Wes Anderson Interview | Masterclass on Filmmaking

[Applause] messy Messala twos bonsoir or junky nutreve sharpish facebooked on dusty cinema AFET new Samadhi liked the video newest and Etheredge new path a total a standing ovation prescription service request in Baku sir Votolato CinemaCon city of fall weather is son along via Navajos ma give adverse economic Rasha kita no meat has surely the reason we owe it an addition a super food Ahmadi to sample more common side ability Kelly devote her hot paw or division is worse on this or Texas Avenue cinema Kamali seems on Tara verruca more cinema available well I think it was maybe I maybe there's three filmmakers that I remember particularly making an impression on me one was Hitchcock because there was a series of Betamax videotapes that were released that were the American Hitchcock the later Hitchcock films and they were but these were films that were released with his name the director's name above the title and that was something I wasn't really aware of a new movie stars names go above the title Nicola if you ever you know me very well if you think you know what I'm going to say anyway just tell me this happened you just say it because it will save us doctor whiskey okay I would read your mind the other two were Steven Spielberg he was this way he was such a famous director and I loved these films and I loved Raiders of the Lost Ark and um he made a huge impression on me but the other one that was in our local video store was they catch us on KU I don't think I'd ever seen a movie that was in French and I was maybe I was 15 or something like that and I think probably Truffaut but that film is a bit like you know they say about The Velvet Underground that that way you know what does not apply to suppose they say not very many people bought the records in the first place but everyone who bought the record started a band I mean a lot of people saw the cutter side was a hit moving by but they all started the band yes yes and you know we used to sometimes to save tape you could fit a couple of movies sometimes you might not get the whole movie so some there are some movies where I knew almost the whole movie very well because I've tried to get to all but one of the films that I watched very very often on on those videotapes was is one that we're going to screen on Sunday with barbi Schroeder a barfly you know I guess maybe well but when barfly came out probably I was 16 something shortened to the question quite lush Moe decides to that the I you know I wanted to be a director when I was when I was very young I I sort of drifted away from it for a while I I wanted then I wanted to be a writer when I was a teenager I was more interested in being a writer but but but but I guess on some level I always you know okay I I know somehow I knew that this was the thing I really was going to end up most I think well I did not go to film school at the University of Texas they the thing they did have was they had a good they had it they have a good film school I I just wasn't a part of it but um I but they also have it they have a very very good librarian system of libraries and they have a lot of movies in the in there really the the collection of books that they had at that time in their library about movies what they were mostly about they were about the the moment when international cinema sort of arrived in America in this big way in the 60s with you and also Asian and you know and you but you can say who they you know it's true fo and go down and Bergman and Rossellini and Fellini and curse killers and these guys were suddenly all stars well this was this was what their but this was what they this was when they bought their movie books really so I kind of learned about those directors and watch their films I went back forth between the books in the movies you did you go to film school no no we should come home the the the uh you know what I think is the whole movie is probably at least as inspired by European movies maybe more than American movies I mean I definitely but it's also an interesting because Owen Wilson he was not so fascinated with European films he I mean he has he has his European films that he loves but this is not one of his great passion and you know Rushmore is both of us so so so part of it it has a European movie influence but I think but the other thing I think is maybe with with um you know III would say for oh and partly for me we're probably III want to say he's might have be might have been thinking his greatest influence for that movie might be more literary once but I don't know which influences those would be really so anyway well that's that's it for that question I guess I can't think they'll say about it wasn't like we were deliberately saying let's do a John Woo movie know that we were instead I mean the movie that the the really the movie that we're going to show later tonight the souffle occurred that that movie was that is one of the biggest influences on it and that one you wouldn't put in any genre at all I mean you would say it's just a it's oh it's it's like an invented memoir or something like that yes and at that you know this that was just a that's it that's a song I loved but then I also thought well well if you if he was trying to seduce of it that's well I think that would do it but I also think you know that I'm sure that this that that the scene was basically written to that music I I feel like I was I it was the the music kind of came first I said that that's not a question I'd say why yes why the well you know this the the the whole movement of directors who had he was a sort of master and guide to a company of directors and when I started making films I had one friend who was Minoan who was making who was working with me without if we didn't meet if we didn't click in that way I mean I we both would have tried to do one thing or another but I'm I think it would have been a harder struggle and we and we relied on more than one mentor ourselves there's a producer named Kit Carson do you know that is no LM Kit Carson did you ever see David Holtzman's diary yes you've seen it he's in it he co-wrote it and he's in it and um and then also James L broke it was our early mentor in tech and James L Brooks and Polly Platt the chance to make a whole film and Jim really taught us you know everything about how you how you take a script that you may have been working on for a long time in our case we've been rehearsing it for probably four years or something but the difference between taking this script and making a whole movie work well we needed it we needed a teacher for that so I'm connecting lengua to that you know whatever to that kind of experience do you wrote for caiaphas yes do you feel part of a continuity with those I you know you say thank you yes well III don't I don't think I would hide them on purpose I mean I think the reason to hide your inspirations or your or or the the best the reason to hide them is because you're trying to steal them and if you can sneak it in then you know then you've just you've just you you've you've gained something without having to well I think at this point usually when I'm when I'm starting when I'm just in the point of kind of having a collection of ideas for a movie which often is sort of a listed there might be there there on the list is maybe a idea for a character which may be a bit of an idea for a story but just as often it's also a list of some painting and several movies and and that may be a place that I've visited or something like that it we with that and I also think that that it makes me think about the fact that when you make a movie you it's not like you're just organizing the chaos you're creating a new chaos which is the experience of trying to do a movie and if one thing that I've kind of enjoyed sort of learning to do or figuring out little aspects of any way is making some systems for just kind of running a movie we have so many people that you know they're there's a number of people here tonight in fact who have worked with me for years yes well I think that you know usually I think the thing I don't really think about is at the beginning of a movie is is whether or not people will care about this you know I I it's usually I I want to do this movie and I'm just gonna try to do it but then after that point and I usually I end up kind of creating something that is that has some that has new numerous problems that are built into it built into it so then so much of of making the film is about how to take whatever it is whatever it sort of has to be and to make it clear and to make it something that you can latch on to and follow yes and that's that's something that just goes from from rewriting the script over and over and over and all the way to you know the day that you that you make the final print release print yes the last things I I feel like the last things that are happening are always about trying to reduce the number of people that are who are going to be confused why that I don't know I mean I mean I know why I mean I know what I feel like I wanted to make a European film because I had been I had spent a lot of time in Europe and the movie related to the things I was reading and it related to it even and it also relates to it relates to European literature the European movies but it also relates to American movies a kind of whole genre of American movies that was said in middle Europe but I don't know why won't people I mean you know I my experience is you you you think you have no idea of what's gonna happen to the movie until sometime well after it's already been released particular the the the Lois Malcolm's and and the river but I think that probably the bigger inspiration is is such a to raise films which is a huge body of work of you know beautiful amazing films but I think we could say that ray actually was inspired by Renoir I'm not meaning that that his movies are in mean everybody's influenced by everybody and that's a filmmaking love I mean literally he met Renoir who was filming the river and this was part of what led Pather Panchali comes after that experience that's right right yeah yes well Lubitz definitely and Ophuls I think Awful's - yes I think um you know I think yeah I mean in in different ways Lubitsch I think on some level we were thinking of sort of every day but we even had a we had a whole stack of movies where we we all live together in a little hotel when we were making it was in Germany yeah it was on the Polish border it was a town called Garlits and we had a whole stack of movies Ben had my sister been idler he will he's worked up with know many ways do you remember some of them we had yes and they were and there were there were lots yes we had we had in fact my we named our daughter after after a character in one of them the mortal storm do you know the mortals - Marcus - yeah question and comment I think um I mean that's when I say about stealing yes and often I mean it's often where we're stealing from movies without even really knowing it because they're things that are sort of built into how a movie is done you know I mean somewhere along the way maybe it's Griffith or some things there was the idea maybe we should have a shot that is just like this and that might be good when we do a close-up now we don't really consider an homage to Griffith yep so I am but but yes um so sometimes I do find where I'm watching movies just specifically because I I need something something that's missing yes I mean I do feel there are some filmmakers who like I remember reading Gus Van Sant's saying that he's it's he has a few felt like he had mentioned their Orson Welles chimes at midnight and Andy Warhol's films as as real inspirations for him but yes but he didn't but he was sort of saying I he's not someone who watches movies all the time who draws from draws from all the movies which is a interesting thing to me is that you would never I his movies are as sophisticated and informed as anybody's yes you can't really predict what somebody's process is or what they draw the yes I I don't I don't know if I have a comment specifically about that I accept that I agree with it but I do remember the first time I saw that film it was um at I think it was the New Beverly cinema in Los Angeles and one of the projectors broke and you know to watch a movie to watch a movie without you know the old way you need two projectors you go real from real to real it's so they came the the manager of the theater came out and asked if they say they said we have a problem but if anyone wants to we'll run the movie on one projector which means that between E between the reels you're gonna have like about five minutes it's like it's a movie that's already four four four hours long and then you dolt yes salt and then you add eight intermissions and you have really really want to see it but I do remember that that there were maybe three people who stayed the whole time and I was one of them and it was a very powerful experience it was kind of a good way to see it I just wish I had brought some snacks and things well I you know I liked it I I watched a lot of movies at home book whooshing Wow it makes a huge difference if you're watching a blu-ray which in a way is an argument for seeing movies this way I mean sometimes I would rather even if I would rather see the other movie I would I'll watch the blu-ray just to it because it's a more powerful experience just having the clarity having it be like a real movie how do you direct actors well you know every actor has their own way they want to be directed don't you think and some actors I mean I can i I I can name some names like like an actor like Jeff Goldblum he wants you to tell him everything that you can and he's and he asks you and you want this a little more you want him he's a little scared right he's more he's scared here he tries to get words out of you and other actors like for instance Gene Hackman for instance would be happy if you didn't speak to him and and and in and you might be and and with him you you would be you might be very startled by how good he is when you don't interfere and I and and some actors I know love to do many many takes like Ray finds when we did this last one grand Budapest hotel Rafe is very happy and he would like to do it again if we could just one more time and Rafe can get better and better and he even if he was already good at the beginning he it takes get better and better he finds something else and the thing I felt with Gene Hackman many many years ago was he wants to get it immediately he does everything he can to make the first take really count I mean I said I I mean I don't even know them it's a long long time ago but that was my kind of impression anyway you know I always I guess what I I think what I really liked were these TV specials in America Christmas specials in America that they stop motion I always liked the creatures like in the Harryhausen type films but really I think that these American Christmas specials were probably the thing that made me first wanna do it the first I did was fantastic mr. Fox and now I'm working on another film that's in the same that's also very much my Massey fantastic I feel it's less influenced by stop-motion movies than it is by Akira Kurosawa I don't who said that Oh with his hand up there yes the yeah it's a hard one to answer yeah I don't know I don't know no I mean I III I appreciate the question but but you know what I am what I could say I am happy with I I'm happy with it with so many collaborations that I've had I'm happy with what with what other people have done for these movies and I've loved the process sometimes of writing these movies with my collaborators find the fumes you made what you dreamed what you dreamed of knowing that for instance when we first started making films every time he started doing a movie it was forgetting about the dream once we start to desire to make the Phoebe just had to finish it and make sure the film was finished and made and you try to find the dream again in the editing room from the first film that I that I worked on um I am always very the first dailies the first rushes we now we don't even look at now I don't we never even look at the rush abate you know the way it used to be you filmed for the day and then you went and watched what you did and from the first film that I made when I saw the first the first of the dailies I thought this is not anything like what I expected it to be and not necessarily in a bad way I just thought so that is what it's like when you add all these ingredients together and that and that that doesn't change the only thing that responds ah so you don't watch the rushes anymore no I I watched now I now you know I mean what I don't know what your experience is I mean now you get you get a I watch them if I'm sent a you know I I mean I'm sent quick times and things of the rushes but it used to be that we all went to a small version of a room like this you had to do it you needed to see if if there was a scratch on the negative if there was something wrong yeah but also it used to be to that you said well let's print that one that's part of the pets long gone and now we now everything gets you see everything and you watch it all you say often you used to watch one you would watch one take you know I mean did you make those where you would print just one take of each of a shot well I haven't I haven't shot a movie I haven't I've shot some little like I've made a commercial with an Alexa that I don't really know the experience of shooting on where you can just keep it rolling but I agree with Michelle's assessment and as so much that what I actually like to like to do is I don't like to cut when we're shooting on film I because as soon as you cut everyone starts moving around and talking and and fixing the thing that they're meant to fix oh I bet over the years because I like to keep rolling we've wasted so much film and so now now we have a new system where instead of where instead of saying cut I say still rolling but they cut and so everyone pretends that we're still rolling sometimes they violate it a bit but they try to give me the illusion that the tension is still there that's all you let don't show it a button sharply - yes I mean it's it's crucial just - I think sometimes actors they're there they're there they've this whatever is happening they've ended up with a kind of spell that they're that they've wanted to be cast under putting your film how would you work with Mark Mothersbaugh in your early films and how do you work now with Alex on Desplat yes well it's that's a it's the same the same process really and they're both composers who I you know like why they got to know through their work but then became good friends with so we've had very good collaboration Alexander it has the interesting thing which is he he I particularly particularly loved the music for birth for the film birth but then I found out that he lived only two blocks away from me and so at that point I knew we must work together and either it was like an omen in Maupin ass so anyway and and so I've had a great time working with Alexander on these movies and we have a quite informal very fun sort of way of working and he and he likes to kind of play you know he has very deep kind of musical knowledge and wide ranging but he's also happy if you said you know I think that it might be interesting if we had a part that's just for people stomping their feet he said I can write a yes I can write a part for that so he might compose a foot stomping lot well I think some sometimes sometimes I've done movies where there was music that I knew from from working on the script and it was it's really it could have been written into the script and the scenes probably don't exist if you don't have that music but then um but then certainly there's there that you know there's this last movie grand Budapest hotel I had almost no music and you know Alexander wrote basically everything that's that's in it there's some some there's some Vivaldi and maybe there's there's some was some yodeling some eggs some existing yodeling that we used which actually we took from a Verner Hertzog film with Terence Mann because he keeps writing scores for manic and he doesn't use them he uses other music instead like the PC yes but he probably has a lot of fun before terrence malick throws out the music yeah well I don't I don't know I mean I think it's a bit like just it's it's not something that I feel is is is important dramatically or that's just for me I mean I think the way I might sort of arrange things in a frame or something like that that's that's that's just I mean I compare it to like handwriting or something you know it's you might try to write very well but really you have something that your brain is inclined to do would you consider Bill Murray as yo papa hole captain Zissou which is a sequel in the way from Rushmore so what would I consider Bill Murray my kind of principle Bill Murray is one of my favorites but um but I do think there I have I have a little gang of people and Bill is one of the central people in that but Oh Owen is the the first you know Owen and Luke Wilson these are the ones who I really so and Owen and I have done many many movies together so Owen Jason schwartzmann Bill Murray and then but but it's but it's a it's a it's a that's that's grown ya miss you miss you mommy thank you [Music] [Applause]

Channel: The Quirky World of Wes Anderson

Views: 51,929

Rating: 4.9341993 out of 5

Keywords: wes anderson, wes anderson interview, wes anderson on writing, wes anderson on filmmaking, wes anderson on directing, wes anderson on isle of dogs, wes anderson on the grand budapest hotel, arte cinema masterclass, wes anderson masterclass on filmmaking, wes anderson interview masterclass, wes anderson masterclass, masterclass, masterclass on filmmaking

Id: tMOq7jeC6Yk

Length: 26min 21sec (1581 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 23 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Patr10t_RUS]

thank you!