The really great “making of” documentary for Rushmore by Eric Chase Anderson, thanks to elkemonkey’s YouTube channel.
In defense of The Brothers Bloom / In praise of Bill Murray
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’.
“Being Bill Murray” T-Shirt
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.
Press notes and credits for Fantastic Mr. Fox
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.
—
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.
Continue reading “Press notes and credits for Fantastic Mr. Fox”
On the trail of Mr. Fox
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
Bill Murray talks the Fox
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
Bill Murray, Poet
From this week’s Studio 360, from Public Radio International: Bill Murray at a Poets House event in New York.
Bravo, Bill.
“5 Signs You’re Watching a Wes Anderson Movie” (OMG Lists)
Nice post from OMG Lists, a site that apparently specializes in… lists? Nothing earth-shattering here, but worth a look.
The text is reproduced below, but be sure to visit the original post for video evidence.
—
He’s one of indie filmmaking’s biggest names. If you ever find yourself watching a film you’re not sure who directed… here’s a checklist of signs to know you’re watching one of Anderson’s films.
5- Bill Murray Being Serious
If you’re seeing this comic king in a movie that was made in the past ten years it’s probably a Wes Anderson movie. Of the last fifteen film projects Murray has done four have been with Anderson. It was his role in “Rushmore” that made him an indie-film darling with such directors as Jim Jarmusch and Sofia Coppola. Murray has a strong commitment to Anderson, backing up the director by pulling out of his own pocket to help shoot a scene and also working for free in “The Royal Tenenbaums”. Their film relationship has produced some interesting film experiences as well as a partnership of respect and comradeship.
4- Slow Motion Endings
In all but one of his films, Anderson has ended with the slow motion shot. We saw Dignan leaving for prison in “Bottle Rocket”, Max’s Dance with Miss Cross in “Rushmore”, Royal Tenenbaums’s funeral, and Steve Zissou walk the red carpet all in slow motion into the end credits. It’s a signature style that Anderson has replicated in most of his films. Also notice the credits, first name in lower and uppercase but the last name is always uppercase. The only movie that broke the slow motion ending tradition? “The Darjeeling Limited,” which began with a slow motion shot of Peter Whitman barely making the namesake train.
Continue reading ““5 Signs You’re Watching a Wes Anderson Movie” (OMG Lists)”
Wes & Jason on the Reel Geezers, India, Mr. Fox, and Bottle Rocket on Criterion
Help get/keep The Darjeeling Limited on the Yahoo! Buzz Index of most popular searches by clicking here.
Wes and Jason were on CBC’s The Hour last night (video). Wes promised that Hotel Chevalier will be added to The Darjeeling Limited print in Canada.
Ain’t It Cool has a great interview with Wes and Jason, including Wes’ confirmation of a Criterion Collection edition of Bottle Rocket. Some highlights:
[about this]. Roman said they are both very smart, and he really liked them. And the old man said that he liked these brothers, that the movie is from their point of view traveling through India. And she doesn’t like them, but she also felt that the film exploited people in India. And I always feel like, that makes me unhappy to hear anybody say that because we went to India because I was fascinated with this country. We fell in love with it. We are tourists there; that’s all we can ever be there. But we’re tourists who are very interested in this culture and learning about it. It’s a place where people who go there and like it tend to love it, and the people who love it tend to want to go back. There is more religion, more variety of religion, more practice of religion, more rituals there than any place else I’ve ever experienced. I think that’s why people go on pilgrimages there because it’s a place where, if you’re open to it and interested it will genuinely have quite and impact on you just because of the intensity of the place. I’ve always found that I had very emotional experiences there, but then you get sensitive and wonder if that sounds kind of naive. I don’t know. I just hate to sound self-protective and defensive; I’d rather just express our real feelings about it….
It’s taken us a long time to get this [Fantastic Mr. Fox] going, but we finally got it going. Noah Baumbach and I adapted it. George Clooney is going to play Mr. Fox. We’ve just started working on it in England, and it’s going. We have a guy named Mark Gustafson directing the animation. Henry [THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS] Selick was going to do it originally but over time that didn’t work out because Henry has his own thing he’s directing [CORALINE, based on Neil Gaiman’s novel]….
I think the closest thing to compare it to is that Eastern European stuff, because the animals are going to have fur, and the sets are meant to look kind of like real life. So it’s more in the vein….
[about the Criterion Collection DVD] That’s right. We just have to do a lot of work to prepare it, but that’s in the works. I was supposed to do a bunch of stuff already that I didn’t do yet, so I’m going to get on it though. But some of the stuff is at my mother’s house in Texas, so I have to go to Texas and dig through all my boxes, because there’s materials for the movies that I haven’t looked at in a long, long time. And we want to try and include everything that might be good….
Jason’s new album Nighttiming is available as an MP3 download on Amazon.com. Buy it here — it supports the site.
New markets this weekend; Jack’s shoes; and production video with and post from designer Mark Friedberg
Go see The Darjeeling Limited this weekend! It opens in thirteen new markets today:
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Philadelphia
San Diego
Seattle
Baltimore
Denver
Minneapolis
Phoenix
Austin
Portland
Hartford/New Haven
Vancouver
Montreal
Head on over to the Yankee Racers forum, and discuss why Jack doesn’t wear shoes.
Watch this great production video, then read the production designer Mark Friedberg’s “personal experience” from the Media Alerts below.
Media alerts
- “Calling in a favor,” Wes and Roman talk about Bill Murray as the Businessman (Boston Now
- Wes and Jason will be guests on WHYY’s Radio Times, Friday, October 12th at 10 am (if you miss it live, NPR updates their audio archive for the show around 1.30 pm)
- Production designer Mark Friedberg’s “Personal Experience” in Huffington Post
- “Brewed with Music” at Portfolio.com:
Wes wanted to have a unified sort of sensibility, and those [Kinks] songs appear in the film at three critical moments: one at the head of the film, one in the middle of the movie and then one at the end of the film.
More soon…