Owen Wilson ‘making us laugh,’ director says

updated 4:38 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2007

VENICE, Italy - Owen Wilson is doing well as he recovers from an apparent suicide attempt, and is even making colleagues laugh, the director of his latest film said Monday.

"Obviously he has been through a lot this week," said Wes Anderson, who directed Wilson in "The Darjeeling Limited," one of the films in competition for the Venice Film Festival's top award.

"I can tell you he has been doing very well, he has been making us laugh," Anderson told a news conference to promote the film.

"When he is ready he's going to speak for himself much better than any of us could," the director said, asking that the actor's privacy be respected.

Wilson and Anderson have worked together for more than a decade, in pictures including "The Royal Tenenbaums."

The 38-year-old Wilson was taken by ambulance to a hospital last week after police responded to a call about a suicide attempt at his Santa Monica home. The day after he was hospitalized, he issued a statement asking for privacy so he could "receive care and heal."

In "Darjeeling," Wilson plays a distraught man — bandaged throughout the film — who other characters imply has attempted suicide.

Wilson plays one of three brothers who haven't said a word to each other in a year and who take a train journey across India in an attempt to find themselves and their relationship again.

Adrien Brody, who plays one of the brothers, described how it was to work with Wilson on the set.

"Owen has a tremendous sense of humor and he's very mischievous," Brody told the news conference. "I would say it was a brotherly thing."

The cast also includes Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray.

After being hospitalized, Wilson dropped out of the upcoming DreamWorks movie, "Tropic Thunder," which was already in production in Hawaii.

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