1025 The Grand Budapest Hotel

[Jeff]

I can't believe I beat Jeff to this

Never again!

Goldblum's in it.

[Jeff]

According to Anderson, the final cast rundown includes Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Mathieu Amalric, Owen Wilson, and Saoirse Ronan.

[flyonthewall2983]

Did Wes have any kind of fallout with Luke Wilson? I remember him being so good in Tenenbaums and then never to be seen again in any of Wes' movies.

[knives]

He's probably really busy doing...

[flyonthewall2983]

Currently, Enlightened on HBO.

[peerpee]

Wes is crossing the line with Jude Law.

[mfunk9786]

Luke Wilson was, right below Gene Hackman (I suppose), the standout performer in The Royal Tenenbaums. I hope to see him rejoin the group soon too.

[flyonthewall2983]

His performance was the one I related to the most.

[mfunk9786]

His performance, or his character?

[flyonthewall2983]

Both I guess. I absolutely can sympathize with someone who tries to keep the peace in a far from peaceful family situation, and the feelings of unattainable love he experiences.

[swo17]

Probably not coming until 2014

[mfunk9786]

I'm sure that, similar to Noah (barring visual effects delays in that case), this could come down to how the studio feels about the quality of the film w/r/t year-end awards and Oscar nominations. Doesn't Anderson typically do a lot of editing as he's shooting?

[Jeff]

Filming is scheduled to be finished by the end of March, and unless this is the longest post-production in Wes Anderson history, the film will be in the can by the first of October. The film doesn't even have a distributor yet, and a distributor is the only one who could schedule a release date. I wouldn't be surprised if Focus picked this up after the success they had with Moonrise Kingdom. The only reasons they might hold it for next year are (1) it's awful or (2) they think it would be best served by Cannes competition. If it's good and it's ready in time for this fall's festival circuit and awards season, surely they'll want to go that route.

[Jeff]

Some very Andersonian set pics.

[Jeff]

Fox Searchlight has picked it up The Grand Budapest Hotel. They're looking at possibly releasing it late this year. Fox also released the logline:

The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting, the battle for an enormous family fortune and the slow and then sudden upheavals that transformed Europe during the first half of the 20th century.

[flyonthewall2983]

I have faith that Wes will make this way more interesting than it sounds.

[Brian C]

Really? That sounds pretty good.

[flyonthewall2983]

It does, I'm just saying that because it's Wes it'll even be better than a stuffy period piece I'd probably wind up sleeping through, but that's just me.

[Jeff]

Missed this when Ryan posted it a week ago. Apparently it is revealed in Matt Zoller Seitz's new long-form interview book with Anderson that The Grand Budapest Hotel will be in three different aspect ratios.

“A few months after this conversation, the director shot his eighth feature, The Grand Budapest Hotel, in three different aspect ratios: 1.33, 1.85, and 2.35:1. The movie jumps through three time periods; the different aspect ratios tell viewers where they are in the timeline.”

There's also this from Saoirse Ronan on working with Anderson:

"I play someone called Agatha and she works in a bakery... I was nervous about it because his actors in those films have such a specific acting style. And I was really worried that I wasn't gonna be able to do it. And I remember the first day I went in and I had to do just really simple stuff like walking in a corridor. And I had to bring like a little package into a room. It was all very simple. And I did it and I thought, 'O.K., this is probably the way someone like Wes would want it done.' But you're still not sure. And then I did it and he came over and he is like one his own characters in a way. He does this with his hand [she holds her left hand up and pinches her thumb and forefinger while flaring out her pinky]. He looks from side to side. Or, you do something and he'd say, 'Just put your arm up like that, yeah. And then tilt your head to the side like that. And then just do a little look.' And I was like, 'O.K.,' so this is how Wes wants his film done. And once you've got that figured out it's great and it's really good fun."

"It's almost like he's doing an animated movie. Basically if you just do what Wes does you're fine. And he's got everything decided before he even shoots the film. So he's got these animatics on a little iPad mini that he has with him every day. Story boarded the entire film, every single shot. And voiced every single character in the way he wants it to be read and the beat that he wants in between. So he's like, 'O.K., this scene is supposed to be a minute and a half. How long was it,' he'll ask the script supervisor and she'll say, 'It was about a minute and 50 seconds.' And he's like, "Okay. We need to make this [line] a little bit shorter then.' The result is it works and everything is great that he does. And his editing doesn't take that long... He's edited before he's even shot the film. It's incredible."

The film looks pretty well set to be a 2014 release now.

[Michael Kerpan]

Jeff -- sounds like his methodology is pretty much similar to Ford and Ozu.

[flyonthewall2983]

Missed this when Ryan posted it a week ago. Apparently it is revealed in Matt Zoller Seitz's new long-form interview book with Anderson that The Grand Budapest Hotel will be in three different aspect ratios.

“A few months after this conversation, the director shot his eighth feature, The Grand Budapest Hotel, in three different aspect ratios: 1.33, 1.85, and 2.35:1. The movie jumps through three time periods; the different aspect ratios tell viewers where they are in the timeline.”

Is this going to be difficult with modern projectors?

[domino harvey]

I'm sure it'll be like with Scott Pilgrim where they just show it on the screen for 1.85 and the screen gets hard matted in-print vertically or horizontally for the other ARs

[flyonthewall2983]

It's a neat storytelling hook, I wonder how different the cinematography will be for each AR.

[Dylan]

More American Graffiti (1979) was also shot in 1.33, 1.85, and 2.35. I only saw it on a VHS (and twenty years ago), where the visual effect was obviously lost, but I came across this bit of trivia from IMDB not long ago:

George Lucas came up with the idea of shooting each of the four story lines in a different aspect ratio. Milner's Drag racing was in the 1950's exploitation style using a wide angle, stationary camera. The Vietnam sequences were shot on 16-milimeter film, like the TV reports of the time. Laurie and Steve's campus riot resembled a Hollywood version of student rebellions like The Strawberry Statement or Getting Straight. Debbie's trip were in multiple-image split-screen, inspired by Woodstock.

I kind of want to revisit this film just to see how all of that worked on a formal level.

[Jeff]

Jeff -- sounds like his methodology is pretty much similar to Ford and Ozu.

I love the image of John Ford toting around an iPad Mini.