Luke Wilson Trades ‘Old School’ Charms for Serious Thriller

For Luke Wilson, tackling the lighter side of film comes naturally. He’s played the rebellious frat-boy, the sometimes sappy romantic lead, and the brunette half of a quirky, floppy haired sibling comedy duo. But come this Friday, with the release of his new motel-trip-gone-awry movie, he’ll take on a new role: horror film star.

“This is obviously not the kind of thing that comes my way quite often,” says Wilson of his role in “Vacancy,” which also stars Kate Beckinsale.

The move is something of a stretch for an actor who prides himself primarily on the cult films of his earlier career. “Sometimes people say, ‘Why don’t you do more stuff like ‘The Tenenbaums’ and ‘Bottle Rocket’ as opposed to ‘Charlie’s Angels?’” he says. “I wish I was Sean Penn and could do whatever I wanted, but that’s just not the situation.”

Not that Wilson is wallowing in self-pity.

“What I’ve got to remind myself if I ever get down about it, or think I wish I could get that kind of role, or I wish I was in ‘The Departed’ or something, is I’m still relatively young. I’m 35,” he muses.

Despite his youth, Wilson isn’t waiting around for Scorsese; instead, he’s focused on creating his own projects, including finishing up a script with Martin Lawrence, with whom he costarred in “Blue Streak” (1999). But his process could be quicker, he admits: “I’m not exactly Stephen King when it comes to output.”

In the meantime, Wilson is concentrating on his role in “Vacancy.”

The movie follows a soon to be divorced couple, Wilson and Beckinsale, whose car breakdown forces them to visit a seedy motel (surprise?). Chaos—of the crawling through tunnels and smashing mirrors variety—naturally ensues.

“I’ve done scenes that were emotional, but I’ve never done anything with this kind of intensity,” says Wilson. “I’ve never finished anything and thought, ‘Well I just earned a week of sitting around...This is the first time I thought man, I really want to take a vacation.”

“Vacancy” offers some frightening real-life parallels for Wilson. “I’ve done most of my driving around the southwest, all around Texas. It can always get gnarly around there in the desert. It’s pretty desolate,” he says. “There’s this stretch where it says ‘Next gas 73 miles,’ and I always just have the idea that there are just killers out there just driving around that night.”

The actor added in a paranoid tone, “You always wonder what the hell is going on in those [motel] rooms, you know what I mean?”

While Wilson describes Stage 18 on the Sony lot, the “Vacancy” set, as rather scary—and according to him, cursed—he admits that he might be biased.

“Having two older brothers, I’m kind of jumpy,” Wilson says. “I definitely got beat down a couple of times.”

“We used to just have these insane BB gun wars,” he continues. “Thank God, in retrospect, that nobody lost an eye. We had the rule of no shooting above the neck, and people got shot in the ear and the Adam’s apple and the forehead, and it was basically just insane.”

Fear not: a Wilson death-by-BB-gun seems unlikely, as the brothers have put down their weaponry in favor of intense croquet games, according to the actor.

But the “Vacancy” shooting, compared to other Wilson films, wasn’t all fun and games.

“We tried to have fun on the set, and for the most part we did. But it’s definitely not, you know, the set of ‘Old School,’ where it’s just driving to work and it’s like, ‘God, I can’t wait to see Will and Vince.’”

Wilson seems most in his element when discussing his fellow frat-packers, breaking into laughter when reminiscing about Ferrell’s infamous streaking scene in ‘Old School.’

“The thing with Will, you always feel like, ‘God, poor Will. He has to do this streaking scene. He’s going to be so uncomfortable. Try and be positive around him.’ And then you see Will, and...the guy seems to get a kick out of doing it. Maybe it’s me projecting my own personal feelings onto Will,” he adds.

Wilson remains coy about the possibility of an ‘Old School’ sequel, addressing both the obstacles and the opportunities that would be involved in the project.