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kottke.org posts about Wes Anderson
Faux Wes Anderson commercial
For a student project (a fake Wes Anderson film festival), Alex Cornell and Phil Mills shot a promotional short in the style of The Royal Tenenbaums.
More information on how it was made is here. (thx, alex)
Update: Here are the rest of the materials for the film festival. This is an awesome project.
Wes Anderson, annotated
Matt Zoller Seitz has completed his five-part look at Wes Anderson’s influences.
Part 1: Bill Melendez, Orson Welles, and Francois Truffaut
Part 2: Martin Scorsese, Richard Lester, and Mike Nichols
Part 3: Hal Ashby
Part 4: J.D. Salinger
Part 5: The Royal Tenenbaums, annotated
Seek out the video links in the right sidebar; they’re better than just reading the text. From the Salinger segment:
Detractors say Anderson’s dense production design (courtesy of regular collaborator David Wasco) overwhelms his stories and characters. This complaint presumes that in real life our grooming and style choices aren’t a kind of uniform — visual shorthand for who we are or who we want others to think we are. This is a key strength of both Anderson and Salinger’s work. Both artists have a knack for what might be called “material synecdoche” — showcasing objects, locations, or articles of clothing that define whole personalities, relationships, or conflicts.
The fifth part, where Seitz annotates the beginning segment of The Royal Tenenbaums with text, images, and video, is particularly fun to watch.
The Royal Tenenbaums and Infinite Jest
[Ed note: This is a piece by Matt Bucher, written a few years ago for the now-defunct andbutso.com. Reprinted with permission.]
The Royal Tenenbaums (RT) opens with a shot of a book, titled The Royal Tenenbaums, and immediately a narrator (Alec Baldwin) begins to read the opening paragraph of the book. Throughout the film, we are led to believe that this narrator is reading us the story of the book The Royal Tenenbaums. While that prose-form screenplay serves as the narration, I believe that another book, Infinite Jest (IJ), manages to influence the film in a number of general and specific parallels. In no way could I substantiate the claim that Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson have read Infinite Jest or that they are in any way aware of the specific connections between their film and Wallace’s book (or even that Anderson and Wilson are the exclusive authors of the RT screenplay). {However, Anderson and Wilson are natives of Austin, TX and DFW wrote in a postcard to Rachel Andre [2001] that he loves Austin — “especially the bat caves at sunset”.} Taken piece-by-piece, it seems clear that any correlation between IJ and RT is coincidental at best. However, considered as a whole, the resemblances between the two reach the heights of the uncanny.
Rather than provide a close reading of all 1,079 pages of Infinite Jest, I will look here only at those sections pertaining to the mirror-image of the Tenenbaum family, mostly the Incandenza family.
“The Royal Tenenbaums” is the story of a family, and, as the movie opens, we are introduced to its members. The children — all prodigies in their own right — are Margot, the adopted, but award-winning playwright; Richie, the tennis champion; and Chas, the real-estate and business tycoon. The patriarch of the family, Royal, and his wife, Etheline, separated immediately after the children were born and two decades of betrayal, deceit, and failure, erased the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums.
In IJ, the parallel family of the Tenenbaums is the Incandenzas. When we meet the Incandenza family we learn matriarch and patriarch are no longer married, but unlike Royal and Etheline, who split for obvious personality differences, James O. Incandenza (JOI) and Avril M. Incandenza (AMI) are no longer married because JOI is dead. Like the Tenenbaums, the Incandenzas produced three offspring: Orin, the womanizing tennis-prodigy turned football punter; Hal, eidetic tennis prodigy; and Mario, kind-hearted, bradykinetic, homodontic dwarf. There are qualities of each Incandenza that correspond to qualities and traits found in the Tenenbaums, but also the correspondence falls outside of the two families to the extended families of in-laws and friends (Eli Cash, Dudley, Raleigh St. Claire, Pagoda, etc.). Here is a quick run-down.
Marlon Bain is a regular fixture at the Incandenza residence as a child, just as Eli Cash, as a child, is a regular fixture at the Tenenbaum residence. Eli admits that he always wanted to be a Tenenbaum, but one gets the feeling that Marlon Bain got away from the Incandenzas as soon as possible. Eli sleeps with Margot (Richie’s sister and object of Richie’s affections), but in IJ, Orin sleeps with Bain’s sister (without there being any apparent affection involved — witnessed by Orin’s classification of her as just another “Subject”). Eli is eccentric at the very least, but Bain suffered from “the kind of OCD you need treatment for” (similar to Avril’s compulsions).
Margot Tenenbaum loses a finger to an axe, just as Trevor Axford loses a finger (or two) to a fireworks incident.
Margot Tenenbaum is a long-term smoker, who hides this from everyone, just as Hal Incandenza is a regular pot smoker who hides this fact from almost everyone.
Richie Tenenbaum is a tennis prodigy, just as Hal and Orin Incandenza were; and Richie’s on-court breakdown could be compared to Hal’s near loss to Stice or Pemulis’s dosing of his opponent or pretty much any other breakdown in the book.
One child in each family produces a drama: Margot Tenenbaum and Mario Incandenza.
The suicide attempt of Richie Tenenbaum seems reminiscent of Joelle Van Dyne’s, as both take place alone in a bathroom.
Both JOI and Royal Tenenbaum have rival suitors (Tavis, for one, and Mr. Henry for Etheline) and both patriarchs die in the course of the book / movie.
Eli Cash is a drug addict of the highest type, much like Gately, Hal, and the varied addicts of IJ. Eli is nonchalant about his drug use, but also feels the need to hide it from those closest to him.
The Incandenzas have a dog loved primarily by a family member (S. Johnson and Avril) as do the Tenenbaums (Buckley by Ari and Uzi). Both dogs die.
Chas subjects Ari and Uzi to Schtitt-like physical-education routines. The sight of Ari and Uzi in their jogging suits, doing endless calisthenics, brings to mind the ETA students pushed to their limits during star drills.
There is incest (Richie and Margot Tennenbaum; Avril and Tavis). Although Royal would be quick to point out that Richie and Margot are not technically blood related since Margot is adopted, Richie feels the incest taboo. Avril’s taboo is more Gertrude than Margot, one gets the feeling that Avril would find Etheline Tenenbaum to be a kindred spirit. Avril’s misdeeds with John NR Wayne (off-screen except one illicit interruption) seem similar to Margot’s being caught with Eli Cash in her bedroom. Although Avril isn’t Wayne’s teacher, Anderson did address that subject in “Rushmore.”
The first article to address the relationship between The Royal Tenenbaums and IJ is this one. While Sidney Moody plays up some of the basic similarities, I take issue with his/her assumption that Avril “fends off many suitors after Dr. Incandenza’s death” (and there is little evidence that Royal Tenenbaum was a “once-brilliant litigator”). Moody also equates Eli Cash to Don Gately because they both have drug problems and Cash’s friends try to force him into rehab, but I see a closer comparison to be Eli Cash and Marlon Bain, despite Bain not having as prominent of a role in IJ as Cash does in RT.
Wes Anderson’s influences
In the first part of a five-part series, Matt Zoller Seitz examines the influences that have shaped Wes Anderson’s films.
When I interviewed Anderson for a 1998 Star-Ledger article about A Charlie Brown Christmas, directed by the late animator Bill Melendez, Anderson cited Melendez as one of three major influences on his work, so we’ll start there. Anderson told me that he and his screenwriting collaborator, Owen Wilson, conceived Rushmore hero Max Fischer as Charlie Brown plus Snoopy. He said that Miss Cross, the teacher Max adores and will draw into a weirdly Freudian love triangle with the industrialist Mr. Blume, is a combination of Charlie Brown’s teacher and his unattainable love object, the little red-haired girl.
The video (located in the right sidebar) takes longer to watch than it does to read the text, but the visual comparisons are worth it. I can’t wait to read parts 2-5. (via the house next door)
Brad Pitt in yellow
For the completist only: Brad Pitt stars in a French? Japanese? commercial directed by Wes Anderson.
As the French would say, QEQLB? (via le fiddle)
Update: A YouTube commenter noted that this commercial is probably based on Jacques Tati’s M. Hulot’s Holiday.
Wes Anderson interview
On the occasion of the upcoming Criterion release of Bottle Rocket on Blu-ray, the AV Club interviewed Wes Anderson. I love this bit about working with Gene Hackman.
But Gene, I don’t think loves being directed in the first place, and I had a lot of particular ideas for the way some things were to be done. He just wasn’t getting a huge kick out of it — but I don’t know that he ever does. The main thing is that everything he was doing was great. Even though he can be belligerent, there’s a lot of emotion there. I was always excited to be working with him, even when I was a little scared of him, just because this character that I’d spent so much time working on and was so invested in was being brought to life — not only in all the ways that I’d wanted, but something quite beyond.
Bottle Rocket, The Criterion Collection
Bottle Rocket, Wes Anderson’s first film, is getting the Criterion treatment in both DVD and Blu-ray formats. Lovely cover. (via goldenfiddle)
Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman shop for CDs and DVDs
A YouTube video of Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman shopping at Borders for CDs and DVDs. It’s as painful as it sounds. (via fimoculous)
A comparison of Owen Wilson’s roles in
A comparison of Owen Wilson’s roles in Wes Anderson films and his real-life goings-on.
Mapping the idea of “life imitating art” onto Owen Wilson’s biography and Wes Anderson’s films reveals their startling convergence. As Anderson’s works increasingly addressed themes of depression, psychiatric treatment, and “hitting bottom,” so too did Wilson’s life chart a course towards collapse. Wilson’s characters in Anderson’s early films-the sublime geniuses born of commingling depression, emotion and creativity-gradually give way to caricatured objects of psychoanalytic explication.
Wes Anderson and the movies he makes
Wes Anderson and the movies he makes are racist. Point. Point. Counterpoint. Reminds me of the hubbub about the alleged racism in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation.
The Darjeeling Limited
The Darjeeling Limited is the first Wes Anderson movie since Rushmore that I’ve really liked after seeing it for the first time. The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic both took another viewing (and now I love them both).
Two more Wes Anderson/Dareeling things and then I think we’re done for awhile. Marc Jacobs created the luggage and the fashion “look” for Darjeeling:
The result is a large set of tawny luggage and a trio of suits with matching back belts and angled cuffs for the three main characters, played by onscreen brothers Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Once again, as in Anderson’s previous films like “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” the cast wears one look throughout the film. “I like actors to have costumes that help them to get into character,” says Anderson. “Whether it’s a good idea or not, I tend to give them uniforms.”
See also How to Dress Like a Tenenbaum from Esquire in 2002. The Onion A/V Club recently interviewed Anderson. His response near the end about his commercial work is interesting.
As promised, a list of films that
As promised, a list of films that were influenced by Wes Anderson, including Little Miss Sunshine, Napoleon Dynamite, and Garden State.
The Onion AV Club tracks which films
The Onion AV Club tracks which films and directors have had the most influence on Wes Anderson, including The Graduate, Peter Bogdanovich, and Francois Truffaut.
The “uniforms” he outfits his characters in are like a variation on Charlie Brown’s zigzag shirt and Lucy’s blue dress, and there’s an atmosphere of wistful melancholy common to Peanuts cartoons and Anderson’s seriocomedies. A Boy Named Charlie Brown echoes Anderson’s persistent “sic transit gloria” theme, as Charlie Brown blazes through the rounds of a local spelling bee, then washes out at the nationals. When he returns home to a group of friends who accept him as much as they mock him, he might as well be walking in slow motion, while “Ooh La La” plays on the soundtrack.
And today they’re going to run a list of films which were influenced by Anderson…I’ll have that link a bit later.
Hotel Chevalier, the short film by Wes
Hotel Chevalier, the short film by Wes Anderson that takes place before the action in The Darjeeling Limited, is available at the iTunes Music Store for free.
New York magazine takes Wes Anderson’s spiritual
New York magazine takes Wes Anderson’s spiritual temperature on the eve of the release of The Darjeeling Limited, his fifth film.
That we happen to be traveling by train to discuss a movie that takes place on a train was not part of the original plan, though I’m starting to think of it as yet another example of Anderson’s knack for retouching reality with an idiosyncratic gloss. (It may be connected to his fear of flying as well; until recently, Anderson traveled to Europe by boat, and he far prefers trains and automobiles to anything airborne.) Also somewhat peculiar is the fact that buried in one of Anderson’s monogrammed suitcases is 10,000 euros in cash — about $14,000 — an amount that may or may not be legal to carry, and that was given to the director by Bill Murray, who asked that the money be “delivered to Luigi.”
Wes Anderson is promoting The Darjeeling Limited
Wes Anderson is promoting The Darjeeling Limited by releasing a 13-minute teaser film called Hotel Chevalier on the web before Darjeeling opens in theaters. Three words: Natalie Portman nude. Portman, Anderson, and Jason Schwartzman will be at the Apple Store in NYC to premiere the short. If you go, expect a freakin’ mob scene of twee hipster horndogs.
Update: New Wes Anderson Film Features Deadpan Delivery, Meticulous Art Direction, Characters With Father Issues. Completely unexpected.
Goldenfiddle’s got the new Wes Anderson-directed AT&T commercials.
Goldenfiddle’s got the new Wes Anderson-directed AT&T commercials.
Ted Z at Big Screen Little Screen
Ted Z at Big Screen Little Screen got his mitts on a copy of a script for Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited from May 2006. “I have serious reservations regarding how far Wes Anderson can take this twee-filmmaking before the rut is too worn to dig himself out.”
The review of the Criterion DVD of
The review of the Criterion DVD of Rushmore I posted yesterday mentioned a NY Times article written by Wes Anderson about him screening Rushmore for legendary film critic Pauline Kael. The original is behind the Times paywall, but a Clusterflock commenter posted a copy. After reading it, I don’t get the hostility that other film critics directed at Anderson because of it.
Thoughtful review of the Criterion version of
Thoughtful review of the Criterion version of Rushmore. “Anderson also serves as a convenient target for people who don’t like people who like movies by Wes Anderson. […] When you get past the extraneous bullshit surrounding Anderson’s films, the crux of disagreements about him reminds me of disagreements over David Foster Wallace (or Dave Eggers, or Thomas Pynchon, or even Vladimir Nabokov). It comes down to this: Are Anderson’s stylistic tricks and distracting plot elements smoke and mirrors, or do they bring something unique to the stories he’s telling? In the case of Rushmore, I think the answer has to be the latter.” I get the feeling you could learn a lot about film by reading Matthew’s reviews of the Criterion Collection.
Update on The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson’s
Update on The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson’s new film starring Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman. Apparently this article confirms the rumors that Bill Murray is in the film. (via goldenfiddle)
From what looks like an informative and
From what looks like an informative and insightful blog on film, two posts: one on planimetric composition or “mug-shot framing” in films (you may have seen Wes Anderson using it) and the other is an update on The Hobbit movie and Peter Jackson’s involvement (or lack thereof) with it. The Hobbit item is old news, but it fills in so many blanks left by traditional and typical online media coverage that it’s worth the read if you’re at all interested in the subject. (thx, ajit)
Wes Anderson’s new film (after The Fantastic
Wes Anderson’s new film (after The Fantastic Mr. Fox) will be called The Darjeeling Limited. Anderson, Roman Coppola, and Jason Schwartzman are writing it, with Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Schwartzman to star.
Why does it take Wes Anderson (and
Why does it take Wes Anderson (and Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze and PT Anderson and…) so long to make a movie? “The Eccentrics seem to be guarding their personal ideas so jealously that it sometimes suggests a creative block. The eternity of anticipation has frustrated those film lovers who look to certain artists to provide the Great American Movie.” Slate also has a review of Wes Anderson’s great Amex commerical.
The original 13-minute version of Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket
Before he started making the super stylized films for which he is now known, a 23-year-old Wes Anderson made a 13-minute short film called Bottle Rocket. The film was shot in 1992, found its way to Sundance, and gave Anderson the opportunity to make his first feature film of the same name. Here’s that original short, starring then-unknown actors Owen and Luke Wilson.
Awesome American Express commercial by Wes Anderson. (via gf)
Awesome American Express commercial by Wes Anderson. (via gf)
Is Owen Wilson the secret factor to Wes Anderson’s success?
Is Owen Wilson the secret factor to Wes Anderson’s success?. I’m of the opinion that The Life Aquatic didn’t suck, but I can see the point here.
Dressed as their favorite characters from a Wes Anderson movie
Dressed as their favorite characters from a Wes Anderson movie.
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