Owen Wilson’s on-screen collaborations include a cast of actors and actresses that is about as star-studded as any Hollywood insider could have hoped for. But there is one other actor that he hasn’t worked with yet who might be considered a scene mate.
When asked who would play his ideal co-star, Wilson responds, “Nicolas Cage, because I love him.” “For some inexplicable reason, that immediately comes to mind.”
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE before to the commencement of SAG-AFTRA’s labor strike, the Zoolander actor said that he would jump at the opportunity to cooperate with Cage in some capacity. He stated that from 1997’s Face/Off to last year’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, “you know, I’ve just loved him in so many movies.”
Wilson, who is 54 years old, had a role in the Bob Ross-inspired film Paint earlier this year. The next Disney film The Haunted Mansion, which will be directed by Justin Simien, will include him in the part of Kent, a priest. This will be the first time he’s ever portrayed a priest, and he confesses with a trademark smile that the role is not typical of his body of work.
“I don’t think I’m an obvious casting choice for a man of the cloth,” he teases of his role, reserving additional information in anticipation of the movie’s release on July 28. The movie also stars Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, Jared Leto, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
“But,” he continues, “for this sort of concierge-style priest who’s got his exorcisms and his other sort of bag of tricks for dealing with the supernatural — and he’s a little bit of a salesman where you’re not quite sure if what he’s saying is totally accurate — that sort of character, I think that’s the kind of character I am comfortable playing.”
Wilson told PEOPLE that in addition to working with Cage, he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of working with a past costar again. He declares, “I am a huge Jackie Chan fan.” After combining elements of action, buddy comedy, and Westerns in the films Shanghai Noon (2000) and Shanghai Knights (2003), the two actors briefly worked together again in the film Around the World in 80 Days (2004). (A continuation of the Shanghai series has been in the works for many years, and in 2016, director Jared Hess was linked to the project.)
Wilson said of Chan, “That was a great example, kind of early on, of someone who is such a big star, what a hard worker, and just no attitude.” Chan is credited with helping Wilson become successful in his career. And then it was just really collaborative, and they were very receptive to us coming up with ideas. I believe that this was most likely the factor that contributed to the fact that I enjoyed working on the Shanghai movies. And then, the type of humor that he and I had together, which I think will be entertaining for everyone to see.”
In addition, Wilson is eager to heap praise on Jennifer Aniston, who appeared with him in the film Marley & Me (2008), as well as Rachel McAdams, who has portrayed his on-screen love companion in not one but two films. In the film Wedding Crashers, which he co-starred in with Vince Vaughn in 2005, he remembered Rachel McAdams as “a great actress,” but he recognized the full amount of her skill in the film Midnight in Paris, which he saw in 2011.
“Her character that she plays in Midnight in Paris is obviously very different,” he adds of McAdams’ disdainful Inez, who is seen to be cheating on her fiancé. “Her character that she plays in Midnight in Paris is obviously very different.” “It’s really funny to me that she could be so good — somebody who’s Canadian, so naturally polite — can be so good at playing a character who isn’t that,” I said. “It’s really funny to me that she could be so good at playing a character who isn’t that.”
On July 28, cinemas all around the world will begin showing The Haunted Mansion.