The World of Wes Anderson
The Saturday issue of The Guardian will include a free audiobook 
of Fantastic Mr. Fox, as read by the author. More information at their site.
If you feel left out stateside, you can download a free 15 minute sample of the audiobook at iTunes (warning: will open iTunes).
Movieline sat down with Wes and asked him about his favorite movie scene. His pick might rile up some more unpleasant comments, but please let’s focus on the movies people, always the movies.
The Scene: Great Missenden, about an hour outside of London — the Platonic ideal of the English countryside village, lined with perfectly tended row houses and gardens. It’s home to Roald Dahl’s estate and the Roald Dahl Museum, which today is overrun by international press who’ve gathered to interview the cast and crew of Fantastic Mr. Fox— Wes Anderson’s stop-motion adaptation of the Dahl classic. At The Nags Head Pub, Bill Murray pours pints for starstruck onlookers from behind the bar, as a small group of journalists sit around a table grilling Anderson on his animated opus. It seemed as good a moment as any to play My Favorite Scene with the director — though I must admit we never saw his answer coming.
Read the full story and watch the scene at Movieline.
Channel 4 sat down with Wes and Roald Dahl’s widow, Liccy Dahl to talk about Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Note: Any comments regarding the Polanski case, for or against, will not be approved and will not appear on the site. We aren’t out to censor anyone, we just feel this is not the proper forum for that debate. Thank you.
Apple has posted a second behind-the-scenes look at Fantastic Mr. Fox, exploring “The World of Roald Dahl.”
“Welcome to the Dahl House”
August 18th, 2002 – New York Times
By Wes Anderson
My brothers and I grew up reading Roald Dahl’s stories. Our mother had gotten us nameplates to put in our books, and we used to steal one another’s copies of ”Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and ”The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” tear out the other’s nameplates and replace them with our own. Dahl was our favorite.
For me the best were ”Danny the Champion of the World” and ”Fantastic Mr. Fox.”
Last year I decided to find out what it would take to make a movie from ”Mr. Fox.” I arranged to meet with Dahl’s wife, Felicity, or Liccy, who runs the Dahl estate and helps to produce the films, operas, etc., that have come from his books.
She is a very charming and energetic woman, with an infectious enthusiasm for her husband’s work. She invited me to Gipsy House. I knew about Dahl’s residence in Great Missenden near Oxford, and I was especially eager to see the tiny hut where he wrote for four hours each day in an armchair with a green-felt-upholstered board across his lap for a desk.
Continue reading “From the vault: “Welcome to the Dahl House””