Working with Wes – An Insider’s Perspective

Quite simply put Wes Anderson is one of the most influential filmmakers of modern times, an auteur with enough raw imagination and vision to create unique tapestries of film. The price of uncompromising power over every detail to be executed immaculately? a reputation.

A recent article from The Daily Beast tells of how the cast of the upcoming The Grand Budapest Hotel felt working with the director on his latest feature, some of whom actors who have previously worked along side Anderson.

In the interview Willem Dafoe had this to say:

– “He’s so specific in what he sees and what he wants that you better give it to him, he’s tough.”

Jeff Goldblum adds:

– “I’ve gone to other movies and the director will go, ‘Oh maybe you are wearing this,’ and I’ll go ‘That’s a good idea but how about this? What if I have a hat or a thing?’ With him you don’t do that. You go: ‘What do I get to do in this?’ And he goes: ‘Here’s the thing, here’s the thing, here’s the thing.’ And you go, ok, so, that’s what you sign-up for too. And his ideas are so good. And his taste is so good that you go: ‘Oh, yes please.’”

Long time supporter and key go-to actor Bill Murray also commented on Wes’ filmmaking habits on set of The Grand Budapest Hotel in an article for Collider.

Murray:

– There wasn’t a whole hell of a lot that we shot that was wrong, because I mean, if you read the script, it’s pretty spare, you know? It’s pretty clean. The storytelling—he spends a lot of time and he’s obviously very specific about how he wants things to look and sound. So there’s not a lot of overage. He’s got a lot of tricky camera moves, so you shoot a lot of goofy takes, where the camera isn’t absolutely perfect, so you do it again. So that’s the only time—that’s the overage. That’s the extra time, is he takes a lot of time to get it perfect.

This isn’t the first time that actors working with Wes Anderson have expressed how meticulous and precious he is about everything from the script to the set dressing, every one of which having unquestionable faith in Anderson’s direction knowing that Wes knows exactly what he wants and what the result will be. As established as it is that Wes is a ‘hardass’ when it comes to directing, actors still jump at the chance to work with the masterful director, and audiences continue to relish their time spent in his worlds – The Grand Budapest Hotel opens March 7th.