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Bruce Willis and Edward Norton in the Moonrise Kingdom Trailer

Damon Houx — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:49:50 +0000

At this point, it’s easy to know what to expect from Wes Anderson. Great Performers, a distinct visual style, and maybe just maybe some twee. In Moonrise Kingdom there’s Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman in a story about two star-crossed child lovers who escape from a summer camp, which leads to a full scale rescue mission. The film opens May 25, and now there’s a trailer.

With that release date, it suggests the film is going to Cannes, which is no surprise. And with Wes Anderson you’re dealing with a very distinct visual approach, so much so that watching the trailer you get a real sense of what it is. But now there’s at least some new players to the team, and it will be interesting to see how Willis and Norton work in the Anderson universe.

I like Wes Anderson, but at this point he doesn’t seem to have many screwballs left in his pitching arm. He makes the sort of movies he makes, and they’ve come to have a very narrow set of themes and ideas. From the trailer you can see that he’s doing things that are very similar to everything he’s done before for better or worse. Granted, I don’t think he’d do well within the studio system, nor would the world be better with him helming tentpoles, but it’s a curious career full charm and repetition. We’ll know how this one turns out in May.

What’s your favorite Wes Anderson film?

The Best Oddball Christmas Films To Watch During The Holidays

traviswoods — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:00:45 +0000

Christmas. It’s a time in which families huddle together around the warm, bustling glow of the fireplace, with the mantle framed with rows of stockings the TV set as we nod off from half a gallon of eggnog and some turkey. And, in keeping with that tradition, we here at ScreenCrave have cobbled together a list of our favorite unusual Christmas films—not A Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life or any other of the more obvious picks; rather, it’s our favorite oddball X-mas movies, the films that somehow catch our attention every single year, even if they aren’t exactly the most appropriate holiday fare.

So, with that in mind, dig our list after the jump, and get your Tivo ready to line these up for some Christmas Eve viewing (also, and perhaps it’s a generational thing, or maybe it was the impressive amounts of blow Hollywood execs were inhaling back then, but all of the best weirdo Christmas movies came from the 1980s. Go figure).

5. Trading Places (1983)

Taking us back to those halcyon days when Eddie Murphy was actually brilliantly funny, and when Dan Aykroyd was letting us all know he was still alive, John Landis dropped the comedy masterpiece Trading Places on an unsuspecting world. Taking place over the holiday season in 1980s Philadelphia, the film is a witty, decadent, hilarious and charmingly vulgar update of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, in which hotshot brokerage director Danny Aykroyd is forced to switch places with homeless street hustler Eddie Murphy, and both must survive as a fish out of water in the other man’s life. As Aykroyd becomes suicidal and driven into the arms of a hooker with a heart of gold, and Murphy goes from being a ribald street thug to a slick power player, it may not sound like a family classic, but Trading Places is one of the funniest flicks you’ll catch on TV all Christmas long.

4. Scrooged (1988)

A modern, semi-meta take on A Christmas Carol, Scrooged finds Bill Murray as a black-hearted TV exec at the height of his cynical, soulless career, during the rehearsals for his live TV adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. And, just like in that Dickens classic, Murray is visited by three ghosts who show him where his life went off track, and how he sacrificed true love for material wealth. But just in case that sounds a little too typical of Christmas schmaltz for you, don’t worry—Murray is in his full-on 80s smartass mode, all while being chased around by rotting corpses, insanely violent pixies, and Death itself, as he simultaneously struggles to staple some fake antlers onto a mouse’s head for his TV special and avoid network TV censors. Dark, wacky Christmas fun.

3. Christmas Vacation (1989)

Probably as much of a Christmas tradition in suburbia as opening presents on December 25th, viewing Christmas Vacation during the holidays has become a kind of unavoidable yuletide habit. The story of a brutally inept and occasionally foulmouthed father (Chevy Chase in a slightly smarter Homer Simpson mode) trying to survive the ultimate staycation as his parents, his in-laws, his children, his bitchy yuppie neighbors, his idiot cousin, a monstrous dog, a berserk squirrel and a full-on SWAT team converge upon his house over Christmas, Vacation is nothing short of a holiday classic. Sure the language is risqué, and it’s probably the only holiday classic to feature electrocuted cats and exploding sewage lines, but hey—that’s what surviving Christmas with a giant family feels like.

2. Gremlins (1984)

It doesn’t get much better than this—Joe Dante directing a Steven Spielberg-produced, Chris Columbus-penned gem about Gizmo, the most adorable little pet ever… and the truly horrifying, reptilian and murderous gremlins that Gizmo accidentally gives birth to. Playing like a live action episode of Looney Tunes (except all the cartoon characters are determined to murder you with household items before taking in a showing of Snow White), Gremlins truly is an utterly insane film. It’s also a classic that, inexplicably, the whole family can somehow enjoy—and when a film’s comic highlight is a played-totally-straight monologue about a child who discovers her dead father dressed as Santa and wedged in the chimney, that’s really saying something.

1. Die Hard (1988)

The recipe: It’s Christmas in Los Angeles. Hard-headed NYPD cop John McClane is visiting his estranged wife at the Nakatomi Plaza corporate high rise. German terrorists take over the building to raid its vaults, and manage to take everyone but McClane hostage. McClane runs around over broken glass with no shoes and a machine gun, and one seriously bad attitude.

As good as full-on ‘80s action films get, Die Hard is both an instant action and holiday classic. Coasting on the sheer charm of Bruce Willis as McClane and Alan Rickman as his smooth-talking nemesis, Die Hard has everything you could want from a Christmas film: Bruce Willis tossing bad guys from a high rise roof, blowing up public property, pissing just about everyone off, and letting loose with some stellar one liners (“Yippee kai yay, mother f*****,” anyone?). You’ll spend all of Christmas morning repeating “Now I have a machine gun. HO-HO-HO,” to as many relatives as you can after watching this holiday winner.

What’s your favorite odd holiday film?

Megan Fox is an Angel in Passion Play

Damon Houx — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:10:21 +0000

Though surely men have described Megan Fox as heavenly before, it seems that the film Passion Play is making that literal. In the trailer for her new film, Fox has wings and everything. She’s joined by Mickey Rourke, Bill Murray and Rhys Ifans, and was directed by Mitch Glazer. The film opens May 6, and hits DVD on May 31. The cast is A list talent, but the film looks sort of weird and direct-to-video-ish. Take a look…

Again, this looks like the sort of thing that either works, or is torturous to sit through. The film screened at Toronto’s film festival last year and was panned hard, so likely this doesn’t work, but Bill Murray usually puts something on the ball. This wouldn’t be Murray’s first time working with Glazer as Glazer was one of the writers on Scrooged, and used to work with Michael O’Donoghue. Since then he’s been doing studio work, including writing the scripts for such films as The Recruit, and the 1998 version of Great Expectations.

This is Glazer’s first film as a director. Which means it’s likely heavy on ideas, though may lack a good visual sense. Going from the trailer, the idea of Rourke and Murray squaring off is so weird that it looks fascinating. The film opens May 6 in New York and Los Angeles. Likely this is contractual obligation.

Do you find it weird that a film with this many A-listers is essentially going straight to video?

Bill Murray To Play F.D.R. In ‘Hyde Park On Hudson’

traviswoods — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:50:14 +0000

Today in ‘huh, really?’ casting news: Bill Murray is going to portray president Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a film adaptation of the radio play, Hyde Park on Hudson, in which the president has an affair with his distant cousin during a visit by England’s royal family. Yes, really.

Directed by Roger Mitchell (Morning Glory, Notting Hill, Changing Lanes) and written by Roger Melson (adapting his own play), Hyde Park on Hudson is set in 1939, “features FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley (called Daisy in the play) as they have an illicit affair while King George VI and Queen Elizabeth are making their first visit to America,” according to /Film.

Wow—however, if you strip away the presidential title, this sounds like the type of character that Murray has been specializing in over the past decade: a just-past-middle-aged man locked in an affair or near-affair (Lost in Translation, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). It could work.

/Film has the plot overview:

“No reigning British monarch had ever been to the United States before George VI’s visit in 1939, just on the cusp of a new world war. History was in the making when the King and Queen arrived at President Roosevelt’s upstate New York home, with a promise of politics, a picnic and hot dogs. But the private life of the President provided a whole new dimension to an epochal moment, at least in the memory of his lover.”

So—Bill Murray plays former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a film in which he has an affair with his cousin during a visit by the Royal Family? I can’t tell you how ready I am for this.

What do you think of the casting news?

Jason Schwartzman Has Been Added To Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’

traviswoods — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:45:22 +0000

As we reported last year, Wes Anderson’s new pastel-colored phantasmagoria of Caucasoid ennui, Moonrise Kingdom, has already nabbed Anderson regular Bill Murray, along with the likes of such hotshots as Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, and Bruce Willis. Well, you can add one more Anderson regular to that list.

According to the Huffington Post, Jason Schwartzman, who previously (and perfectly) starred in Anderson’s Rushmore, as well as the short film Hotel Chevalier and its full-length companion, The Darjeeling Limited, along with a voice role in the animated The Fantastic Mr. Fox, has now been added to the cast.

Little is known about the film’s plot, beyond what Deadline reported last year:

“Two young adults fall in love and run away. Leaders in their New England town are sticking the idea that they’ve disappeared and go in search of them. Norton will play a scout leader who brings his charges on a search. Willis is in talks to play the town sheriff who’s also looking, and who is having an affair with the missing girl’s mother, the role McDormand is in talks to play. Murray, a regular in Anderson films, will play the girl’s father, who has his own issues.”

Well, that may not be much to go on, and The Darjeeling Limited was fairly disappointing, but still—if Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman on together on a screen that Wes Anderson is composing, I’ll be there to watch. Will you?

What do you think of the casting news?

Comic-Con 2010: Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters!

sashaperlraver — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:41:10 +0000

Turning a corner on the floor during Comic-Con‘s preview night, we all drew a collective gasp followed by a slow exhale of “Coooooool!!!” Behold, the Ecto-1 in all it’s glory. The only thing that could have made the moment even cooler is if a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man had been handing out fresh s’mores or Slimer was doing a booth appearance.

Coming on the heels of GQ Magazine’s interview with Bill Murray where he announced he’s actually, seriously, really and truly considering strapping on his proton pack for another Ghostbusters movie, we couldn’t help ourselves, we had to cheer, “Who you gonna call?” And a chorus answered back with verve: “Ghostbusters!”

Be sure to check out photos from the rest of our Comic-Con experience:

What do you think of the Ghostbusters display?

Bill Murray Confirms Ghostbusters 3 Rumor

Krystal Clark — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:27:20 +0000

It sounds like every member of the old Ghostbusters team will be accounted for when the second sequel is finally released. Bill Murray has been the most vague about his involvement with Ghostbusters 3, and has become the focal point of many rumors. Over on the UK site Mail Online, they have a recent interview with the actor and he spills the beans on what he’ll bring to the table this third time around.

A while back, Ghostbusters co-star Sigourney Weaver revealed the plot to the upcoming film, and she let it slip that Murray’s character would no longer be of this world. The thought of Murray being a ghost in the movie would be ironic on multiple levels, and it turns out she was telling the truth. Murray didn’t give descriptive details on his role but he gave just enough to confirm Weaver’s story and his casting.

‘I’ll do it if you kill me off in the first reel.’ So now they are going to have me as a ghost in the film.

There you have it! Murray will be a dead man walking in Ghostbusters 3. This also means the new crew of ‘Busters coming in might also include little Oscar (Weaver’s character’s son), who would be a grown man at this point. The film will be a mix of old school and new, and with Ivan Reitman back on board hopefully it will be worthwhile.

What do you think of Murray appearing as a ghost in Ghostbusters 3? Is it ironic or a bad move?

Wes Anderson’s Not Crazy Says Bill Murray

Krystal Clark — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:06:55 +0000

Wes Anderson is a very unique individual and a talented director. Unfortunately, the man behind Fantastic Mr. Fox was trashed a few weeks ago by the film’s cinematographer Tristan Oliver, for his unconventional directing methods. According to the NYDailyNews, Fox co-star Bill Murray had a few things to say in defense of Mr. Anderson.

Oliver was originally quoted as saying, “Contact with people disturbs him. [He'd rather] spend an entire day locked inside an empty room with a computer.” Recently, Bill Murray (who plays Badger in the movie) was cornered at a premiere party for the film and chalked up Oliver’s response to Anderson’s methods as “crazy talk.” He also went on to say,

“There’s no way you can make that movie unless you isolate yourself. Tristan should be happy he got this job.”

Touche, Mr. Murray, touche! Fantastic Mr. Fox is an amazing film that may find itself as one of the front runners for a Best Animated Feature Oscar if all goes well during awards season. Anderson may not play by the traditional rules of filmmaking, but whatever he’s doing works!

Interestingly enough, shortly after the statements of Oliver were released, he retracted saying that he was “misquoted.” We’ve all heard that excuse before. Someone wanted their career to have some type of longevity, so they tried to minimize the damage. Fantastic Mr. Fox opened as a limited release this past weekend, and will expand everywhere on November 25th.

What do you think about Murray’s defense of Anderson? Was Oliver wrong to dish to the media?

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Movie Review

Krystal Clark — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:30:43 +0000

It’s been almost 40 year’s since the classic children’s book, Fantastic Mr. Fox hit shelves in America and the U.K. to the delight of kids everywhere. Author Roald Dahl told a simple story about a fox and his attempts to outwit and for lack of a better word “outfox” three of the richest men around. The story is brought to life on the silver screen by director Wes Anderson, using stop motion animation that literally makes you feel like you’re a kid again. His feature version is charming and stays true to the source material, while keeping it fresh for younger viewers.

Check out our review below…

The Players:

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Michael Gambon, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson

The Plot:

Mr. Fox (Clooney) is an animal that’s wild by nature but forced into a life of domestication when his wife Felicity (Streep) announces that she’s pregnant with their first child. Fox reluctantly agrees to give up his shady ways to become a family man that she and their son can be proud of. Unfortunately after years of living on the straight and narrow he begins to get that itch for mischief and makes a plan to rob the meanest, nastiest and ugliest farmers in the valley, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. With his careless antics in full swing, everyone he loves ends up in danger, causing him to finally grow up and change his foxy ways.

The Good:

Stop Motion Technique: One of the best things about this film is the use of stop motion animation. It’s a refreshing step away from the heavy CGI based movies that have flooded theaters in recent years. You can see the hard work that went into the character’s movements, because they are so fluid.
Jason Schwartzman: Usually name actors in voice over roles can be very distracting in a film, but that’s not the case here. Schwartzman was perfectly cast as Ash, the awkwardly small son of Mr. Fox. He’s able to convey the insecurity and humor of the character without being over the top.
Eric Anderson: Anderson is the younger brother of Wes, and has made bit appearances in several of his other films, but this is the first time he’s taken on such a meaty role. As Kristofferson, Ash’s athletically inclined cousin he has amazing comedic timing and is still able to play up the vulnerable side of his character.
Production Design: The overall production design on this film including the costumes and the sets were extremely detailed. In every close up you could see the tiny life-like fibers on Mr. Fox’s face and even the threads in his peacoat. Everything was very well crafted.
Screenplay: One of the main concerns you may have going into this movie is whether or not it will be able to play out the original story and still appeal to all ages. Without a doubt, this film delivers in both areas. There were comedic moments, as well as a few emotional scenes, and they all progressed the story. Everything served a purpose and was put to good use.

The Bad:

Nothing: This may be a bold statement, but Fantastic Mr. Fox is a well adapted, polished piece that Wes Anderson transformed into a legitimate feature film.

Overall:

If you’re a long time fan of Anderson’s body of work it’s a given that you will enjoy Fantastic Mr. Fox, and even if you’re not you will walk away with a smile on your face. This film is funny, sweet, and most importantly it’s entertaining. You won’t leave the theater feeling as if you wasted your time and money. Fantastic Mr. Fox sets out to make you feel like a kid again and it delivers tenfold.

Rating: 10/10

Fantastic Mr. Fox hits theaters on November 13, 2009

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

LFF: Fantastic Mr. Fox Press Conference

Ben McCarthy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:50:05 +0000

A few weeks ago the London Film Festival began its first press conference of the festival with the Opening Film, Fantastic Mr Fox. On the panel was the writer/director, Wes Anderson and the stars, George Clooney, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Anderson, Jarvis Cocker and Wallace Wolodarsky. What follows was a really funny press conference; Bill Murray was the standout, with some fantastic one-liners and rants. The only problem with the press conference was the fact that most of the questions were to George Clooney and half of them was about his personal life, which seem out of place, but George Clooney was on top form and dodged the gossip news bullets aimed at him (for those quotes check out our Why Press Conference Suck story). Hope you enjoy.

George, what for you is the appeal of Roald Dahl’s storytelling and characters?

George Clooney: I just showed up for the paycheck because I heard it was a big one. This is a fairly well-known book for a long period of time for a lot of us and there was an opportunity, not only to work on a really interesting and fun story, but also to work with Wes, so I was excited about the whole process. It was a very different process than what most people go through when they work on an animated film. We were out in the middle of nowhere, people’s farms, doing sound effects and things like that; rolling around in the field. The whole process what is exciting and fun to do. If wasn’t an interesting answer, I apologize for that.

Mr. Clooney, can you talk about Mr. Fox? It seems to be a George Clooney performance without your face.

Clooney: Thank you. Although have you noticed the suit and the suit. There is something a little scary about that. For me this guy was just an optimist and I really thought it was a fun character to play. I remember reading the script and saying to Wes, “Listen I love it, and I’m thrilled and excited to do it. I don’t know who’ll see it because it’s sort of made for grownups and sort of made for kids. You never know how that plays.” And he said, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just go make a movie and have some fun.” And I thought that was a great way to approach making a film, so for me it was about the process of working with Wes, working with these guys. I didn’t enjoy working with Bill, that’s fair to say. We fought a lot.

Bill Murray: That’s accurate George.

Clooney: But I let go of some of the anger and we seem to get along fine now.

Wes, what brought you to the project? And why this style of animation?

Wes Anderson: Why stop motion? Yeah. This was the first book I ever personally owned; officially my property. It was a book I loved as a child. It was a book that introduced me to Roald Dahl’s work in general. It made a big impression on me. About ten years ago, I approached Liccy Dahl, Dahl’s wife, and asked for permission to do it so it’s been a long process. I always intended for it to be stop motion. I wanted to do a stop motion movie. Stop motion movie with animals with fur because I always liked the way that looks — that odd, sort of magical style. That’s the process.

Wes, returning to the stop motion and the choice that you made with that. I’m wondering whether you intentionally approached the cultural history of that form and specifically and Czech filmmakers like Jan Svankmajer used it for politically subversive ends. And I’m wondering if it had any link to the anarchic spirit of Roald Dahl’s novel?

Murray: That’s the kind of question we’ve been hoping for. That’s why we flew over here. Go get ‘em Wes.

(Laughs and claps)

Wes: That kind of eastern European animation was one of the inspirations for me. It’s the most esoteric thing; it isn’t what we thought we were going to talk about onstage, but it’s a very good question. I hadn’t thought about the political links but I do think the movie and Dahl is kind of anarchic. The movie is a bit of a Robin Hood story so it’s a bit communist, I think…

Murray: Or English.

[Laughs]

Wes: But there’s another animated film also that’s a French one, it’s called Le Roman de Renart, do you know that one? And that was a great influence on us because they use — this is too esoteric for this –

Everyone in the panel: No, no, go on.

Wes: One of the techniques that it uses to have multiples scales, so there puppets that are this size, but there also puppets that are tiny that are meant to be the same characters for big-wide shots and it’s very charming and that was something we stole from that movie and used it quite a lot in ours. That’s it. That’s the end of my answer.

Jarvis and Jason, Wallace and Eric, briefly explain your experience voicing the character?

Jarvis: I don’t actually know if I got a line anymore.

Wes: You do.

Jarvis: That line, I put everything into it.

[Laughs]

Jarvis: I hope that when people see the film, they’ll be able to sense the preparation that went into doing it.

Wallace: I have had some experience in animation, mostly in American television with The Simpsons. We use to record theatrically, all the actors there subsequently in future animation that never happens, so this was really a very fun, dynamic experience. We got to run around. When we were running, we ran. When we were hiding behind bushes, we hid behind bushes. It was actually quite fun. I’m not really an actor, but I had a great time working with all these people. It’s been a unique experience for future animation.

Jason: I loved being a part of this movie. I think we’ve talked a lot about all getting to go run around and dig in the dirt and make eating noises and growling noises and how much fun that was to do together, but I can, I really can tell you what a thrill it was to work with everyone. And this is weird to say, but like often time if you’re working with people you really admire, you’re working with them and you can’t really stare at them and take it in of how amazing the whole thing is. Because there were no cameras on this, when George would get to do a scene, make a speech, it was nice because I could just look at him and really admire him. I admire him too, to watch the work and look at it, and to be with Bill and watch Bill work and watch Wes. It was really nicety be able to work, but also watch and have that kind of a privilege. I know it sounds like an odd answer, but that was the thing I liked most about this experience. Thank you.

Eric: My experience started out with all these people having a great time standing in for Jason because he wasn’t there at that moment, and then my part began to work afterwards, once it was all over. It was a series of transatlantic phone calls with my brother, which was sort of like visits because I wasn’t talking to him that of often, he was working very hard. It was sort of like when we were kids, making movies only no cameras, in a darken booth with Wes on the headphones. Occasionally it would be such an abstract experience he would say, “Eric remember, you’re an animal.” I had to keep reminding myself that, but ti was magical.

George or Bill, could you relate to the feeling of something being your last?

Clooney: This is your last film Bill. [Laughs]

Bill Murray: I was just with Felicity Dahl yesterday and she made me feel that way too. [Laughs] She brings out the real fear in you. You always feel like this is the very end of it, but the nice thing about being animated is there going to have a big of difficulty picking me out in an audio crowd. That’s what I’m hoping for. I don’t know what were talking about here, but she seems okay. He’s dead now, so he’s safe. There’s nothing to worry about. She can’t do him any damage now. He’s a great guy and she must have roughed him up pretty bad. [Laughs]

Whatever happened in there household should stay there. We saw where they lived; it’s an amazing place and she’s quite a person, so they had quite a life together and she’s very devoted to him, even now. So I’m sure that in that moment it must have been very forceful to her to realize there’s nothing I can do for him now because it’s just an anxiety that no person can help you with. It’s just your own fear of about yourself. You came to it time after time, it’s just somebody must have roughed him up once upon a time and doesn’t go away so easily. She’s a wonderful, wonderful woman. If I were to remarry, I’d take a chance with her.

Bill, do your improvisational skills help or hinder animation?

Murray: It really has to do with the director and the actors you’re working with. The creatures don’t come into it much. It’s just like any other character — you’re sort of put in this – it’s as if I were here. It’s not a big problem. The improvisation is a function of good the script; the script was good, the story is great. The worse the script is, the more you improvise; it’s as simple as that. Whether it’s a Badger, or a doctor, or a housewife, if the script is lousy you’re going to see more and more improvisation from me, especially if I’m a housewife. Worming with these characters was great, and I just want to say before we go any further, I think the real stars of this movie are Eric and Jason and Wallace because their amazing performances. Their the things that delight me the most in the movie, but they wouldn’t of been possible if George hadn’t really stepped out in front and made a character that we all maple around. This is some of the best work I’ve ever seen somebody do in any kind of voice work. I mean that very sincerely.

Clooney: He’s setting me up for something.

Clooney: I guess now you can officially be described as foxy. What other attributes you think you share with Mr. Fox, other than foxiness?

Clooney: Well I tried a daily wax. Let’s see, I seem to be considerably taller than this character.

Wes: Sometimes when I’ve been writing a script, I had an actor in mind. In this one, we were just thinking of animals, until the script was done. I thought, I would like to have Cary Grant, would have been good, and –

Clooney: Thanks for that.

Wes: Within 20 seconds of thinking of Cary Grant, I was talking about George Clooney. That was the casting process.

Clooney, does this make you want to do more animated films in the future?

Clooney: No. We worked for a few days out on a farm together, and ran around and played in barns and out in fields. Wes worked for a year and a half, or two years, or so on this project. In some ways, us being up here is a little silly. This is Wes’ job and so certainly I would do any of this again. It was an incredibly fun experience for all of us. I would imagine that the real question would be to him, whether he wants–

Wes: The one thing that I learned over the course of the movie is how much the voices — these actors siting up here — how much they give the animator to work with. You record the voices first and the animators, they spend all this time animating these puppets, but their inspiration comes from these moments with these actors.

Wes, how did you work with the animators?

Wes: I did have a wonderful time with the actors. That was a very exciting process and very brief. Animating is a very slow and painstaking process and the animators become the actors at that point. At the most , during this movie, we had 30 units going on at once. So we kind of created a system. I was not in London thought the whole shoot. I was sometimes here and sometimes in other places, but it’s very consuming. You have to work on it all the time while you’re shooting, and we had a computer system where I could look through 30 different cameras at once and see what’s on each set and work with all the different people, which is hundreds of people. Designing and preparing and executing the shots. Getting the systems to do it was as much part of the process as actually doing it, but I loved making this film. Stop motion is something I feel it part of my arsenal of things to use for movies now, I really enjoyed it.

Roald Dahl was thought to likely scaring children. Did you make this story a bit darker than it was and did you enjoy scaring children?

Wes: I remember being scared by Roald Dahl and I loved that. I don’t think we made it any darker, but we tried to keep it as dark. While we were writing the script our goal was to try to see if we could imagine what doll, how he would have expanded the story into a movie. That was out ideal. This is a movie they’re not in danger of getting hurt, they’re in danger of getting killed, and that’s the way it’s in the book. Mr. Fox tale is shot off and doesn’t grow back. We tried to keep that.

Wes, why does it tend to be American actors with American accents rather than British ones?

Clooney: That’s it. (Stomp) [Laughs]

Wes: Noah Baumbach and I adapted the script together — we’re American. I feel we were better writing American voices, so we decided that we would make all the animals American and the humans would be British. That’s the way we did it.

Murray: Because they’re the bad guys. [Laughs]

Clooney, what is the moral lesson from this fairytale?

Clooney: Stealing is good. I don’t know. What’s the moral lesson? Anybody? It’s honoring thievery. Let me try again. I think we just want to be true to our animal nature.

Check out the film in theaters November 25th!

LFF Review: Fantastic Mr Fox

Ben McCarthy — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:19:35 +0000

Note from the Editor: Straight from London, comes one our latest addition to the team Ben McCarthy with his first response to Fantastic Mr. Fox at The London Film Festival. At the festival I had some issues making the film because, well, London traffic rivals the best in the world. Luckily, I met Ben who I thought had a rather interesting opiniong of the film. Check out his thoughts below…

You know you’re watching a Wes Anderson film when you see a dysfunctional families, quirky characters, and 70′s style clothing, look at The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited and now his adaption of Roald Dahl’s book, Fantastic Mr Fox. The film tells the story of Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) trying to out wit 3 farmers named Bean, Boggis and Bunce to gain more food for his family. I was nervous about the film after watching the trailers, but Anderson has pulled it off and I was deeply impressed with the look of the film.

The set, costumes and creatures are fantastic, you really do get caught up in their environment. The amount of detail, that they incorporate into the creatures is wonderful, especially The Foxes themselves (I kept on thinking back to a character called “Sully” in Monsters Inc). The film is in tune with the book’s time, all the sets and costumes are made to look like they where from the 1970′s and with a soundtrack featuring Rolling Stones you’ll feel like you’ve been transported.

The voice casting was perfect, George Clooney oozes with charm in the role of the daring Mr Fox, sly and witty. With Clooney’s clever voice, you feel as if Mr. Fox can get away with anything. Meryl Streep provides the emotional center of the film as Mrs. Fox, with her soothing voice and Bill Murray as the Badger is of course wonderful at comic relief. But to me, the real star of the film was Jason Schwartzman work as Ash, Mr Fox’s son, trying to seek approval of his dad. It may not be the most original character in the world, but your sympathies are always with him and you desperately want him to succeed.

There are problems with the film, it feels stretched at 87 minutes. It doesn’t help that the writers, Anderson himself, and his writing partner Noah Baumbach, decided to fill the film’s stretching points with chases between Mr Fox and the dogs. It feels as if the writers had to make changes for its American audience, so they just put a collection of chase scenes in to liven up the film, which towards the end becomes a little bit relentless and slightly tedious for the audience. The film also, somewhat runs out jokes towards the end of the film, which is disappointing because the film starts brilliantly. Which then leaves me to my last critique, and that is I have forgotten most of the film already. I saw the film on Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon, I found it quite hard to remember the chase scenes and even the jokes of the film.

Overall, this is a Wes Anderson film in its truest form. Full of quirky characters, smart jokes and a great soundtrack, but it is ultimately let down by its own narrative and the story running out of ideas.

Check back for news from the Fantastic Mr. Fox press conference!

Our full review will be on it’s way with the films release on November 13th!

Ivan Reitman to Direct Ghostbusters 3?

Kara — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:03:18 +0000

According to Firsthowing, there has been another development regarding the Ghostbusters 3 film. This information apparently, comes from a reliable source who states that the director of the first two films, Ivan Reitman, is seriously considering directing the third installment. The actors from the previous movies including, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, and Rick Moranis are already attached to reprise their roles in the new film.

Here is what the source had to say about Ivan Reitman directing:

“While he’s attached, the word is that he hasn’t decided whether or not he really wants to direct, yet.”

Reitman hasn’t directed much in the past few years, so this would pull him out of his pseudo-retirement (he’s been wrapped up in the producing world). It would be interesting to know what’s holding him back from agreeing to do the film. Does it have anything to do with the script? Is he hoping to make changes to it and then sign on? According to the source, the possible story might be along the lines of something like this:

“The sequel takes place when the paranormal researchers ‘reopen’ their ghost removal service after it has been closed for quite a few years.”

All of this information does not seem like a solid yes, although it sounds like all the original people are willing to be in the project. I am not sure where I stand on this. Although I love Ghostbusters, I can’t help but think that a third film would come out terrible. But if the story is good then by all means go for it.

What do you think?

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The Good:

The Bad:

Overall:

Rating: 10/10

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

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