Jacob Weisberg sat down with Wes for an extended interview to discuss his auteur style, his commercials as mini-movies, stop-motion animation, and the pleasures of working with Bill Murray, along with answering Slate reader questions for the Conversations with Slate series. Two installments have been released so far, with others to be added as the week goes on (and TRA will be there to update this post!)
Here is the first installment, in which he discusses the casting of the adolescent leads, his childhood experiences, and his love-affair with Francois Truffaut:
See the second installment after the jump.
Continue reading »
Esteemed French cinema journal Cahiers du Cinéma, once home to nouvelle vague pioneers Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and Eric Rohmer, among others, has named Fantastic Mr. Fox the #5 film of 2010. The film received general release in France on February 17, 2010. To read more about the French release, please visit our older posts on the matter.
The full top ten is after the jump.
Below we have a video of Wes and Noah Baumbach at the New York Public Library (before a great talk), discussing the writing process and filming eachother. More after the break. Continue reading »
As you may know, Fantastic Mr. Fox was released today on DVD and Blu-Ray. Below are links to purchase at Amazon, by purchasing through our links you’re helping to support the site.
If you happen to purchase either the DVD or Blu-Ray today, let us know what you think in the comments.
For more information the two releases, take a look at our earlier post, and enjoy!
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.
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.
It’s official:
Animated Film:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
I have seen 1, 2 and 5 – excellent competition. Good luck, Wes!
Also:
Best Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up
via Vulture
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