Hello everyone, I wanted to let everyone know that we’re still here. The last few months have been crazy and we’re going to start updating RA again shortly. The world of Wes Anderson is rich and the news on his latest opus is buzzing the internet. We want to make sure that we’re your choice for Wes Anderson related content. Please keep checking back.

Sincerely yours,

RA

We’re happy to announce Matt Zoller Seitz’s (freelance critic, and author of one the earliest and best profiles of Wes, and this incredible series of video essays from earlier this year) The WES ANDERSON Collection is available for pre-order at Amazon.com. “It’s a book length interview of Wes Anderson, by me, with critical essays by me, and an intro by Michael Chabon, plus art, pix.,” says Matt on his twitter. The Amazon proudct page is a little weak on the details and even incorrect according to Matt, but he explains more information will be available once they nail down the issues.

The book is set to be released in August 2013. No details on digital copies, but why would you not want a hard cover?

If you haven’t heard or read some of Matt’s critical works, we encourage you to watch his video series called the Substance of Style available for free on Moving Image Source.

Finally. After massive amounts of rumors of who Wes Anderson would be casting for his next film Grand Budapest Hotel, even allegations that actor Johnny Depp had a small role in the film ,which were denied by Anderson. Thanks Internet. But of course there is only one person who can confirm the headlines, and that’s Mr. Anderson himself. In a recent the Hollywood Reporter (THR) interview, Wes Anderson teased the plot for his latest project and announced his amazing ensemble.

Well, yes, [my next film is] Grand Budapest Hotel. It’s a Euro movie. It’s a period picture. I can tell you the cast — maybe you already know the cast, but I can tell you properly who it is: We have Ralph Fiennes, and we have Tilda Swinton and Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, we have F. Murray Abraham and Jude Law, and we’ve got Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, and Mathieu Amalric. And I think Owen [Wilson] is gonna have a little part, too. Oh, Saoirse Ronan has quite a big part. I’m thinking if I’ve forgotten anybody. Yeah, we have a good group.

A good group indeed Mr. Anderson. Besides casting Saorise Ronan and his usual entourage of Anderson Alumni, a person we’re very excited for is Oscar-winner (for masterfully playing Antonio Salieri in Amadeus) F. Murray Abraham. A very underrated actor, it’ll be good to see him take a break from his stage career.

Despite the cast and what little get out of that, we can confirm that the film takes place about 85 years ago and gathers inspirations from by Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch films. Confused? If you haven’t heard of these two filmmakers, we would suggest you’d start with these titles.

Billy Wilder’s the Apartment (1960)

Ernst Lubitsch’s To be or Not to Be (1942)

The Grand Budapest Hotel is set for release in 2014. Keep checking back at RA.com for more updates.

Ever wondered what the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs would look like in slow motion set to the music of the Kinks? Well, you’re in luck, because the folks over at Conan have created a funny short of Wes Anderson’s (fictional) test reel for Star Wars: Episode VII. Check it out here over at Flavorwire where Judy Berman comments:

Forget Grand Budapest Hotel; any man-child filmmaker worth his daddy issues would drop everything to direct Disney’s Star Wars: Episode VII, so of course Wes Anderson has put together some test footage for consideration. And somehow (i.e., they made it up) Conan got their hands on that reel. Titled A Life Galactic, Anderson’s take is just as twee and intricate as you might hope, featuring a stylized showdown between Han and Greedo and the sweetest two-creature motorcycle ride you’ve ever seen.

Ryan Reft, of the Tropics of Meta, has written an interesting piece exploring the role of gender and sexuality in the films of Wes Anderson, highlighting that few filmmakers have made being cuckolded seem so adorable and so tragic. Interested? Check it out here. Reft notes:

Anderson’s embrace of Salinger/Charles Schultz/Roald Dahl universe need not exclude adult realities.  In a recent backlash against the backlash, NYC Poet Austin Allen argued that critucs have developed a formula for dismissing Anderson’s work.  Throw around the word “twee,” “dollhouse” or any derivation thereof, add a bit of “arrested development” and a dash of retromania and instantly you’ve encompassed the rhetorical structure for Anderson film criticism. Yet, as Allen points out, “whimsy” need not mean flimsy.  The best moments, he argues, happen when “adult reality snaps us out of childlike fantasy.”  Anderson never avoids these problems but with the help of contributing actors and writers, he is able to weave them into the composition with an understanding that exceeds immature visions of marriage and fidelity.