The World of Wes Anderson
CHUD.com has an article about The Darjeeling Limited. Nothing much new, except this quote from New York Film Festival director Richard Pena:
It represents a big step for Wes. I hate to use the word ‘matured,’ but the humor and whimsy he uses is sharper, better focused and used more effectively.
Fox Searchlight now lists the New York release date of The Darjeeling Limited as September 29 (one night after its premiere at the New York Film Festival). How this changes the release schedule, we don’t know.
Release: September 29, 2007
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola
Produced by: Scott Rudin, Lydia Pilcher, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Cast: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason SchwartzmanTHE DARJEELING LIMITED starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman is an emotional comedy about three brothers re-forging family bonds. The eldest, played by Wilson, hopes to reconnect with his two younger siblings by taking them on a train trip across the vibrant and sensual landscape of India.
URLs: Fox Searchlight page; official announcement about New York Film Festival
According to indieWIRE, Wes Anderson’s fifth film, The Darjeeling Limited will open the 2007 New York Film Festival (September 28-October 14, 2007).
Wes Anderson‘s “The Darjeeling Limited,” will open the 45th New York Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced Wednesday evening…. Notably, screenings this year will be held at the Time Warner Center’s new Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, due to ongoing renovations at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. However, opening night again take place at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.
The Royal Tenenbaums premiered at the 2001 festival.
URL: New York Film Festival (Film Society of Lincoln Center)
Danny Leigh has written a good (if skeptical) piece about Mr. Fox and Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are over on the Guardian Unlimited (U.K.) film blog:
Those of us with kids or a childish disposition (put me down for both) may have already noted with some excitement that Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox is being adapted for the screen… optimistic fool that I am, I can’t help feeling there’s something intangibly right about it. In part, it will be refreshing to see Anderson’s baroque sensibility applied not to the overfamiliar features of Bill Murray but to animated wildlife. It will also be a delight simply to witness one of Dahl’s finest yarns – in which the titular hero outwits the brutish farmers Bunce, Boggis and Bean – being transposed to the cinema.
URL: I can’t wait for Fantastic Mr. Fox’s screen debut
Some dug-up tapes of Nick Drake’s music (featured in The Royal Tenenbaums) are being released in a new album called Family Tree (rel. 10 July). According to Paste:
Featuring lo-fi home recordings that predate his haunting 1969 debut, Five Leaves Left, the 28-track Family Tree makes a compelling argument for the continued excavation of Drake’s oeuvre (July 07, pg. 95).
You can pre-order this album (and support this site) at Amazon.com:
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And, speaking of the fine publication Paste, I have discovered that back issues are available for purchase, including…
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From the most recent edition of Entertainment Weekly (June 29, pg. 22), a lovely scan, including great pictures, from our pals over at NataliePortman.com: (link)
David Poland wonders:
Is The Darjeeling Limited Fox Searchlight’s secret weapon of 2007 or just a happy Wes Anderson comedy? (link)
Jake Coyle, writing for the AP, argues that the last decade of film has been far better than the AFI Top 100 suggests:
According to the American Film Institute’s new list of the 100 greatest films, the last 10 years have produced only four great ones: “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (No. 50), “Saving Private Ryan” (No. 71), “Titanic” (No. 83) and “The Sixth Sense” (No. 89).
I get bloated just typing those titles. Granted, the last 10 years have been a historically weak period for films. They can’t touch Hollywood’s golden era of the ’40s, or the heralded ’70s, when maverick directors roamed the studios.
But surely, there’s been more to see in the last decade than Haley Joel Osment whispering “I see dead people.” (Pssst: I’ve seen better movies.)…
Wes Anderson’s classically quirky comedy “Rushmore” is far more than a cult flick. In a long comic lineage of oddballs, Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) tops them all.
Many others that weren’t on the ballot are also deserving. Two that could sit comfortably on the shelf next to “Rushmore” are “Election” and the Coen brothers'”The Big Lebowski.” The latter rises to the level of classic — after all, its whole premise is film noir held up to the funhouse mirror of “The Dude.” (link)
Jeffrey Wells dished up some harsh criticism of Wes in relation to his sometimes-collaborator Noah Baumbach. You can read it here, if you’d like. I would like to hear your comments over on the message board.
An Afternoon with Henry Selick
Saturday, 30 June
2.00-3.30 pm
Newmark Theatre (Portland, Oregon)
Mr. Selick worked with Wes on The Life Aquatic. He was scheduled to work with Wes on The Fantastic Mr. Fox, though some sources have cast doubt on this collaboration. His current project is called Coraline. If anyone plans to attend, please report any Wes related news to webmaster@rushmoreacademy.com.
URL: festival website
The (alleged) script for The Fantastic Mr. Fox (March 2007 edit) has been floating around. There was also an (alleged) script for The Darjeeling Limited (at natalieportman.com no less), which has been removed. I have no sense of how developed these scripts are (or if they are legitimate). I don’t plan to post any of these on the site (for personal and legal reasons). There has been some discussion of this subject as of late on the forum.
The script for Wes Anderson‘s stop-motion animated film, “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” has leaked. The follow-up to the-not-yet-released, “The Darjeeling Limited, ” Anderson and ‘Life Aquatic’ c0-writer, Noah Baumbach adapted the script from the original Roald Dahl children’s novel. George Clooney and Cate Blanchett will voice the lead characters and rumors have it that Anjelica Huston and Jason Schwartzman will join the cast. Celebrated animator Henry Selick, apparently the real force behind “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” was scheduled to work on the film, but has allegedly moved on to other projects (namely Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline”).
URL: The Playlist blog (story)*
I really hope that the news about Henry Selick isn’t true (he is still listed as part of the project at IMDB.com). We, of course, recommend that you read the ‘fantastic’ Roald Dahl book:
* Rodrigo also notes on his blog that Noah Baumbach’s forthcoming (October 12th) Margot at the Wedding will star Jack Black, Nicole Kidman, John Turturro, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
A really interesting article at Daily Film Dose (a great site, by the way) lists the Anderson-Yeoman collaboration as one of the ‘great cinematographer-director relationships’:
Yeoman and Anderson’s films are so distinct, one frame of one of their films is immediately distinguishable as their own. They love their wideangle, anamorphic frames, extremely overcranked slo-mo and lush saturated colours. Look for “The Darjeeling Limited” hopefully later this year.
URL: the article at Daily Film Dose
One other tidbit…
Robyn Cohen (The Life Aquatic) is the star of a new direct-to-Internet feature length film, called Zzyzx (Zi-zux). The concept is interesting (I haven’t checked out the film yet, though. Post your comments if you have.).
URL: Story about the film in the Sun Chronicle
URL: Film site
According to The Hollywood Reporter, George Clooney and Cate Blanchett are in talks to provide their vocal talents to Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox as Mr. and Mrs. Fox, respectively. Wes is currently editing The Darjeeling Limited in New York, and he will go to London to film Mr. Fox when he is finished.
More at Coming Soon.
