Movieline sat down with Wes and asked him about his favorite movie scene. His pick might rile up some more unpleasant comments, but please let’s focus on the movies people, always the movies.
The Scene: Great Missenden, about an hour outside of London — the Platonic ideal of the English countryside village, lined with perfectly tended row houses and gardens. It’s home to Roald Dahl’s estate and the Roald Dahl Museum, which today is overrun by international press who’ve gathered to interview the cast and crew of Fantastic Mr. Fox— Wes Anderson’s stop-motion adaptation of the Dahl classic. At The Nags Head Pub, Bill Murray pours pints for starstruck onlookers from behind the bar, as a small group of journalists sit around a table grilling Anderson on his animated opus. It seemed as good a moment as any to play My Favorite Scene with the director — though I must admit we never saw his answer coming.
Read the full story and watch the scene at Movieline.
Channel 4 sat down with Wes and Roald Dahl’s widow, Liccy Dahl to talk about Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Note: Any comments regarding the Polanski case, for or against, will not be approved and will not appear on the site. We aren’t out to censor anyone, we just feel this is not the proper forum for that debate. Thank you.
I think it’s pretty cowardly that you won’t address the ongoing case. Wes’s attitude towards women and girls safety should be considered a large part of his character and it’s not right to gloss over misogyny. It’s the main reason I won’t ever pay to see one of his, or anyone else who signed the petition, films every again.
I deeply respect your opinion. I wish we could allow open discussion of the issue on the site; however, it quickly devolved out of the realm of civil discussion and into hateful attacks. You can still see the debate over at the forum (the relevant thread is public and open, but locked). Sorry to disappoint you.
You know, I’ve been following this site everyday for a while because I am a fan of Wes movies and excited to see FMF. I don’t even participate in the discussions but I will no longer be following this blog because I have to agree that it is cowardly that you guys are shying away from controversy. I love Wes’ movies, but I get the impression that you guys are unable to consider that he may possibly have a flaw and be a human. It’s nauseating and unless i receive and email telling me that things have changed, this will be my last view.
Dave, I can’t speak for Edward but I think you misjudge our reasons for not tolerating any of the Polanski stuff at the site.
We had a post up about Wes signing the petition and received a lot of comments, an overwhelming majority of which telling us what a sick and depraved person Wes and all the other signers of the petition were for supporting Polanski and how they would never see another film of his or read this site ever again (almost entirely from people who do not regularly comment). Not exactly civil discourse, is it? We tried to allow discussion of the thing and it quickly devolved into something that was inappropriate for a site devoted to covering the films of Wes Anderson and their influence.
It’s far easier (you may say cowardly) to just end that particular discussion right now. What it comes down to is the fact that we don’t tread in gossip or speculating about the personal lives of filmmakers on the site. We don’t post about who they’re dating, what restaurant they were seen at with who, anything like that, and so we won’t allow speculating about Wes’ attitudes towards a criminal case that doesn’t involve him. By keeping the site free of the Polanski debate, we’re just going along with our policy of not writing about filmmakers personal lives, just as we wouldn’t write about their political affiliations or religious beliefs, it is out of the bounds of what we are willing to cover.
Believe me, no one who writes for this site thinks Wes is perfect or even thinks every on of Wes’ films are perfect. But if you’re reading this site, you probably like his films, we do too, which is why we like to discuss them. Why should it be on us to provide a place for the Polanski discussion? What bearing does that have on his films? I hope the readers of this site will appreciate that we’re merely trying to keep it about the movies, as I have tried recently and as Edward has done for a very long time. It’s why I read the site and why people tend to take us more seriously than a lot of fan sites.
It’s unfortunate if this is your last time viewing the page, we hope you change your mind, but, again speaking just for myself, this is the last time I will address this particular issue on the site.
You can speak for me.
I’m wondering if Liccy Dahl was the inspiration for the character of Madame D. in the Grand Budapest Hotel.