Interview

DORFF: Now I’ve warned him again. I said, “Sofia would love you to be in this film and do a little appearance, maybe a little scene with me in the hotel. But you have to be available at the end of June.” And he, you know, he’s gotta pay his dues before they’re gonna start arranging whole films around his schedule.

WILSON: Right. [laughs] That’s what it was like on Zoolander [2001]. He was in it for a second just to show a little bit of New York nightlife. I remember him afterward saying, “Please talk to Ben.” He felt his character needed more of an arc, to come back at the end and say that the nightlife isn’t so great. [both laugh]

DORFF: I mean, Tony taught me all about art. He got me buying art when I was young, and I still have some of those things. Tony really opened up my eyes to a lot of things.

WILSON: What music have you been listening to?

DORFF: A lot of stuff. My little brother Andrew is a songwriter in Nashville. He just had a hit with this country singer Martina McBride.

WILSON: Creative family, you guys . . .

DORFF: Yeah, it’s been an intense year for my family. I lost my mom last year, but I feel like she’s really been with me and with us, guiding us. I’d never really lost anybody before in my immediate family. Your mom is the person you don’t ever want to lose, but in losing her, I had all these great things that started happening. I think she was part of me getting the whole Sofia movie,

WILSON: You took a year off to be with your mother when she was sick, too.

DORFF: Yeah I found it hard to keep going away, doing a movie, coming back . . . When Michael Mann came to me for that movie right after everything, I thought for a while that I couldn’t do it. But in the end, I think it was the best thing for me. I really thank him for bearing with me and being an incredibly supportive director at a really rough time. He gave me a great opportunity, a great role, and that really saved me. If I hadn’t done a film for those six or seven months, I probably would have been chewing myself.

WILSON: Your mom had this great spirit.

DORFF: Yeah, my mom was the kind of woman who, if I was the worst actor in the world in my first performance and literally the whole audience walked out of the theater, she would have been saying what a great performance I gave. She was kind of the ultimate mom, I mean, almost too nice sometimes. She was just a really special lady, and I was really lucky to have the relationship that I had with her. It kills me that she’s gone, but at the same time, I think she’s given me strength. I always remember she would want me to do the right thing and make her proud, so I think that’s what I have to focus all my energy on, to be a better person and do great work. I think my mom will be up there, hopefully smiling.

WILSON: In Sofia’s movie, you’re going to play a father in a kind of Paper Moon [1973], Ryan O’Neal/Tatum O’Neal relationship. How old is your character’s daughter?

DORFF: She’s 11.

WILSON: Did you draw on your sisters for inspiration?

DORFF: Yeah, I have two great half sisters. I never had a sister growing up, and now they’re 9 and 12. I have a really cool dynamic with these girls. They’re like people now. They’re so smart. They love to come to the beach and surf. What I’ve realized is that kids are busier than us at our busiest time, because they have like 900 hobbies; they can never hang out. I wanted to get my sister to teach me Guitar Hero, but I can’t even get an appointment with her because she’s got gymnastics, or swimming lessons, or French lessons, or track and field, or ice skating, or Cub Scouts—it’s impossible. I think the same goes for all young kids. I know the actress who will be playing my daughter, Elle Fanning, has got a serious schedule on her. It’s like, I’d be tired.

WILSON: Well, jeez, buddy, I’ll teach you how to play Guitar Hero. I feel bad.

DORFF: I taught myself . . . It’s hard, man. It has nothing to do with playing guitar. It’s putting the right fingers on the right colors. I have to get good at it because I’m playing it in Sofia’s movie. So I have to practice all the time.

Owen Wilson is an actor and an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter.