Prepping for his role as flyboy hero Chris Burnett in Behind Enemy Lines was a breeze for Owen Wilson; as a 1987 graduate of the New Mexico Military Institute, he knew the drill. "They shave your head. You get homesick," says Wilson, 33, whose parents sent him to military school after he was expelled from one high school in 10th grade and spent less than a year at another. "I didn't really demonstrate an aptitude for following orders. When I left, I was one of the lowest rankings."
Wilson has instead risen through the Hollywood ranks, thanks to Enemy Lines and The Royal Tenenbaums, in which he costars as a pal of the ex-child prodigies played by his brother Luke Wilson, 30, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Stiller. The single Wilson, who shares L.A. digs with Luke (Paltrow's boyfriend), cowrote the script with former University of Texas roommate Wes Anderson, his collaborator on 1998's Rushmore. The writing process wasn't exactly taxing. Says Wilson: "It was just Wes and I spending time together, trying to come up with funny stuff." Sometimes, lack of hard work leads to laughter.
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