PASADENA, Calif. — When he was a little kid, actor Luke Wilson always tagged along with his two older brothers. “I think that definitely informed who I am,” he says, in his slow slightly-Texas drawl.
“My mom has these really funny pictures of me when I was a kid of 3 or 4, and my legs would be covered with chigger bites, getting bit by mosquitoes. That was because I’d have to stand or sit in the grass while the guys played. They had games I was too young to play, so I’d get eaten up by chiggers.”
Wilson has always held back. “When I first came out here to go to college at Occidental, I was beyond painfully shy and couldn’t meet anybody — forget meeting a girl. I couldn’t even make a friend. I’d been brought up, my brothers’ friends were my friends. I went to one school for five years and another school for eight years, and knew all the same people. So when I got away from those people, I didn’t know how to (be social),” he says, in a hotel room here.
Wilson’s brothers are fellow actors Andrew and Owen. “I never would’ve been called a shy kid up to that point, but I think having two older brothers and being a part of that kind of pack,” he says.
“And I started trying to be funny and maybe get those guys to laugh. And If I could imitate that guy and they thought it was funny, they’d keep me around. It’s kind of the same in this business. If you do a good enough job they won’t mind if I’m around. I just kind of wanted to be around those guys.”
Wilson has been hanging around, acting in movies and shows such as “Enlightened,” “Old School” and “Legally Blonde.” He says his latest role as the backstage tour manager of an arena-level band in Showtime’s “Roadies” reflects his own life.
“The funny thing about ‘Roadies’ is the familial aspect of a crew. That’s one of the things that’s kept me acting. I enjoy being around crews and enjoy seeing what a cinematographer is doing or a good production designer or another actor. It’s kept me occupied for over 20 years now,” he says.
Wilson, 44, is not sure he belongs where he is. “It’s something I think I have a natural ability to do and there are other aspects of me that thinks, ‘Wow, I’m just winging this.’ I know who Stanislavski is, but I certainly haven’t studied him,” he shrugs.
It wasn’t his passion for acting that made him long to work in Hollywood. It was his devotion to film. “That’s what I spent my time doing was going to movies and reading about movies. I would’ve been happy being on a crew, I loved movies that much. It doesn’t come naturally to me. I really like movie stars. I love Jack Nicholson and Di Caprio seems like a movie star to me. I loved character actors, guys like Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton. I feel more kinship with those guys because I don’t feel comfortable being the center of things,” he shakes his head.
“Look no further than my own brother, Owen. I can see the pressure. Even something like ‘Zoolander 2.’ To me it’s already a success, what do you mean? But you feel for guys like him and Ben Stiller because they’re operating at a level where the stakes are so high. They’re at the forefront of a huge company; a lot of pressure. I think I wish he could have more bombs like me, then he could relax a little.”
As for Luke, he says, “I just think I’ve been able to work on things and do a good enough job to get hired for other things. But as I get older, I do put more thought into it. I like the idea of doing this (“Roadies”) for four months and nine more episodes,” he says.
He didn’t have to audition for the role in “Roadies,” which premieres June 26. “I’ve known (creator) Cameron Crowe since I first got to town. He was working for James L. Brooks and me and my brothers and Wes Anderson were working on our first movie, ‘Bottle Rocket.’
“I think he knew that music was something I spent my spare time reading about. … And it’s one of the few things that I kind of knew a lot about.”
