The Rushmore Academy

9 October 2008

Bill Murray talks the Fox

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

4 October 2008

Register to vote; verify your registration

For our U.S. readers:

We don’t normally use this forum to political ends, but we must encourage you to register to vote. If you already are, please verify your registration. The registration deadline for the vital state of Ohio is Monday, October 6.

Use this nifty tool to find information on your state and locality and to verify your registration.

To talk politics, visit the “All Things Political” thread on the Yankee Racers forum.

4 October 2008

Yankee Journal vol. 1: deadline extended

Call for Submissions

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the premiere of Rushmore, the film that inspired this site, the Rushmore Academy will release the first issue of our online art and literary Yankee Journal this fall (early October). Submissions should be inspired by the films of Wes Anderson but need not be about Mr. Anderson or his films (they, of course, can be). Accepted submissions will include, but are not limited to:

Graphic art (of any genre or type, submitted as a PNG, JPG, etc)
Poetry
Short story
Essay (including film critiques and reviews)
A little one act

By submitting your entry, you give us permission to publish it online. Your work will be subject to the same Creative Commons license that the site uses. We will not sell your entry nor use it for any purpose other than the stated one.

Submissions must be submitted by midnight on October 31, 2008 to edwardappleby@yankeeracers.org. Only selected entries will be used in the journal. Thank you.

3 October 20083 October 2008

Wes revisited in new American Express commercial

I love this line. My project was to find beauty in the flaws and vice versa.

(P.S. I love John Cleese)

28 September 2008

Wes in Rome

Variety writes that Wes will be appearing onstage at the Rome Film Festival next month:

Anderson is coming on behalf of Martin Scorsese‘s The Film Foundation to present a new print of Albert Levin’s 1951 fantasy “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman,” starring Ava Gardner and James Mason, restored by the foundation in tandem with the Rome fest.

The Rome Film Festival will be Oct 22-31.

27 September 2008

Paul Newman, 1925-2008

From the New York Times:

Paul Newman, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, died Friday at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 83.

The cause was cancer, said Jeff Sanderson of Chasen & Company, Mr. Newman’s publicist.

If Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the defiant American male as a sullen rebel, Paul Newman recreated him as a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy.

He acted in more than 65 movies over more than 50 years, drawing on a physical grace, unassuming intelligence and good humor that made it all seem effortless. Yet he was also an ambitious, intellectual actor and a passionate student of his craft, and he achieved what most of his peers find impossible: remaining a major star into craggy, charismatic old age.

19 September 2008

Glory can’t fade if it is permanent

Talk about school spirit…

13 September 200813 September 2008

Help hurricane victims in Texas…

American Red Cross

(pictures of Houston from the recent Houston Chronicle article on the 10th anniversary of Rushmore)

(more after the break)

Continue reading “Help hurricane victims in Texas…”

10 September 200810 September 2008

Wes Anderson to redo ‘Mon meilleur ami’?

From Variety.

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment has set Wes Anderson to write “My Best Friend,” a remake of the 2006 Patrice Leconte-directed French comedy “Mon meilleur ami.” Anderson is also eying the project as a directing vehicle.

Brian Grazer and Agnes Mentre will produce. Rosalie Swedlin will be executive producer.

The French pic starred Daniel Auteuil as a cranky antiques dealer who learns at a dinner with his closest acquaintances that none of them really like him because of his harsh manner and selfishness. When his business partner bets him a valuable vase that he can’t produce a best friend, the dealer tries to get an amiable cab driver to pose as his buddy.

Pic marks Anderson’s first collaboration with Imagine, which releases the Ron Howard-directed “Frost/Nixon” on Dec. 5 and the Clint Eastwood-directed “Changeling” on Oct. 24 through Universal and “Angels & Demons” on May 15 through Sony.

Anderson just completed directing an animated adaptation of Roald Dahl novel “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” with 20th Century Fox Animation.

UTA reps Anderson and sold remake rights on the film to Universal.