Wes Anderson (the Director of "Mr Fantastic Fox") got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, handsome Jason Schwartzman rustled up cat calls when he strode out onto the podium, and "Fox" proved it's in the running and a surefire contender for an Oscar bid.
The "Envelope" event, sponsored by the Los Angeles Times @ the Landmark Theatres in West LA, was a hit with the rapt audience in attendance.
Last week I begged off a screening @ Mann's Chinese in order to catch the Q & A with Wes Anderson at last night's high-profile screening, and the creative genius did not disappoint.
Congenial staffers and a comfortable cozy theatre environment (outfitted with cushy leather-upholstered chairs and a rich interior that appealed to the senses) set the mood for a very enjoyable entertaining night.
In fact, one one occasion when actor Jason Schwartzman reminisced about a fond memory, I experienced a flash of deja vu.
As I was jotting down a few of the comic actor's amusing quips, I reeled a little for a moment because throughout that segment, I felt it all happened before!
For me, the auspicious moment was a good omen, and signalled I was connected to the proceedings in some inexplicable way unknown to my conscious mind at this point in time.
Patrick Goldstein - a regular journalist who pens a show-biz column at the La Times (and a subsequent blog as an appendage to it) - fielded questions for the industrious guests to digest and answer.
Unfortunately, I am not moved by Mr. Goldstein's written words.
On occasion, he conjures up a tired column that's old hat, but is under the misguided impression that he's just invented sliced bread or something nutritious like that.
Zzzzzzzzz!
The interview(s) started off on a shakey note, for starters.
For example, when the washed-out-looking newsie quipped that Anderson appeared to be wearing the same suit he sported on the occasion of their last interview, the comment went over like a lead balloon.
He was quick on the uptake, though.
"Well, autumnal colors, at least," he added half-jokingly, or something to that effect, in a bold-faced effort to smooth over the waters a tad.
In another segment with Schwartzman, the journalist joked that because the young star was Jewish, he was welcome to answer the question with a question.
Duh!
Jason paused a second or two before responding (speechless?).
Say what?
Once Goldstein began to focus on the sparkling facets of his fascinating guests, the interview jump-started before it was inclined to fly into a ditch by the side of the well-travelled road he was treading on.
Wes Anderson was a vastly entertaining (delightfully witty) guest.
In fact, whenever the gifted director opened his mouth - usually with short sweet answers to questions that allowed him to grandstand a bit - I generally laughed out loud.
I thought I would bust a gut on occasion - as Liz's character in the award-winning play - "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" - might brey.
With the aim of dredging up a guffaw or two from the audience, Anderson was keen on tossing the spotlight on his less-than-upright character traits, for example.
In the film "Fantastic Mr. Fox" for instance, there is a scene with blueberries (won't spoil it for you with too many revealing details) which Wes lifted from another Roald Dahl book (without permission) .
Out-of-the-blue one fine day, the estate's legal department rang up Anderson to scold him, after catching wind of his scandalous conduct.
"You can't steal copywritten material from another book for "Fox"," he cautioned in so many words.
Saddened by the unexpected dressing-down, Anderson got in touch with Mrs. Dahl and wailed:
"But, we already made the blueberries."
"Oh, okay," she sighed. "Use it, then."
Wes never directed an animated film before, so in response to a question about how he approached the subject, he reacted dead-pan
"Well, there was a farm featured in the movie."
"So," I said, "I guess we have to get a farm".
I laughed out loud - after all - the way he blurted it out in that distinctive droll tone of voice of his was downright hilarious!
Originally, Henry Selick (award-winning animator) was lined up to partner with Wes on the project.
But, Mr. Fantastic Fox ended up being ten years in the making (from inception to shooting schedule).
So, by the time Anderson dotted the i's and crossed the t's on the deal, Sellick was whole-heartedly (and contentedly) involved with "Coraline".
By the way, I interviewed Mr. Selick on the red carpet in Dallas at a festival there.
Charming talented man!
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTy22Vime2Q
What about Schwartzman?
The lad was stylishly turned-out in a suit and a trendy "do".
Whoa nellie!
Was he actually wearing pink socks?
Me thinks so!
"He's so short," a gal next to me chimed in after brushing into him on a potty break just prior to the screening.
Short in height, but not in stature, though.
Even still, excited femme fatales (a dude or two, too) were inclined to hurl a few cat-calls his way.
In spite of the fact his family hails from the biz, Jason did not have a fixation about becoming an actor when he was a kid.
"It was not something I felt I could do."
In contrast, he stumbled on his passion for music when he was a mere boy.
"I could listen to music alone in my room and get CRAZY," he confessed.
But, as fate would have it, his mother arrived home one day with three DVD's in tow, which ended up shaking his eyes wide open.
So, he got the bug.
I suppose in the final analysis, an apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?
Just as the interview started to move along at a fast clip - sprinkled with wicked laughs from the performers and roars of approval from the audience - Mr. Anderson managed to stumble on one answer in spite of the fact he was normally on-the-ball in that regard.
Jason leaned over at this juncture and assured the well-liked director that he "didn't have to answer" that (question).
"Keep that stuff for yourself," he urged..
Guess the instinctive actor fathomed a long time ago that it wasn't necessary (or required) to gush and fawn over a host during the course of an interview (even after the floodlights shut down).
Smart cookie,
Believe it or not, Jason confided on the heels of this notion, that he didn't know how to approach the part of his character (Ash) in the early throes of developing it..
"I didn't know if I should speak in a child's voice - high-ptiched - or whatever," he noted as he grappled with his respons.
So, one day in London, Anderson arranged for a quick run-through about twenty minutes in length to help the actor get a grip on it.
"It was snowing pages," he chuckled in a madcap moment of precise recall.
"It was like the old days of movie-making in the silent-film era," he noted with a bit of wonder in his voice.
"Wes actually talked me through scenes. Like, 'oh, this just happened, react to it', and that sort-of-thing."
Wes always thought of animals and wildlife in nature when he worked on the Fox project in order to get focused on the task at hand, but Schawartzman revealed without any qualms that he tended to drift to thoughts (and images) of people instead.
"These animals (in the script) could be like humans with thoughts and feelings, ya know?"
Bill Murray (who played Christopherson, a visiting cousin) toyed with the idea of a Wisconsin accent - which Anderson confided to the audience - was a bit "out there".
"It was totally away from where I was going with it. Besides, I was not familiar with the nuances of a Wisconsin accent, so I couldn't properly evaluate whether it was bang on or not."
As to a discussion, the issue pretty much fell out of favor without much argument, according to the director.
Anderson raved about Murray's performance at the end of the film, in particular, though.
In that end scene, shot on location on a farmhouse set, amidst picturesque Connecticut landscapes, Bill took a stab at playing the part of the "Wolf".
"He was so great in that part. Perfect."
In fact, Wes was so enchanted by the Wolf portrayal, that a copy of the scene he caught on his mobile telephone was turned over to the art department to facilitate an exact rendering (and depiction) of that remarkable scene.
"So, Bill is uncredited in the role of the wolf in Fox."
Personally, I was totally knocked out by Clooney's voice-over work, which suited the character of Mr. Fox to a "T".
Normally, each actor does his own voice-over assignment in a sound studio - alone - so the track is clean.
Here, Wes tried to have as many actors available on set to perform the scenes live.
"I realized that George's voice was a large part of acting after witnessing him at work".
If there was digging going on in a scene, the actors dug. If there was scratching at a door, they scratched."
"It felt like we were performing in a radio play," Jason piped up.
The beauty of it was, there was no frame to hinder or limit the recording process.
So, the on-his-toes soundman managed to deftly zip inand-out and catch all the audios on track without interruption as much as was humanly (beastly?) possible.
Goldstein made an astute observation (for once in his life) when he pointed out that Merly streep was so into her character, that audiences often forgot she was the voice behind Mrs. Fox.
Uncanny!
That's exactly what happenrd with me.
In fact, so much so, that I wondered if I was mistaken when I published a voice-over credit on a blog post last week.
Patrick asked about pixal films in view of the stunning images created in the Fox feature.
Schwartzman loves Monster Ink, Up, and Wall-E.
"The pixal films are funny and smart. I understand that they developed seven of the projects over a one-hour lunch."
"But, they didn't think of Toy 2," he joked.
At this juncuture, the conversation focused on Roald Dahl, and there was mention of the fact he wrote his autobiography for the kids. (Boy/Going Solo)
Dahl was also known to love books - and the kids were keenly aware of that - without doubt.
The 1st draft of the film script ended up being quite different than the book.
"We gave the characters names and fleshed out their personalities."
Anderson revealed that he wasn't sure if he dreamed up the idea, if it came from his own imagination, or whether he stole the idea from somewhere.
"My younger and older brothers were models for the film characters, obviously," he admitted.
Without choking up, the dynamic auteur recalled that his brother was bigger and stronger, just like the character in Fox.
"He made me feel inferior."
There was a moan from the audience.
Aw!
"Well, not in a bad way," he was quick to add.
I sat up in my chair when the soundtrack kicked in with a raw Rolling Stones tune at one juncture.
The choice of music was so "right" in that instant scenario.
That memorable ditty was followed by an upbeat California-surfing hit by the Beach Boys.
Like everyone else in the room, Goldstein was curious about how Anderson secured the rights for the Stones hit.
"They'd rather I didn't discuss that," he almost whispered to the attentive interviewer.
Yes, he admitted, there has been an ongoing partnership with the Rolling Stones who were friends of his.
I wouldn't mind striking up bonds with dudes like that on MySpace, eh?
Initially, because the setting was a farm, West chose a hillbilly sound with a predominant Banjo twang to set the tone and mood.
Burl Ives songbooks and Davey Crocket soundtracks impacted the musical vision, too.
"The composer tied together the key elements."
Illustrations from the Dahl children's book were incorporated by reference on a myriad of levels and inspired the use of miniature sets coined from the Dahl farm and surrounding landscape.
A review of Mr. Fantastic Fox - just fantastic, by the way - follows in a day or two.
Catch it if you can!
