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Wes Anderson

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Wesley Anderson

Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American writer, producer, and director of films and commercials. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Biography

Anderson, the middle child of three brothers, was born in Houston, Texas. His father, Melver Leonard Anderson, was in advertising, and his mother, Texas Ann Burroughs, was an archaeologist. He attended St. John's School, a private school in Houston, later used as a filming location for his second film, Rushmore.

Anderson studied philosophy at the University of Texas, where he met Owen Wilson. After making a short film version of Bottle Rocket, Anderson and Wilson attracted the notice of producer James L. Brooks. With his help they were able to get their short film into Sundance and secure funding for the feature-length version of Bottle Rocket.

Anderson lives in New York City and Los Angeles. He is friends with filmmaker Noah Baumbach, actor/screenwriter Owen Wilson, and Sofia Coppola. His brother, Eric, is a set designer on his films.

Film Work

Wes Anderson has been hailed as a true auteur[1], heavily involved in every aspect of his films' production: writing, cinematography, production design, music selection, etc.

Influences

Anderson has acknowledged that French New Wave directors François Truffaut and Louis Malle influenced his penchant for sympathetic tragicomedy, unconventional mis-en-scene, and personal approach to filmmaking. He often cites Mike Nichols' The Graduate as a recurring inspiration. Anderson is also noted for drawing on famous works of American literature, particularly F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger. Fitzgerald's famous quote, "There are no second acts in American lives," applies to many of Anderson's characters, who tend to fall quickly from their initial success and renown (although many of them make limited comebacks). Salinger influences are seen in Bottle Rocket (Anthony and his sister's relationship parallels Phoebe and Holden Caulfield The Catcher in the Rye) and Rushmore (Max gets kicked out of his prestigious school as does Caulfield). The Royal Tenenbaums is also allegedly based on J.D. Salinger's Glass family.

Anderson's stylized films also borrow youthful aesthetic qualities from comics such as Charles Schulz's Peanuts (The Royal Tenenbaums/Rushmore) and Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin graphic novels (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). A less known aesthetic influence is the French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue: the name Zissou derives from Lartigue brother's name, and his old photos reveal similarities with Anderson's visuals.

Personnel

Anderson's films feature many of the same actors, crew members, and other collaborators:

Recent work

In 2005, Anderson produced The Squid and the Whale, written and directed by Life Aquatic co-writer Noah Baumbach. It won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2006, he directed and starred in a "My Life, My Card" American Express commercial. [1]

Owen Wilson will reunite with Anderson on the 2007 film, The Darjeeling Limited. The script is written by Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman.[2] Anderson's stop-motion animation adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, Fantastic Mr Fox is slated for 2009 release.

Acclaim and criticism

Critical reviews of Anderson's early work were positive, with some exceptions. His second film Rushmore was a critical darling, and many argued that Anderson would soon become a major artistic voice in American cinema. Many critics noted a strong sense of sympathetic but intelligent humanism in Anderson's films that linked them to the work of Jean Renoir and François Truffaut. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is a fan of Anderson's, praising Bottle Rocket and Rushmore and calling Anderson "the next Scorsese" in an Esquire magazine article. The Royal Tenenbaums was also a critical favorite and garnered Anderson an Academy Award nomination. The film was his first high-profile commercial success, featuring several established movie stars.

In September 2006, following the disappointing commercial and critical reception of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen released a tongue-in-cheek "letter of intervention" of Anderson's artistic "malaise". Proclaiming themselves to be fans of "World Cinema" and Anderson in particular, they offered Anderson their soundtrack services for his forthcoming The Darjeeling Limited film, including lyrics for a title track. Though it is widely believed, Steely Dan having produced no work of any discernible quality themselves, that the letter is not to be observed as anything more then a desperate attempt at getting attention. [3]

Filmography

References

  1. ^ [www.cinematicreflections.com/TheLifeAquatic.html]
  2. ^ Production Weekly (August 2,2006). "Wilson & Anderson reminisce over a cup of Darjeeling". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Attention Wes Anderson", by Steely Dan

2 http://www.rushmoreacademy.com/


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