Wes Anderson’s eighth feature, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” is getting strong reviews — an 89 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes — and doing well in limited release. As his latest cabinet of wonders expands into more cities, here’s a look back at some of the behind-the-scenes details of his intricately crafted films that make them so rich.
Owen Wilson was meh on starring in ‘Bottle Rocket’ (1996).
Anderson’s University of Texas friend and co-writer said the pair tried to get a real star — hoping for someone like Keanu Reeves — to play the irrepressible scamp who plots a daffy heist in the low-budget film, their first feature. When that didn’t pan out, Wilson (along with his brother Luke) starred in the film that would launch both of their careers.
There’s a shot of Jacques Cousteau in ‘Bottle Rocket.’
A portrait is seen on the wall in a party scene. Cousteau’s ocean documentaries would later inspire a film seen in “Rushmore,” and, of course, “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” in which Bill Murray played a Cousteau-like explorer.
‘Rushmore’ (1998) was shot at Anderson’s prep school, St. John’s, in Houston.
Anderson explained on the DVD that he also used to write plays like the film’s hero, Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman). Owen Wilson, who co-wrote the film with Anderson, said that the scene in which Max gets expelled was modeled after the moment he, Wilson, was expelled from St. Mark’s School in Dallas.
Owen Wilson does appear in ‘Rushmore.’
He’s the dead husband of Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), the object of Max’s affection. But Wilson is seen only in photos on the wall in his bedroom, which Miss Cross has preserved as a shrine to his memory.
Anderson is in it, too.
The first voice you hear at the beginning — in the classroom, talking to the math teacher — is Anderson’s, and he is also in the audience for Max’s big Vietnam play at the end.
Max was supposed to compete to be the headmaster of Rushmore Academy.
In an early draft of the script, Anderson said in the DVD commentary, Max and Dr. Guggenheim (Brian Cox) had a war for control of the school. The idea was discarded, though: It’s much more far-fetched than anything in the final version of the film.
Jason Schwartzman‘s casting was a coincidence.
Though “Rushmore” contains references to “Apocalypse Now” and “The Godfather,” both of which were directed by Schwartzman’s uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, Schwartzman submitted an audition tape like hundreds of others. He attracted attention with his deadpan readings, then impressed Anderson further when he showed up for a live audition in costume, wearing a blazer with a Rushmore patch he had made himself. “Rushmore” was Schwartzman’s film debut.
Anderson tried to get The Beatles’ version of ‘Hey Jude’ for the opening of ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ (2001).
But he couldn’t afford the rights, so he went with the cover version by the Mutato Muzika Orchestra.
Anderson is the voice of one of the tennis commentators during Luke Wilson’s tennis match.
The other voice is Luke and Owen’s brother, Andrew.
Danny Glover is styled like Kofi Annan.
Anderson once met the former UN chief and liked his look, so he appropriated it for the Henry Sherman character.
The Tenenbaums are named after a college friend of Anderson and Owen Wilson.
Their friend Brian Tenenbaum also had a sister named Margot, whose name Anderson borrowed for the Gwyneth Paltrow character.
Cate Blanchett really was pregnant during the filming of ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’ (2004).
Blanchett’s character, a journalist, is five months pregnant, but Blanchett found out she was pregnant on the set.
The dad in ‘Rushmore’ is the crew member who gets eaten by a shark in ‘Life Aquatic.’
Seymour Cassel (Mr. Fischer in the earlier film, Esteban in this one) had once told Roger Ebert he always wanted to be eaten by a shark in a movie.
The ending of ‘Life Aquatic’ was inspired by ‘The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension’ (1984).
When various characters gather together for a jaunty walk behind the closing credits, Anderson was thinking of the ending of “Buckaroo.” Jeff Goldblum co-starred in both films.
We owe ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ (2007) to Anderson’s friendship with Martin Scorsese.
The two became pals in the late 1990s, when Scorsese dubbed Anderson “the next Martin Scorsese” in Esquire. The older man screened the India-set Jean Renoir film “The River” for Anderson, whose imagination was sparked by it. Anderson also referred back to the films of India’s Satyajit Ray when he made his Eastern opus.
Bill Murray went to India twice to film his tiny part in ‘Darjeeling.’
Murray has no dialogue in the film and is seen only briefly in it, as a businessman failing to catch the train at the start and again at the end, in a long shot that shows most of the major characters in different compartments of the train. Murray has only a few seconds of screen time in that second scene.
The brothers’ names in ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ are borrowed from famous movie people Anderson admires.
Francis, Jack and Peter are named for Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson and Peter Bogdanovich.
‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ (2009) was the first book Anderson ever owned.
Hence his interest in making the film.
Mario Batali made his film debut in ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox.’
The chef is the voice of Rabbit.
Mr. Fox dresses like Anderson.
Both share a love for natty brown corduroy suits.
The stolen books Suzy carries in ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ (2012) are all fictitious.
Anderson nonetheless hired individual designers for each of the six books and wrote parts of each book.
The guidebook about troubled children was a detail from Anderson’s life.
Suzy finds a book called “Coping with the Very Troubled Child.” Anderson, as a boy, found a similar book and knew immediately that he was the child in question.
Anderson got the look of The Grand Budapest Hotel from a Library of Congress Web page.
He looked up colorized photos of Austro-Hungarian turn-of-the-century landmarks and the hotel’s motif was born.
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ was born in a Paris bookstore.
Anderson spends a lot of time in Paris, where he once came across some books by the 1920s Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, whose work inspired the film’s feel. Zweig is prominently credited as an inspiration at the end of it.