From the Guardian, full interview after the break.
Portrait of the artist: Wes Anderson, film director
Interview by Laura Barnett
What got you started?
Filming thrillers and jungle chases on Super 8 when I was about 10. I was trying to imitate Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars and, above all, Hitchcock. Watching The Man Who Knew Too Much made me realise that there was such a thing as a director.
What was your big breakthrough?
Making my first proper short, Bottle Rocket, with Owen Wilson on 16mm film when I was 23. Nobody was interested in it except [director and producer] James L Brooks, who picked it up and let us turn it into a full-length movie.
What have you sacrificed for your art?
Well, I’m 40 and I don’t have children yet. I do want to have them: perhaps I already would, if I wasn’t so involved with these movies.
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.
Dave Poland at Movie City News has a rather informal, half-hour interview with Wes on the Awards campaign trail. Click on the image below to find the interview, it will load automatically in Quicktime.
With the release of the French version of Fantastic Mr. Fox a mere two weeks away, we thought we’d share the poster for the for dubbed version. Click on the image below to view it full size.
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.
The Golden Tomato Awards were announced at Rotten Tomatoes today, and the third best reviewed wide release in the U.S. is none other than Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film is just barely behind the hits Star Trek and Up. Hopefully this will encourage people to see the film. Read the full list of winner at Rotten Tomatoes.