Beautiful animated short film by Thibault de Fournas about our auteur’s favorite font, Futura. Done in a charming mix French and English, Futura: Le Specimen Animé quickly chronicles the brief history of the font. Of course, Wes Anderson gets a reference.
Preview for Wes Anderson’s New Ad for Sony
Hot on the heels of two commericals for Hyundai comes this new commercial for Sony Xperia Smartphones. Using 9 custom sets, 37 hand-crafted models and over 10,000 man hours, Wes created a stop-motion animated commercial based on ‘the imagination of children.’
Wes’s commercial will be released March 24, 2012.
Interview with Mark Mothersbaugh
Wes Anderson favorite Mark Mothersbaugh recently sat down for an interview with Splitsider to talk about his time spent on Rugrats, his musical inspirations, and his song-writing process.
He also touched on the process of working with Wes:
“It was interesting,” Mothersbaugh continued. “Rarely are you involved that early in a project unless it’s a stage show, like a musical or something.”
The only other director that took this approach with Mothersbaugh, according to the composer, was Wes Anderson. “He sat in the studio with me and would be writing the script. And he’d say, ‘You know, I’m thinking about putting a composer on the boat with everybody. What kind of equipment would he be using? What kind of keyboards and recording equipment would he be using?’”
Noting that such a multi-disciplinary and collaborative way of working has only happened to him “a few times,” Mothersbaugh confessed that normally “you’re almost an after-thought on a lot of films. It’s the nature of the beast.”
Read the rest of the interview over on Splitsider.
(Photo of Mark and Wes after The Life Aquatic screening with BMI executives from here.)
New Moonrise Kingdom photos from Empire Magazine
From Empire Online
A new Wes Anderson film is always something to get excited about, and Moonrise Kingdom looks to be no exception. While the title might suggest that it’s a fantasy role-playing game, in fact it’s a star-studded story of young love. And a few new images have now hit the web to give us a clue what we’re in for.
The story concerns two 12 year-olds, Sam and Suzy (newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward), who fall in love during the summer of 1965 in New England. They make a secret pact and run away together – but a violent storm is building and there’s a frantic search to find them.
Bruce Willis joins Anderson’s ensemble as the local sheriff, Captain Sharp. Edward Norton plays a ‘Khaki Scout’ troop leader, Scout Master Ward. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand are Suzy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban.
In other words, the cast is ace and these pictures suggest that it has all of Anderson’s usual quirky charm, as you’d expect with him directing and co-writing with Roman Coppola.
Wanted: Unpaid interns
Call for contributors/editors
We are currently looking for Wes-obsessed film and culture aficionados to help edit and write contributing news articles and commentary for The Rushmore Academy. These are obviously unpaid positions, and you are responsible for obtaining your own glock. You will earn a line on your resume/CV, and we will be glad to write letters of reference/recommendation on some fancy-smancy letterhead. Contributors will also be recognized with a by-line and on our contributors page.
Blogging and/or writing experience is a plus but not required. E-mail a brief letter of interest, explaining why you are interested in contributing to the Rushmore Academy and what you bring to the (overhead shot) table, to edwardappleby@yankeeracers.org.
Rushmore Pins are here !
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Moonrise Kingdom limited release on May 25th!
Focus Features will release Wes Anderson’s latest film Moonrise Kingdom in limited release on May 25, 2012.
That is all.
Death and Dying in the Films of Wes Anderson
From Peter Tonguette’s new series on grief and mourning in film:
When I decided to have a look at Wes Anderson’s films for the first time since my father’s death, I wasn’t sure what to expect. In my mind’s eye, I pictured nothing but the joyous derring-do of Anderson’s protagonists, like Max Fisher leaving a case of bees in Herman Blume’s hotel room or Raleigh St. Clair listening to a private investigator’s report on his wife Margot Tenenbaum’s extramarital activities. As far as I was concerned, these movies represented the same thing Bringing Up Baby did: a happier time, now lost.
Read more at Press Play. Thanks to Matt Seitz for sending this along.
Happy Thanksgiving from the Rushmore Academy
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Clink!
FMF + Inglourious Basterds =
Thanks to 247comedy for this.