The Playlist blog has uncovered (via Film Music Reporter) a new release of Alexandre Desplat’s Academy Award nominated score from Fantastic Mr. Fox. The collection features unused music from Desplat’s score, recorded at the famous Abbey Road studios. You may remember that a a similar, albeit unofficial release was done of Mark Mothersbaugh’s music for The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic was done during the awards campaign, and that there was an official release of the Seu Jorge sessions done for the latter film aswell.

You can see a full tracklisting, along with links to purchase the collection, after the break.

1. Moving In
2. Mr. Fox In The Fields Medley
3. Trains
4. Side Car Escape
5. Shoot Out
6. Kristofferson
7. Plan B
8. Trains 2
9. Looking For Cider
10. Death Of Rat
11. Whack-Bat Majorette Ensemble
12. Canis Lupis
13. Trains 3
14. Rat Fight
15. Dig!
16. Mr. Fox’s Promenade
17. Three Farmers
18. Kristofferson 2
19. Boggis Bunce And Bean (Reprise)
20. Trains 4
21. Mr. and Mrs. Fox
22. Canis Lupus 2
23. Finale
24. Choir Boys Farewell (To The Puppets)

Amazon

iTunes

Rhapsody

We protest.

The A.V. Club recently sat down with Olivia Williams for their great “Random Roles” feature, and one of the films they talked about was, of course, Rushmore.

An except is below, with more after the cut. Read the full article here.

Rushmore (1998)—“Rosemary Cross”

AVC: Wes Anderson was still somewhat of an unknown filmmaker then. What was it like working with him?

OW: I was still in my “do what you’re told” phase, which I’m still pretty well in. It’s served me pretty well. As an actor, you’re just taking temperature. I am anyway, all the time, and responding appropriately. Have you seen Bill Murray’s subsequent film, Lost In Translation? That was what it was like. I was again cast very last-minute and met Wes, this quite physically and socially awkward man who didn’t really talk to me much, a precocious and intelligent young boy. And Bill Murray. And we were sort of left in this bizarre hotel together and taken to strange locations around Houston. That was quite an isolating experience. Again, a lot of fun, but I didn’t really know what was going on. [Laughs.] Bill was incredibly charming and funny and nice, but we were all in a strange vacuum.

AVC: Rushmore had a major impact on audiences. Did you feel like you were in something special?

OW: I am the worst judge of how a movie is going to do. I always have great and ambitious hopes, but none of them see the light of day. I loved Rushmore. I loved the script. I mean, that is what drew me to it, just the actual piece of literature the script is. But I never thought in a million years that anyone would see it or respond to it. It was an absolute joy that it was so loved and continues to be. The same with The Sixth Sense. I thought, “No one’s going to watch this. Bruce Willis hasn’t got a gun. There’s no shagging. Lovely story, sweet and profound about loss and death, but no one’s going to watch this.” [Laughs.] And I’m on record as having said “I’ve done this amazing movie that no one is going to see.” And then it stayed in the top 10 American films for about six months. So don’t ask me. I’m the most disastrous PR and marketing predictor.

AVC: There’s a great scene in Rushmore when you confront Max on what following through with his schoolboy crush would mean. Could you talk about how you played that scene?

OW: It was quite physically tough on Jason [Schwartzman, who played Max]. There’s a point when he falls back through chairs and a pile of boxes. It’s funny, when people want things to be very truthful and you’re dealing with an inexperienced actor. I’m of the school that believes things like that have to be very carefully choreographed. You need people there to say, “It’s going to happen like this.” And I remember feeling, “This isn’t the answer you want, but it’s the truth.” It was important that the scene remained disciplined and didn’t get out of control. But the other thing, which is the joy of my job, which keeps me sane, is when you get to be angry, you can be much angrier than you’re ever allowed to be in your own life. She’s a bitch in that scene, and I think I quite wanted to be a bitch that day, and I could, and people would say “Cut,” and that I did very well.

AVC: That scene in particular is reminiscent of Dollhouse, where your character also plays it pretty close to the vest, with moments of passionate emotional release. Have you noticed that kind of pattern with the characters you play?

OW: It’s the payoff, you know? It’s why you mustn’t show your subtext at any other time. It’s the fun bit. It’s the fun and games. The thing I get most angry about is when you audition for roles and they give you that scene. And you want to say, “No. This scene only works and can only be done if you have served your time holding your cards close to your chest. If you want me to cry and spray the room with snot and get angry, you’re just going to think that’s an ugly mess.” It’s only effective if you have hidden your subtext up until that point. That’s my philosophy on the matter.

A little story at The Hollywood Reporter about the contenders for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards.

Vote for Fantastic Mr. Fox in Moviefone’s Oscar poll!

From Fox Searchlight:

FANTASTIC MR. FOX director/co-writer/producer Wes Anderson sat down with Fox Searchlight’s own lovely Stephanie Allen, the basis of a video series in which Wes discusses various aspects of how FANTASTIC MR. FOX came to fruition. And the film’s now been nominated for two Academy Awards! Watch all eight videos here.

Wes On Author Roald Dahld (1/8)

More after the break…
Wes on the Characters and Actors (2/8)

Wes on What Makes Mr. Fox Fantastic (3/8)

Wes on the Film’s Art Direction (4/8)

Wes on the Music of Mr. Fox (5/8)

Wes on the Special Effects (6/8)

Wes on Directing Animation (7/8)

Wes on His Style and Artistic Vision (8/8)

Our favorite Wes parody is still the McCain ad.

via /Film, Yankee Racer Magnus Rushlee

via IMPAwards

This morning it was announced that Fantastic Mr. Fox received two Academy Award nominations, one for Best Animated Feature and another for Best Original Score. This is the second nomination Wes has received, after receiving a Best Original Screenplay nomination with Owen Wilson in 2002. But what are Fantastic Mr. Fox’s chances come Oscar time? We’ll take a look at that and get Wes’ reaction to the nominations after the break.

Along with Fantastic Mr. Fox, four films were nominated for Best Animated Feature, including Coraline directed by Wes’ The Life Aquatic collaborator Henry Selick, Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, Ireland’s The Secret of Kells, and Pixar’s Up. As we predicted, Up received a nomination in this category and a nomination for Best Picture. Assuming that Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up are the front-runners in the category (which we can), what this could mean for Fantastic Mr. Fox is a chance to win.

Voters for the Best Animated Feature category, unlike the Best Picture category, are required to see all five nominees.  This means that voters will definitely have to see Up, and what could happen is that those voters to decide to vote for Up in the Best Picture category and go with Fantastic  Mr. Fox in the Animated category.

Finally, AwardsDaily has a round-up of a lot of nominee reactions given to the media, and here’s Wes’.

I am very honored to have received an Oscar nomination for Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Roald Dahl’s classic story has been one of my favorite books since I first learned to read, and it was an amazing experience to work with my many, many very skilled collaborators and bring it to life as a stop-motion film! I would like to congratulate Alexandre Desplat, who wrote our wonderful score, for his nomination as well. – Wes Anderson, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Animated Feature

Let’s hope Wes wins, because hes’ getting pretty good at acceptance speeches.

An interesting article today from The A.V. Club on the philosophies of some of Bill Murray’s most famous characters, including Herman Blume from Rushmore.

The asceticism of Scrooged and Rushmore
As practiced by certain sects of Hinduism, Jainists, and even Christians who reject the ideas of “prosperity theology” (and actually, you know, listen to Jesus), asceticism involves a conscious abstaining from worldly pleasures in favor of focusing on one’s spiritual life. While he doesn’t end up wandering the desert in sackcloth eating only what may fall into his bowl, Murray does arrive at these basic tenets of asceticism in two of his most popular roles: In Scrooged, Murray’s Frank Cross is dedicated to success no matter the cost to his basic humanity, until a night of being tormented by spirits—who are really just manifestations of his own conscience—opens his eyes to the simpler joys of “putting a little love in your heart” and helping your fellow man. In Rushmore, Murray’s Herman Blume is a self-made tycoon with his own multimillion-dollar business and the lifestyle to match, yet he’s crippled by ennui, and despairing over the alienation he feels toward his family. Pursuit of a truer definition of love eventually tears his world apart—and wrecks him both financially and physically—but by movie’s end, Blume has undergone a total spiritual reawakening, and seems to have found happiness at last in his total unburdening.

Read the full article at The A.V. Club.