Drillbit Taylor is a 2008 comedy film starring Owen Wilson as the eponymous character and based on an original idea by John Hughes. It was directed by Steven Brill and the screenplay was written by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen. Paramount Pictures released the film on March 21, 2008.

Drillbit Taylor was Hughes' last film as a writer before his death on August 6, 2009. He also used his pseudonym, Edmond Dantès, for this film.

Plot[link]

Ryan (Troy Gentile) and Wade (Nate Hartley) are starting high school. On the first day of school, Ryan and Wade witness two bullies, Filkins (Alex Frost) and Ronnie (Josh Peck), attack a geek, Emmit Oosterhaus (David Dorfman), by shoving him into his locker. Wade intervenes. Filkins and Ronnie begin endlessly targeting Ryan, Wade, and Emmit.

Wade suggests hiring a bodyguard. They place an ad on the Internet, and end up selecting Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson). Taylor pretends to be a martial arts expert and mercenary, but is really a homeless beggar who showers at a public beach. His real intention of becoming their bodyguard was to rob them and use the money to buy a ticket to British Columbia. Drillbit tells the boys to find some common interests and become bent with Filkins and Ronnie. Ryan challenges Filkins to a rap battle, but gets carried away and ends up humiliating Filkins. As an angry Filkins, alongside Ronnie, ambushes Ryan, Wade, and Emmit, the boys try using a tactic Drillbit taught them, but it ultimately fails. The boys are furious with Drillbit's teachings. But they decide to bring him to school as a substitute teacher, and in that capacity he is able to protect them. While there, Drillbit meets a teacher, Lisa Zachey (Leslie Mann), and they start a relationship.

One morning as his mother (Lisa Lampanelli) is driving him to school, Ronnie sees Taylor taking a shower at the beach; his mother reveals that he is homeless. Ronnie tells Filkins and Filkins finds the boys and punches Drillbit. Later on at Wade's house, they catch Drillbit's homeless friends stealing everything in sight. Drillbit confesses that his real name is Bob and he went AWOL from the U.S. Army. The boys fire Drillbit, who later recovers all of Wade's possessions and places them back before Wade's parents return home. Unfortunately, the boys accidentally let slip about Drillbit. Their parents take things up with the principal, who contacts the police. Filkins plays innocent and charms all the adults; Filkins continues to ridicule the boys after Drillbit's disappearance. Tensions finally burst when Filkins interrupts Wade's attempt to ask Brooke Nguyen (Valerie Tian) out. Without realizing what he was doing, Wade challenges Filkins to a fight.

Ryan and Wade arrive at Filkins' house, where he is hosting a party; Ronnie shows up to help Filkins against them. Emmit, who initially refused to fight, comes to their aid and for a while causes quite a lot of pain to Filkins, almost defeating him; but Ronnie knocks him out while trying to break Filkins' leg. Drillbit shows up and Filkins punches him. Drillbit refuses to fight back until it is revealed Filkins is not a minor; Drillbit quickly begins fighting and knocks Filkins out cold. He is about to defeat Ronnie, but he's a minor. Within minutes, the police arrive and Drillbit flees for fear of prosecution. Filkins wakes up and throws a samurai sword at the boys, but Drillbit catches it. He saves them, losing half of his pinkie finger in the process.

Filkins is arrested and shipped off to Hong Kong where his parents are living. Ronnie can no longer ridicule other boys because his bully partner is gone. He has become kind to everyone and now friends with the boys. Drillbit is taken to jail, but ends up being released within three weeks. He is reunited with Lisa and the boys.

Cast[link]

• Owen Wilson as Bob "Drillbit" Taylor, a homeless U.S. army deserter.
• Nate Hartley as Wade, a high school freshman who along with his friend Ryan, have hopes of being popular.
• Troy Gentile as Ryan Anderson. Along with Wade, Ryan hopes of becoming popular. He loves to rap and makes brief hip hop culture references, also acquires the nickname T-Dog.
• David Dorfman as Emmit Oosterhaus, a nerdy kid who is first bullied by Filkins and Ronnie, then becomes friends with Wade and Ryan.
• Alex Frost as Terry Filkins, a mean-spirited bully.
• Josh Peck as Ronnie Lampanelli, Filkins' friend and sidekick.
• Leslie Mann as Lisa Zachey, Drillbit's love interest and later girlfriend.
• Danny R. McBride as Don Armstrong, Drillbit's old friend.
• Stephen Root as Principal Neville Doppler
• Ian Roberts as Jim, Wade's stepdad
• Lisa Lampanelli as Mrs. Lampanelli
• Lisa Ann Walter as Delores Anderson, Ryan's mom
• Hynden Walch as Mrs. Oosterhaus, Emmit's mom
• Valerie Tian as Brooke Nguyen, Wade's first crush at school
• David Bowe as the male teacher.
• Beth Littleford as Barbara Drennan
• Steve Bannos as Coffee Computer Guy
• Chuck Liddell as Himself
• Robert Allen Mukes as Bonecrusher
• Cedric Yarbrough as Bernie Hodge
• Tichina Arnold as Photography teacher
• Kevin Hart as Pawn Shop Guy 1
• Matt Besser as Pawn Shop Guy 2
• Shaun Weiss as the Bus Driver
• Steven Brill as Doctor
• Mary-Pat Green as Nurse
• Jareb Dauplaise as Jareb
• Max Van Ville as Kid with a drink
• Eddy Martin, Roshon Fegan, Kyle Kaplan, and Jack Salvatore as Random kids
• Adam Baldwin (cameo) as Bodyguard auditionee
• David Koechner (unrated version) as Frightened Dad
• Austin Rogers (uncredited) as Bloody Nose Kid

Marketing[link]

Marketing for the film included television promos and coming attractions previews, but actor Owen Wilson did not conduct any interviews to promote the film. Instead, Paramount Pictures had Wilson record introductions for Fox's Sunday night primetime shows such as The Simpsons, American Dad, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and Unhitched. The character of Drillbit Taylor was also featured as a "Superstar" on the Raw page of WWE.com for a period of time. Wilson's publicist said his availability was limited due to filming Marley & Me. John Horn and Gina Piccalo of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the studio was worried interviewers would bring up Wilson's hospitalization in the summer of 2007.^[1]

Reception[link]

Box office[link]

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10.2 million in 3,056 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #4 at the box office.^[2] The film has grossed $32,862,104 in the United States and $16,828,521 in foreign countries adding to a total worldwide gross of $49,690,625.

Home media[link]

The film was released on both rated (102 minutes) and unrated (109 minutes) DVD and Blu-ray on July 1, 2008. About 620,927 units have been sold, bringing in $11,669,617 in revenue.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Drillbit Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• Drillbit Taylor at AllRovi
• Drillbit Taylor at Box Office Mojo