Nicolas Cage Responds to Owen Wilson Calling Him a Dream Costar: A ‘Superb Talent’ (Exclusive)

Turns out Owen Wilson isn’t the only actor who wants to see him onscreen with Nicolas Cage.

Reacting to Wilson naming Cage as his dream scene partner, the Face/Off actor calls Wilson a “superb talent.”

“I would love to work with Owen,” Cage, 59, tells PEOPLE. “I have admired him since he came on in Bottle Rocket.”

The Oscar winner adds that Wilson, 54, is “unlike anyone — except he does remind me of Dennis Hopper.”

Cage also recalls a story that confirms his belief that Wilson resembles the Oscar-nominated Easy Rider screenwriter and Hoosiers actor.

“I remember a million years ago I had a big party when I had an apartment in DTLA and Owen was there,” Cage says.

“I was standing across the room with Jack Nicholson and we were both observing Owen,” he says, “and I asked Jack, ‘Don’t you think he resembles Dennis Hopper both physically and energetically?’ Jack said, ‘Him?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ And we both watched Owen a bit longer and then had some lemon tart.”

Wilson, who stars this year in the Bob Ross-inspired Paint and in the upcoming Justin Simien-directed Haunted Mansion remake (in theaters July 28), had said who “pops to mind” when asked who he’d most like to work with was Cage, having “just loved him in so many movies.”

If Cage’s reaction is anything to go by, audiences may be treated to seeing the two stars together.

Earlier this year, Cage led the horror-comedy Renfield, playing Dracula, and will next be seen opposite Joel Kinnaman in the thriller Sympathy for the Devil (in theaters July 28). The cinematic icon also recently played a version of himself in the comedic The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent as well as a briefly glimpsed Superman in The Flash — fulfilling the promise of an unproduced big-screen rendition that would have cast Cage as the Man of Steel.

As Wilson tells PEOPLE, 1996’s Bottle Rocket was indeed the breakout film that put him on the radar of Hollywood insiders like Cage.

He and his University of Texas at Austin dorm roommate Wes Anderson began writing plays and screenplays, with Anderson encouraging Wilson to try his hand at acting.

“It was him saying he wanted me and my brother Luke to play the characters,” Wilson remembers, “and, obviously, [Anderson’s vision] has only continued and strengthened” since — with such hits as Rushmore, the Oscar-nominated The Royal Tenenbaums and this year’s Asteroid City.

“I recently went to Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday at the Hollywood Bowl, and I hear somebody go, ‘Ca-CAW’ [a Bottle Rocket reference],” recalls Wilson. “I turn back, and this guy’s pointing at me. This movie that did no box office — the idea that 30 years later it stuck with somebody enough that they’re seeing me and saying that is nice.”

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