LUKE WILSON MOVIES OF MY LIFE

WITH A DRAMATIC TURN AHEAD IN KEVIN COSTNER'S HORIZON, THE ACTOR LOOKS BACK ON 30 YEARS OF HIS FAVORITE MOMENTS ON THE BIG SCREEN

- JACK SMART

Luke Wilson is celebrating 30 years in show business not with a victory lap, but with a curveball: The actor, best known for comedies like the Legally Blonde films, plays a frontiersman in Kevin Costner's epic western drama Horizon: An American Saga (Chapter 1 hits theaters June 28; Chapter 2 follows Aug. 16). "I'm 52, and I've been doing this since I was 22," says the Dallas native, who made his screen debut with brother Owen, 55, in 1996's shoestring-budget indie Bottle Rocket. Wilson "grew up a big fan" of Costner, 69, so he was pretty daunted when he met with the filmmaker via webcam to discuss Horizon. "I considered it a job interview," he recalls. "He might have known that he was hiring me. I didn't. When he said, 'Well, I hope you'll want to come work with me,' I was just kind of sitting there. That's how I got started on it."

As he looks back at his own work, Wilson admits he's often lost when fans recite his iconic movie quotes. "I never took it for granted," he muses. "But only getting older now do I really take a moment to appreciate how rare it is and how lucky to have a movie that people like and repeat lines from."

Home Fries (1998)