The World of Wes Anderson
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Shocking news hot off the wire this morning: five bands that broke up before 1980 have not reunited. Oh yeah, and the Faces want to get back together again.Keyboardist Ian McLagan spilled his hopes and dreams for the planned revival to BBC 6 Music, including the possibility of brand new material from the 60-something group.
“We’re hoping to get together later this year, just to get together, to play and then we may have some news – but I want it to happen, badly,” McLagan said to BBC 6. “It’s gonna be great if it does happen.”
We love the Real Geezers, so here is their latest video review.
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Derek Hill is the author of the new book Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers, now available in the U.K. (Amazon | Waterstone’s | Blackwell ) and out soon in the U.S. ( Amazon ). He has agreed to write several pieces for the Academy.
First of all, I want to thank Mr. Appleby for inviting me here to blog and for graciously mentioning my book, Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers. The book is the first study of directors Richard Linklater, David O. Russell, Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze, Sofia Coppola, and Michel Gondry as a movement of filmmakers despite their varied aesthetic approaches– a sort of (new) American New Wave in the direct tradition of the French New Wave filmmakers. It’s currently available in the UK and will be released in the US in September.
Perusing the Rushmore Academy message boards, I was taken with the thread asking “how long have you been a Wes fan?” So as a way to introduce myself to the Rushmore Academy, I’ll give my own rambling two cents, but also I’d like to talk about the film that did it… the one that sent me head over heels in love with Anderson’s work.
Continue reading “Guest Blogger: Derek Hill on Wes Anderson”
(Margherita Missoni and Wes Anderson. Article after the break. URL.)
Continue reading “Wes sighting: “Surf and Turf” (Style.com)”
Wes-inspired? Based on Wes?
Thanks to Pam for this!
Derek Hill’s great new book, Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers: An Excursion Into the American New Wave, is out in the U.K. and coming soon to North America. More soon…
(Click to pre-order: for Americanos)
(Britishers, Little Englanders, and other UK residents, order: Amazon | Waterstone’s | Blackwell)
Entertainment Weekly ranked Rushmore #22 on its recent “New Classics” list of films made between 1983 and 2008.
Wes Anderson’s breakthrough comedy is, like its predecessor The Graduate, a mannered, idiosyncratic, and hilarious coming-of-age tale that makes amazing use of its rock soundtrack and features a decidedly odd love triangle: Bill Murray’s middle-aged businessman, Olivia Williams’ widowed teacher, and, of course, Jason Schwartzman’s ardent schoolboy.
We find the list objectionable on multiple fronts. Where are the other Wes Anderson films? And, Titanic and Die Hard both made the top 10. Hmm… but nice to see Rushmore recognized…
(sorry for the lack of updates as of late… more soon!)
GOOD Magazine has a great set of mini-essays/interviews on one of my favorite directors, Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude).
Jason on Harold and Maude:
He was the first actor that I ever felt close to. And I also think that I had never seen a film that was happy and sad and funny all at once. I was used to clear-cut genres. This is a Comedy. This is Drama. Harold and Maude, to my 17-year-old mind, was a whole new place. Anything could happen. I guess my life just kind of made sense to me in a single moment. I felt not so bad. And I watched it over and over while making Rushmore (thank you, Mom).
Wes on The Last Detail:
Whenever I am getting ready to make a movie I look at other movies I love in order to answer the same recurring question: How is this done, again? I can never seem to remember, and I don’t mean that to be glib. I also hope people don’t throw it back in my face. Making a movie is very complicated, and it seems like kind of a miracle when it actually works out. Hal Ashby made five or six great movies in a row, and that seems to be practically unheard of.
Thanks to reader j. for this link.