With "Alex and Emma," Luke Wilson takes on his first major romantic leading man role. On casting Wilson, Reiner notes, "He's got this great quirky personality; he's likable and attractive, and I knew he'd be an appealing lead opposite Kate.
What did you like about playing this character?
I liked the idea of a guy who's kind of under the gun. He's not a dumb guy, but he makes a lot of kind of mistakes because he's so wrapped up in his own work that he can't see the forest for the trees. He falls in love with Sophie Marceau and I mean, she is beautiful and leads a jet set life, but it's like, at the beginning, he looks over Kate's [Hudson] character, Emma, who has a lot more substance and is a better person.
What’s the attraction of playing a role like this where you know everything that’s going to happen when the movie starts?
I don't really think in those terms, actually. It's like I'm not good at looking ahead to the future. I just kind of go scene by scene, which I feel like might help me in that respect. I guess you're saying in a movie where you've got people who are starting off not liking each other and then they're going to end up attracted to each other? I don't know, but I guess it's a challenge. It's like every story has been done before, for the most part. That's why other movies stand out when they do go against the grain.
Did you borrow any personality traits from the writer in your family?
Owen takes notes and writes things down that he hears. It's always kind of funny when I go in to get something out of his room and I see a notebook and it'll just have the strangest scene written down. It'll make you laugh or smile and yeah, he's just kind of good at doing that kind of thing.
The script already had things laid out and we didn't change that much stuff [in it]. The thing is that it is kind of hard work being a writer. You always wonder how you create something that's supposed to be creative under a deadline. I always think of a painter who doesn't have anyone saying, “Hey, we need this by then,” but that actually does happen if some painter has a show, and they need ten pieces to put on the wall. I kind of like the idea of that, a job that you just think of as creative and free-flowing and you do it organically, when you feel the muse. I saw it as being kind of scary, not feeling any ideas coming and you've still got to finish this book. I've seen Owen and Wes [Anderson] be under the gun, trying to get something done, and you just have to grind through it.
Do you ever feel blocked as an actor, and how do you get through that?
I feel it when a scene's not that well written or you're just not connecting to who you're doing it with. That's just one of those things that you have to kind of try and work through. Sometimes my first instinct will be to think, “Oh, I would never say this. It's not written well.” You try and change it or figure out why a person is saying something like that. It's one of those things that always happens on a movie. You have a scene that doesn't quite flow and you have to try and find a way to make it work.
NEXT PAGE: Wilson on Working with Kate Hudson and Being a Romantic Leading Man
