robert Rodriguez down there?

Luke: He's got all his mixing and sound studios at his house. [on my film] We were working in glorified airplane hangers. You better have pigeon sounds somewhere worked in, because you hear them fluttering around. But, no, Austin's a great town, because you've got Mike Judge there. You've got Richard Linklater and Rodriguez. I met him, he couldn't be a nicer guy. You see him out and about around town in coffee shops.

TeenHollywood: Is there anything you have for the DVD?

Luke: Yeah, we're working on it right now. It will come out in October. We are just trying to figure it out. We'll have bloopers, but hopefully they will just kind of be funny outtakes. We cut a ton of stuff out of the movie. And then we are going to try and do a bunch of other little interesting ideas and not have the usual boring 'Making of' type of thing. Try to have something a little more fun. We did the commentary, but yeah, we're gonna try and figure out some good things for that.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.