Sources: HuffPost , Getty, @eldiabolik, @BFI, Mark Romanek (via Edgar Wright), @debbsperks

Some video. A bit more.

The BFI London Film Festival is under way tomorrow, with the world debut of Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox! This is an ongoing post. Watch for updates.

Here is Wes talking about the film and addressing the “directing controversy” (Hollywood Elsewhere):

More with Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray…

More:

• Jason talks to the Beeb.
• Junketeer narratives: Hollywood Elsewhere | Hot Blog

Please note that Tristan Oliver’s earlier comments were removed at his request.

Here’s to Herman Blume, Raleigh St. Clair, Steve Zissou, The Businessman, and The Badger.

The really great “making of” documentary for Rushmore by Eric Chase Anderson, thanks to elkemonkey’s YouTube channel.

From Cinematical:

Long awaited in the wake of his 2005 debut Brick, Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom is a magic trick of a film; the second it’s over, you want to see it again so you can try to catch how you were tricked, but you also want to see it again so you can return to the joy and wonder of being wrapped up in the nimble, deck-shuffling hands of a born showman. Watching it at first, some of The Brothers Bloom’s creative and thematic elements seem like they’re on loan from Paul Thomas Anderson (opening narration by Ricky Jay, pop-whiz-bang camera work, the troubled-but-tender relationship between the two brothers) while others feel as if they’ve been cribbed from Wes Anderson (deadpan confessions, whimsical set design, a parallel-universe setting where people still travel to Europe by steamship). The truth is, as much as The Brothers Bloom may feel like it’s cribbing from other films at first, this is Rian Johnson’s movie, and even if my more dreary and discerning critical faculties told me the final act goes on, perhaps, a beat too long, my inner moviegoer was sitting bolt upright, smiling, bright-eyed and carried away.

NME has a great tribute to Bill Murray:

Wes Bill – ‘Rushmore’ (1998)
In Wes Anderson, Bill found a director whose phonecall he actually wanted to return. As well as this, the best ‘high school film not about high school’ he went on to accept invitations to ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’, ‘The Life Aquatic’ and even popped up (all too briefly) in ‘The Darjeeling Limited’. So that’ll be every film (bar his debut) that Wes has ever made. What a lucky bugger.  See also – Those films I just listed above and this year’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’.

Read more…

The good people at /Film have posted another Bill Murray inspired piece of art, this time a t-shirt by artist Paul O’Sullivan called “Being Bill Murray.” This isn’t the first time Murray’s diverse career has inspired an artist.

The shirt includes three of the four characters Murray has played for Wes Anderson (from left to right): Raleigh St. Clair (The Royal Tenenbaums), Herman Blume (Rushmore), and Steve Zissou (The Life Aquatic with…). No spot for The Businessman from The Darjeeling Limited? What’s the deal?

You can click the picture below to see a bigger version and order one for yourself. (That is, if you’re either a small or an x-large. All other sizes are unfortunately out of stock.)

Murray can currently be seen in his third film with director Jim Jarmusch The Limits of Control which is in limited release and will be expanding throughout the month.

from Hollywood.blog (Netherlands):

These are said to be the press notes and credits for Fantastic Mr. Fox. I cannot absolutely confirm their authenticity at this point but have no reason to believe that they are are a fabrication.

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Based on the beloved story by Roald Dahl, the film tells the tale of the noble, charming and fantastic Mr. Fox, who uses his wits and cunning to outfox three dimwitted farmers who tire of sharing their chickens with the crafty creature.

“Boggis and Bunce and Bean.  One short, one fat, one lean.  These horrible crooks, so different in looks, were nonetheless equally mean.”

Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited) directs the stop-motion animation of Roald Dahl’s much loved children’s book. Fantastic Mr. Fox is voiced by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Michael Gambon, and scheduled for release in the fall of 2009.

Read the rest of this entry…

This intelligence report is a community effort. Comment, tweet (@rushmoreacademy), or e-mail additions and corrections. I will add them to the post. Discuss the Fox over at the Yankee Racers forum!

Released by Fox Animation Studios (originally Revolution Studios)

Release date: November 6, 2009

Directed by Wes Anderson
Novel by Roald Dahl
Screenplay by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach

Animation by Mark Gustafson (originally Henry Selick)

Music by
Alexandre Desplat, composer (The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Jarvis Cocker

Cinematograpy by Tristan Oliver (Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run)

CAST
George Clooney as Mr. Fox
Cate Blanchett as Mrs. Fox
Bill Murray as the Badger
Jason Schwartzman
Anjelica Huston
Meryl Streep

Read the rest of this entry…

From ComingSoon.net:

Q: What is your role in Wes Anderson’s upcoming animated “Fantastic Mr. Fox”?

Murray: I’ll be playing the badger.

Q: What is your badger voice?

Murray: Unfortunately, my badger… I worked really, really hard on a Wisconsin accent, ’cause I thought that would be an appropriate badger voice. And for the first couple scenes I did this Wisconsin badger voice that I thought was so funny. I did the first couple scenes and then Wes goes, “Nah, I don’t think so. I would think it’s kind of a Savile Row badger.” Who here has seen a badger walkin’ down Savile Row? Anybody? (Laughter) Yeah. That’s what I said. But these are these new directors. You know, you just gotta give ‘em their… you know, let ‘em hang themselves. I’ve seen some pictures of it. I think it’s old-fashioned ’cause it’s taking ‘em a very long time to get it done, but they’re very excited (complete interview).

Other articles of interest:

“Nico: the return of the rock’n'roll star” from The Independent (U.K.)

“After divorce, Bill Murray looks for renewal” from Associated Press

From this week’s Studio 360, from Public Radio International: Bill Murray at a Poets House event in New York.

Bravo, Bill.