Owen Wilson Birthday Special: Why The Writer in This Wedding Crashers Star Deserves More Respect and Recognition

Owen Wilson is popular among movie buffs for his comical turns in films like the Shanghai Noon duology, Meet The Parents franchise, Zoolander, Starsky and Hutch, Wedding Crashers, Night at the Museum franchise, Internship etc. It is not that he has done only funny roles. He has done action in Behind Enemy Lines, he has serial killer stuff movies in The Minus Man, he has done horror films like The Haunting, cheesy B-creature flicks like Anaconda and even critically acclaimed fare like The Royal Tenenbaums, Midnight in Paris, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Inherent Vice. Owen Wilson Joins Tom Hiddleston in Disney Plus’ Loki Series.

But in this special feature for the occasion of the actor's 52nd birthday, we would like to highlight a talent of Owen (whose brothers, Luke and Andrew, are also popular actors) that deserves more recognition. A skill that we want Owen to focus more, for each time he has used that, we got some delightful surprises.

We are talking about Owen Wilson the writer, a facet that even earned him an Academy and a BAFTA nomination. The great Wes Anderson is also his co-writer in all the the three writing efforts, and their collab penmanship has produced three fantastic films.

Bottle Rocket

Owen Wilson's movie career began in this 1996 film that also marked the acting debut of Luke Wilson as well as the directorial debut of Anderson. A heist comedy with themes of bonding, Bottle Rocket, despite its small ambitions, has a heart and wins you with its earnestness. Though the film flopped at the box office, it has earned huge recognition over the years with the rising statures of its leads and the director. Martin Scorsese called it one of his top-ten favorite movies in the '90s, and that's a huge compliment coming from the man who made Goodfellas.

Rushmore

While Wes Anderson went on to make some visually stunning cinematic gems that boasts of a quirky storytelling, my personal Wes Anderson movie (also the film of his I watched the most) is this comedy. Almost bordering on being a romcom, Rushmore is about a 15-year-old eccentric teenager and a disenchanted rich man both competing for the affections of the same woman, Funny yet poignant, Rushmore has some excellent writing and performances, with the then debutant Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray both in fantastic form here. As for co-writer, Owen Wilson, he may not appear in the film in person, unlike the rest of the films in the list, but we do see him in a photograph. Marry Me Release Date: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson's Rom-Com Pushed to May 2021.

The Royal Tenenbaums

The most acclaimed film in this list, The Royal Tenenbaums, once again directed by Anderson, is about an irresponsible father trying to reconnect with his estranged family, with each member having their own problems. The Royal Tenenbaums has a great ensemble cast in Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, and Owen Wilson, with Owen and and Anderson both sharing writing credits again. This time, their effort earned them an Oscar nom for Best Original Screenplay at the 2002 Academy Awards.

This is also, strangely, the last credit writing effort from Wilson, who then focused more on his acting. Wilson was also part of Anderson's other films like The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and the upcoming The French Dispatch. The only two movies where they never worked together were Moonrise Kingdom and Isle of Dogs, But we really need these two to have a writing collaboration again. What say?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 18, 2020 11:12 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).