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What Wes Anderson Demands Of His Actors—and How Three Broke The Mold
Wes Anderson films have a unique look and tone. They are visually stunning with immaculate detail given to costumes and production design. That uniqueness extends to his dialogue, which demands something different from his actors. His scripts are wordy and many of his characters tell long winded stories where emotion is kept as a minimum. That requires the performers to have a way with words and to say the lines as written, as any variation might disrupt the flow of the language and the rhythm of the film. The actors' performances are in sync with what they are wearing and the sets they are working on. All of these elements constitute the careful tableau that fills the frame and tells a Wes Anderson story.
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Associated with Anderson are a merry troupe of actors that includes Tilda Swinton—who has appeared in five Anderson films—Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Willem Dafoe, Anjelica Houston, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jeff Goldblum. There are a few who appeared in just one of his movies including Cate Blanchett (The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou), Bruce Willis (Moonrise Kingdom), and Timothy Chalamet (The French Dispatch). What all of these actors have in common is that they stuck to the Anderson way. They made themselves part of the many elements that formulate his particular aesthetic.
Sometimes an actor breaks free from the mold to give the audience something extra. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) featured a particularly melancholy Gwyneth Paltrow, while Gene Hackman added a dash of gravitas to the film's reprehensible father. But there are three performers who best showed how it's possible to honor Anderson's aesthetic while still breaking free from it: Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Jeffrey Wright in The French Dispatch (2021), and Scarlett Johansson in Asteroid City (2023). Although none are an Anderson regular—neither Wright nor Fiennes had worked with Anderson previously, while Asteroid City is Johansson's first live-action performance for the director—all found ways to make their respective performances unique within the established framework of a Wes Anderson film.
Fiennes brings the funnyAnderson and Fiennes attend the Grand Budapest Hotel premiere in New YorkPhoto: Neilson Barnard (Getty Images)
In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fiennes is Monsieur Gustave H., a concierge who leads a charmed but complicated life. He runs the titular hotel but gets entangled in a quest for a rare painting bequeathed to him by one of his paramours (Swinton). He also mentors the new lobby boy (Tony Revolori) who becomes more like a surrogate son. Gustave is unique among Anderson characters in that he's central to the story. The film is populated by many characters yet the story is all about Gustave. That gives Fiennes ample screen time to craft his wonderful performance.
Like all Anderson characters, Gustave's ways are very particular. He likes his women older, even octogenarian. When someone says of him that he's "liberally perfumed," we believe it because Fiennes makes us almost smell him. That's because his performance is made of specific movements and gestures that suggest more than what's on the character's tightly controlled surface. His walk is funny and when he cocks his head to the side as he speaks—beautifully centered in Anderson's frame—the audience understands him. There's a mischievous glint in Fiennes' eyes that tells how Gustave is always thinking ahead of everyone around him. He also has a way with a phrase, whether an oddly comedic insult like, "candy ass," or the mere announcement of himself, "that's me, darling." Fiennes' delivery elevates the dialogue and makes something special out of it. Anderson's films have included many comedic performances, but Fiennes' might be the funniest of them all.
The Wright stuffJeffrey Wright in The French DispatchPhoto: Searchlight Pictures
Jeffrey Wright in The French Dispatch is quite different from Fiennes. For starters he's not the lead of the film but part of an ensemble. Yet his work is no less distinguished and unique. The movie is an amalgam of short stories inspired by The New Yorker. Wright appears in the third of the three major stories. His character, Roebuck Wright, is a food writer influenced in equal measure by James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, and A.J. Liebling. Yet despite this historical context, The French Dispatch, like all Anderson films, is stripped of all ideological framework. He creates a wholly original and intricate new world that only nods to its original inspiration. So it's up to Wright to bring authenticity to Anderson's faux world.
When first seen, he's being interviewed by Liev Schreiber on a TV show. From the way he sits, holds his cigarette, and talks with utmost confidence, he recalls Baldwin—whose interviews are included in a few well-regarded documentaries and available to watch online so it's easy to spot the connection. Wright evokes Baldwin's spirit and makes an indelible impression stopping just short of full-on mimicry. As the story veers away from Baldwin, Wright adapts his performance. He uses his mellifluous voice to recite one of Anderson's many long stories, making the audience understand why this man is such a charismatic storyteller. Later, he infuses his character with sincere emotion when Roebuck faces an injustice. Wright manages to add all this warmth while still remaining true to Anderson's stylized and cerebral aesthetic.
Johansson mines the actress within the actressWes Anderson and Scarlett Johansson promote Asteroid City at the 76th annual Cannes film festival Photo: Daniele Venturelli (Getty Images)
If Fiennes and Wright go bigger by adding comedy and emotion to Anderson's restrictive framework, Johansson in Asteroid City goes the other way. Her performance is one of even less emotionality than Anderson usually requires. She plays Midge Campbell, a mid-20th century movie star. Yet she's also Mercedes Ford, the actress playing Midge in the play within the film that constitutes Asteroid City. Perhaps being an actress playing an actress who's playing another actress made Johansson lean entirely into artificiality.
It's a performance that's all about the pose, one where the usual deadpan delivery that Anderson requires comes out almost dead in Johansson's hands. At the very least she's always calling attention to the visual presentation of her character rather than the emotional. Of course, Anderson frames her beautifully and she's styled like an Italian movie star of the 1950s, with black hair and sunglasses. She is Gina Lollobrigida incarnate. Yet she's transfixing not just because of how breathtaking she looks but because all this stillness hints at the character's tragedy. She's grieving and looks like she's tired of how much she's been cajoled and abused by those in her life. Johansson looks like a painting but she's no less human.
And that's the challenge for any performer in a Wes Anderson film; to add humanism and emotionality to a setting carefully constructed to be as artificial as possible. It means making small choices that allow the actor to foreground their efforts just enough to connect with the audience but still blend in. Wes Anderson films are not performance driven, they are environment driven with the actor being the primary element that propels the story forward. So consider it no small feat that Fiennes, Wright, and Johansson have given some of their best performances working with a director who puts the biggest constraints on their artistic choices.
The Most Wes Anderson Shot In Every Wes Anderson Movie
More so than with any other living filmmaker, you immediately know when you are watching Wes Anderson movies. The auteur has developed a trademark style, color palette, cinematography, and tone for his various movies over the years. This unique form of visual storytelling has led to some of the most inventive and iconic shots in modern cinema
As part of our partnership with AMC Theatres, which selected Asteroid City as an Artisan film, and where you can now purchase tickets to see the film on the big screen, we've decided to go back through his first 10 movies and pick out the shots that best represent the director's iconic style. Many planning sessions, dance parties, and melodramatic moments went into the making of this list, so please enjoy.
Though he had not yet fully developed the style for which he is now known, you can see traces of what was to come in Wes Anderson's 1996 crime comedy, Bottle Rocket, which he wrote alongside Owen Wilson, one of his most prolific collaborators. This is best illustrated in the scene in which Dignan (Wilson), Anthony Adams (Luke Wilson), and Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave) are planning the film's robbery.
Planning sequences would go on to become a major component of Anderson's work in the years to come, so it's fun to see the genesis of this element in his debut film.
Anderson continued to evolve his style with his 1998 sophomore effort, Rushmore, a movie about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) who goes to war with his mentor, Herman Blume (Bill Murray), after they both fall in love with the same woman, played by Olivia Williams.
The director has long used non-orchestral songs in some of his biggest scenes, and that's the case in the "Revenge Montage" in Rushmore, where Max gets back at Herman in their petty feud. The entire sequence, which is set to The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away," is worth a watch, but the shot of the teenager walking in slow motion out of an elevator after carrying out his revenge is classic.
The Royal Tenenbaums, released in 2001, feels like the beginning of the style we now most associate with Wes Anderson. The distinct color palettes, the multitude of symmetrical shots, and the quirky tone are all on full display in this movie about an estranged father (Gene Hackman) attempting to reconnect with his family.
There's a moment in which the younger versions of Margot and Chas Tenenbaum look out windows at their father down below. The contrast of red bricks, gray stone, pink walls, and white art on the walls sets a visual tone that is carried throughout the rest of the movie.
In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Anderson takes the visual toolbox he constructed in his three previous films to create a career-defining experience, one that tells the story of an oceanographer (Bill Murray) searching for the "Jaguar Shark" that ate his best friend, but the underwater encounter with the fabled beast is the best.
There's a moment in which Zissou, who is in the center of the frame, is being embraced by everyone in a cramped submarine as they find the elusive Jaguar Shark. Both triumphant and melancholic, the sequence, thanks in part to Sigur Ros' beautiful "Staralfur," creates an unforgettable moment.
His fifth movie, 2007's The Darjeeling Limited, takes audiences along with three brothers – Peter (Adrien Brody), Francis (Owen Wilson), and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) as they go on a spiritual journey through India.
There's a shot part way through the movie where the brothers leave a funeral for a young boy in one of the most impressive tracking shots of Anderson's career. But the moment gets even better when the trio get into a car and the movie immediately cuts to a flashback from their father's funeral a year earlier. Not only does the cut show how far they've come, it also creates a dizzying visual experience.
The filmmaker's 2009 stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox is a true delight and one of his best achievements. The animated movie, with its warm colors, outstanding cinematography, and tremendous story, gives plenty of reasons to be so well remembered.
The moment that always comes back is the scene in which Mr. Fox (George Clooney) has a near-religious experience when he meets a wolf in the wild. It's a short scene, but a powerful one nonetheless, and is capped off with a shot of both the wild wolf and not-so-wild fox sharing a moment of solidarity with their paws raised towards the heavens.
Released in 2012, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of a young boy and girl who run away together to an isolated beach in an attempt to escape their guardians and peers. The central coming-of-age story is a grand exploration of young love, rebellion, and freedom, but there are a lot of secondary characters that lead to some signature Wes Anderson moments.
One of the quirkiest of these shots shows a treehouse built by a group of Khaki Scouts at the top of the tallest tree you've ever seen. Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton) is not amused or excited about the dangerous shelter several stories in the sky, but for the viewer it creates an unforgettable moment.
Some would argue that The Grand Budapest Hotel is the most Wes Anderson movie of his career, and there's a case to be made for that. The movie, which centers on the famed concierge, Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Feinnes), of a mountainside resort, is full of great miniatures, tracking shots, a great deal of symmetry, and a great score.
We could talk about a number of scenes, however, the one that sticks out the most is the jailbreak scene in which Gustave and his fellow prisoners attempt to escape. It's cartoonish, meticulous, and incredibly charming, which are probably the best ways to describe Anderson's work.
In 2018, Anderson released his second stop-motion animated movie, Isle of Dogs, in which the mayor of a Japanese town banned all dogs and sent them to a remote island. We could go on about all the gorgeous shots and sequences throughout this charming movie, but the sushi scene is the scène du jour.
Though the sequence does end with someone eating a poisoned piece of sushi, the events that precede it are beautifully crafted and animated. The combination of violence and artistry creates this very Wes Anderson experience, one that is so precise and well-crafted.
Anderson's 2021 anthology film, The French Dispatch, brings to life three stories from the final issue of the French foreign bureau of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun newspaper. Each of the main segments are full of wonderful moments, but the most Wes Anderson shot of the whole film takes place in one of the portions following the staff of the newspaper.
The moment in question shows Alumna (Elisabeth Moss), the French Dispatch's copy editor, working on what could be the most impressive sentence diagram the world has ever seen. It's unnecessarily complicated, but that has sort of become Anderson's charm in recent years.
We can't wait to see what Wes Anderson has in store for us with Asteroid City, whether it's crafting wonderfully composed shots of characters in symmetrical settings, wonderful musical numbers, or anything else we covered. If you're just as intrigued and excited, you'll probably want to go ahead and purchase your tickets before you're out of time.
Asteroid City opens in theaters on June 23, 2023.
CinemaBlend created this article as part of a paid partnership with AMC Theatres. The contents of this article are entirely independent and solely reflect the editorial opinion of CinemaBlend.
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