Luke Wilson: Enlightened
Actor Luke Wilson is probably best known for his great roles in the Wes Anderson films, “Bottle Rocket” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”, or his hit comedy films like “Old School”, “Legally Blonde” and “Idiocracy”. Recently he stopped by the SiriusXM studios to talk with Ron Bennington about the tv series “Enlightened” which is starting its third season on Sunday nights on HBO. Excerpts of the interview appear below.
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Luke Talks About the Writing on “Enlightened”
Ron Bennington: Before this show started, I thought Mike White was a really talented guy, but after this year, I think it’s next level man – what he’s done with this show.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, I mean to me – I’m starting to think of him as almost kind of like a novelist. Yeah. Just what I’ve always liked about him before I knew about him or before I knew him was – I’d seen “Chuck & Buck” which is a real strange kind of off beat movie. And then finding out that he was the guy in it and also wrote it. And I loved “School of Rock” and those seemed like 2 totally different things. And then you throw “Enlightened” in there and he can…a real interesting writer.
Ron Bennington: Well, he’s writing these characters and they’re all on the edge, but all in different ways. Everybody’s really different. And I’m like – well, I could get how he could write the quirky things because I put him in there. But the show that they did this year where you’re in rehab was as good as any movie that you ever see about addiction. I mean that was really on the edge.
Luke Wilson: Yeah. No, I think he, like you were saying – you can see him being able to do quirky very easily because that is how he kind of comes across, but he can write kind of out also like…he reminds me kind of like Raymond Carver, where he can write really different characters, from women to men.
Ron Bennington: Yeah. That was such a dark episode. And not just for your character, but the 2 younger characters. And everyone’s kind of been in that room before. Everyone’s been there where it starts really fun and everybody’s having a good time.
Luke Wilson: Gets a little lighter. (laughs)
Ron Bennington: Yeah and it’s just wearing down and I thought one of the coolest characters in that was the old rich dude who’s waited everyone out and then struck. It was just so weird. It was so strange. And I’m like – yeah, I’ve been there. I know exactly what that is. But you don’t expect that out of Mike White.
Luke Wilson: Yeah. Again, he had to write something like that. Yeah, starting out just kind of…the night starts out kind of funny and a little out of control and then, it turns just kind of…not even necessarily that dark, but just kind of almost pitiful. It doesn’t ever get scary, but just kind of a hollow feeling. And yeah, you don’t necessarily expect something like that out of Mike White.
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Luke Talks About the Open Nature of His Role on the Show
Ron Bennington: So you kind of swing in and out of the series plot wise?
Luke Wilson: Yeah. I play Laura Dern’s ex-husband. And she’s kind of occasionally trying to save me. And then, like you were saying, I wind up in rehab. And then, I’m kind of in and out of these upcoming episodes.
Ron Bennington: Do you know where the character ever goes? Do you know what’s going to be happening?
Luke Wilson: When it’s all done?
Ron Bennington: Yeah.
Luke Wilson: I mean not really. It’s kind of an open-ended ending.
Ron Bennington: And this keeps it wide open for you to do film as well, right?
Luke Wilson: Yeah. I think they spent maybe…aw, shoot…maybe 3 or 4 months, maybe longer, kind of doing the whole series. Yeah, it never kept me from doing other jobs and of course, you just have to check and ask them, HBO, if it’s okay.
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Luke Wilson Talks About Film vs TV
Ron Bennington: It’s so weird because it’s a fairly new thing that people feel comfortable going back and doing TV, but I was reading this thing with Soderberg, said not too long ago, that it’s like we’ve become this TV culture. That’s the kind of things that we’re talking about – the TV shows rather than the movies.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, that seems to kind of make sense. I mean I can see maybe how other people that are totally firmly established in the movies might be reticent to do TV if only for the timing thing, but I mean when I was growing up I watched “Hill Street Blues” with my dad and I was like a huge “Miami Vice” fan. And where some of those episodes to me, I can remember with friends saying like – that was like a movie. Yeah and to get something in an hour – even like “Enlightened” in a half hour, yeah for me personally – I love it. And just now with cable and things repeating, I’ve made a few kind of independent movies where I’ve thought they were good and just nobody sees them. And that’s a bummer and you just hope maybe they’ll show up on cable or something. But with something like “Enlightened” where it is off beat and kind of unusual, then lots of people see it. Just because it’s on HBO.
Ron Bennington: Yeah and “Enlightened” used to be like the kind of thing that we would go out to the movies to see. It was like a Sundance type thing.
Luke Wilson: Yeah.
Ron Bennington: But now, we really don’t even have that many movies or like you said – it’s very very tough. Too many people come in – alright, it’s opening in this theater in New York, that theater in L.A. and then it disappears.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, you’re right. It just becomes even more rare. You just hope it will hit like the Angelika or just a smaller theater, but yeah, I think it’s just not even a big deal now for a good movie to just go straight to On Demand or Netflix.
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Luke Wilson Talks About Wes Anderson
Ron Bennington: Look at Wes Anderson had such a great film this year, but it takes him now – what? Six movies in before. I mean he has to become a brand name.
Luke Wilson: Yeah. I think for Wes…yeah, he kind of…I would say it’s like – more kind of, I guess it is kind of art house type stuff. But to me, it seems like it gets seen by a lot more people than even a smaller picture. I’d say maybe they’re in the middle. But yeah, I think now, which is great for Wes – is that he is almost…he is, I don’t know what brand name, but more like yeah, Soderberg…
Ron Bennington: Like Woody Allen or someone, yeah.
Luke Wilson: Where you go see it because, like – hey, I hear you went to the Wes Anderson movie and then people know. And then also, he’s been around for 15 years now, so that’s good. And he’s working more often which is cool. He’s not taking as much time between projects.
Ron Bennington: What did he always do in that time?
Luke Wilson: He just spends time writing. He takes his time writing. And I think that’s why the movies kind of turn out so intricate – is because he’s not in a rush.
Ron Bennington: Well, when you started with him and your brother and all – did you guys have any idea that it would have the kind of roll out that it did? I mean here we are 15 years later and it’s like we say – it’s almost a genre of film now.
Luke Wilson: Yeah. No, not all. I mean we were really just…the goal was always just to get our first movie “Bottle Rocket” made. And yeah, I had no idea, but definitely feel like I’ll sometimes see commercials and who knows? Maybe Wes might have directed them. (laughs) But that seems to kind of have a feeling like his movies just like in the way that they’ve set up the shots. So I feel like it even has kind of gotten into mainstream…
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Luke Wilson Talks About Being a “Working Actor”
Ron Bennington: Earlier on in this conversation, you said – for the more established actors, do you still not feel established? Even though you’ve been in some of these really classic films.
Luke Wilson: I mean I just kind of feel like, in a good way, just a working actor. Yeah, for me, I’ve always liked those guys like Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton who, they do kind of bigger parts and then smaller parts and that’s what I try to use as a model. I don’t know about established, but I definitely feel a part of the business.
Ron Bennington: But more like a character actor.
Luke Wilson: I mean I look to those guys. I wouldn’t even call myself that because I like those guys so much. (laughs) Yeah, maybe working actor.
Ron Bennington: It is weird whenever anyone came before you. You just feel like you’ll never catch up.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, exactly.
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Luke Wilson Talks About Dennis Hopper
Ron Bennington: It’s like not too long ago, Steven Tyler was in and he was talking about like Led Zeppelin and the Stones. And he’s like – there’s no way he feels like he’s part of that. And I’m like – they’re only a couple of years before you, dude.
Luke Wilson: I was just reading a book yesterday, interviews with Dennis Hopper. And it was talking about – he was in New York doing press on this movie “Kid Blue” and I was thinking – gosh, those must have been the days. And I was like – well, I guess I’m in New York doing press, but it’s just not the same. (laughs)
Ron Bennington: It’s not the same thing.
Luke Wilson: I mean I know I’m not Dennis Hopper, but man – it’s just so far away from that.
Ron Bennington: Well, Hopper was also an interesting guy where he was doing a lot of different things too.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, well what’s interesting about reading these interviews with him is the amount of time he’d go without working. He directed “Easy Rider” and then right after that he did this movie “The Last Movie” which was this kind of notorious out of control movie he filmed in Peru. And then he didn’t direct again until 15 years later. So yeah, really interesting.
Ron Bennington: But he spent like 15 years hiding in the backyard, looking out.
Luke Wilson: Yeah. He was living out in Taos, New Mexico. And he says himself, he was listening to telephone wires. It’s like – oh my gosh.
Ron Bennington: But at the same time, he was doing this really great photography and he had one of the best art collections in the country.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, incredible. Just Robert Rauschenberg and Warhol and..yeah, it’s incredible who…he had one of the original soup cans.
Ron Bennington: And I always think that that just comes back to having a good eye.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, definitely had a great eye. And really into photography. And even he says that about himself, as director he saw himself as…his strong point is having a good eye and being good with actors.
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Luke Wilson Talks About Music and Working With Dylan
Ron Bennington: But look at the fact of Hopper or even Nicholson – it’s like people really do like the fact that they went out on the edge for a while.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, I think it’s just like you were saying about Steven Tyler or Led Zeppelin. It’s the same thing. You kind of buy into that outlaw image. Kind of iconoclastic. People like that are appealing maybe because you can’t do it or maybe because you just want to do it. I definitely find myself reading about Led Zeppelin on the road. (laughs)
Ron Bennington: Sure, man. All those guys coming through here, at one time or another, and they’re all just some of the most interesting people. And so many of them, in the way that you were talking about Hopper before them – all of those guys end up living for the blues guys.
Luke Wilson: Right.
Ron Bennington: And they’re crazy about Chicago blues, Memphis blues.
Luke Wilson: They are. And for me that’s always kind of really fun – is those guys lead you back to interesting people.
Ron Bennington: Exactly.
Luke Wilson: And Dylan kind of does the same thing. Like through Dylan, I learned about Woody Guthrie. The Rolling Stones, the same way. Those guys lead you back to Chuck Berry for somebody like me.
Ron Bennington: Yeah. I remember being a kid too. And I would read Dylan. There was so many interviews that I would end up writing a name down. Whether it was Lead Belly. Kerouac was another one he would just drop and now in hindsight, it was all the perfect names.
Luke Wilson: Yeah, I even kind of…there’s these magazines, “Uncut” and “Mojo” that actually do these great CDs that they sell with the magazine. It’ll be stuff that influenced the Stones. A whole CD of it or Clapton. Yeah, but they’re just interesting. People like Slim Harpo that I would never know about.
Ron Bennington: Exactly.
Luke Wilson: You find out through them. The same to me with like country music too. It’s like through people like Waylon and Willie that I learned about like Hank Williams and Ray Price and people like that too.
Ron Bennington: And now all the younger guys. I mean on the Outlaw Country station here on Sirius has so many guys doing great shit. And that aren’t getting any kind of real recognition. You worked with Dylan though.
Luke Wilson: Yeah.
Ron Bennington: Which is…God, I mean does it ever stop being Dylan when you’re sitting there with him? Does he become “Bob” at some point?
Luke Wilson: (laughs) It never did. I really did have a great time doing that and was such a huge fan that I kind of made a promise to myself – don’t ever ask him anything. Because I just noticed people would say – hey, do you remember this song or this show? And it was just – (Dylan voice) No, I don’t remember. (laughs) I mean I would hear him say that and it’s like – okay, Luke. You know the answer, so don’t ask. And I broke that one time, where he had walked up to me. He came up to me – that’s what I was telling myself. (laughs) But he had asked me about…he was like – I heard you’re from Dallas. Do you know about Townes Van Zandt? So yeah, we started talking about Townes Van Zandt. And I was like – well, you and Willie sang “Pancho and Lefty” one time. He was like – (Dylan voice) Oh, I don’t remember. And I said – no, no. It was at Willie’s birthday party. You guys were on stage together. And I kept pressing it. (laughs) And he said to me at the end, he was like – oh, I must have been drinkin’. And then he walked away. And I was like – dammit Luke. You did it. You promised yourself you weren’t going to do it and you did it.
Ron Bennington: But do you think he has to just force himself to be in the moment? Like if I go to that place, then I just become a historian of my own life.
Luke Wilson: Yeah. I think he’s definitely one of those guys that…I mean I read that he records an album and it’s over for him, unless he’s playing it live, but he’s not listening to it. But yeah, it’s got to be hard for somebody like that where you get labeled the voice of a generation. It’s just like people asking him – do you remember this? Do you remember that? You can see how somebody like him who’s trying to create new stuff – he just doesn’t even want to go down that road.
Ron Bennington: And when you think 99% people do stop and go – yes, I am the voice of ’63 to ’69.
Luke Wilson: Right. You can see how somebody even getting older might say – okay, I’m going to start talking about this or kind of reliving it in a way, but he just doesn’t seem to be interested. It’s kind of a good way to…
Ron Bennington: I don’t think…if he limits himself to that then he never goes on.
Luke Wilson: Yeah.
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Ron Bennington: Well, this takes us right back to “Enlightened”.
Luke Wilson: (laughs) Directly back to “Enlightened”.
Ron Bennington: I want to thank you for stopping in. And it is a terrific terrific show, man.
Luke Wilson: Thanks very much.
Ron Bennington: You’re doing great work on it. And actually everybody on the show is just really really killing it on that show right now. I wish all the best my man. I’ll see you next time coming through.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPilWe8Nmpg]============================================================
Watch “Enlightened” Sunday Nights at 9:30pm on HBO. Visit the Web Site for More Info.
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You can hear this interview in its entirety exclusively on SiriusXM satellite radio. Not yet a subscriber? Click here for a free trial subscription.
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You can learn more about Ron Bennington’s two interview shows, Unmasked and Ron Bennington Interviews atRonBenningtonInterviews.com.
