comment #1

corey3rd says ...

at least Tim Burton credits the real 24/7 director in his stop motion

comment #2

York "Budd" Durden says ...

For what it's worth, if I were writing a novel I'm not sure I'd want to hang out at the keyboard for weeks and months on end, endlessly futzing with words.

comment #3

Jack South P.I. says ...

Hiding out in Paris? Directing a film remotely? Anderson pulled a Polanski!

comment #4

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

I read that article and "on-set absentee-ism" is putting it mildly. It seems that Anderson NEVER showed up during filming, so in addition to having to adjust their approach (keep in mind, these are veteran animators dealing with a novice) to what he wanted, he compounded communication issues by staying in France the whole time and using email.

It's mind-boggling that a director working on any project with a staggering amount of art design was not at-studio for part of the production never mind the entire shoot being absent. It simply gums up the flow when people can't just walk over to the production office and have the director approve something or give immediate feedback so they can give him more exactly what he wants.

comment #5

Gabriel says ...

This is the latest in a long stream of stories and observations that make me wonder just how much Wes Anderson should be credited for the success of his work.

That said, I have loved or almost-loved every one of his films, and I plan on seeing this one at the earliest opportunity.

comment #6

Jack South P.I. says ...

I think it is fair to say Anderson showed a fundamental lack of respect to the other artists and craftsmen working to bring his vision to the screen. If he never intended to show up, he should have hired another director and stayed onboard in a producer capacity. Shame on him.

comment #7

corey3rd says ...

You'd figure just out of a child-like curiosity, you'd be on the set and helping get things done in person at least one a week or so. This is just sad to completely duck out of it, but damned if he'll miss the press junket where he'll talk about all the sweat he put into the project

comment #8

Jack South P.I. says ...

Wells, you've got to ask him about this. I know you're buddies but you can't pussyfoot around this. Anderson needs to more fully explain his behavior.

comment #9

TL says ...

Here's the best quote:

"I thought I'd make the script and cast it and record the actors," he said. "I'd work with some people to design it, get it to look a certain way. But at a certain point, I'd hand it over to the people that animate it. And they'd give it back to me and I'd work on the music and kind of spruce it up."

I can see the opening credits now:

Produced by:
Wes Anderson
Scott Rudin
Allison Abbate
Steven Rales

Written by:
Wes Anderson
Noah Baumbach

Based the Book by:
Roald Dahl (book)

Kinda Spruced Up by:
Wes Anderson

comment #10

jmevans says ...

As someone who worked directly for Wes Anderson for over a year, this article does not surprise me one bit. Wes at the core is a good person with a big heart, but he is also a brat who insists on getting his way. Even if that makes problems for a series of people. He's a very selfish person who looks out for himself first (what will make him happiest) and then makes decisions accordingly.

It's nice to read this cinematographer tell it like it is (his "sociopath" quote). Unfortunately Wes will never change as long as he continues to get away with these BS moves. I can assure you that people who have worked on Darjeeling, Aquatic, and Tenebaums can completely relate.

comment #11

YRG says ...

For what it's worth, if I were watching this movie I'm not sure I'd want to hang out at the theatre for hours on end, endlessly futzing with images.

comment #12

Ryansi51 says ...

all that said, that screenshot looks amazing and i can't wait to spend 2 hours in this world.

comment #13

lehigh says ...

If I was a cinematographer, or an employee of Anderson's, I might find this relevant.

If the movie is bad, maybe then I will consider this squabble.

Directing in absentia does seem a little strange. But, The Life Aquatic, the only Anderson movie I don't care for, didn't seem to be enhanced by his diligent presence.

I guess my point is, let's see if it's any good.

A guy with a big heart who is a brat? Sounds like Francis Ford Coppola. Or most any stubborn auteur.

comment #14

Circumvrent says ...

I love how Anderson responds to the dp's quote:

"I would say that kind of crosses the line for what's appropriate for the director of photography to say behind the director's back while he's working on the movie. So I don't even want to respond to it."

It's like it was written by Max Fischer for Wes to say.

comment #15

jackietreehorn says ...

There's a short video on Wired that shows the production using a lot of remote conferencing since there were a lot of different set-ups. Here's the url http://www.wired.com/video/the-making-of-the-fantastic-mr-fox/42876527001

comment #16

Krazy Eyes says ...

I don't have a problem with Anderson's approach to making this film. He gave the people with the expertise a set of parameters and then let them do their jobs. His naivety about stop-motion would have only been a distraction if he had been hanging around. He seemed to know this and stayed away.

Clearly, this entire film is steeped in Anderson's sensibility and outlook. How would things have benefitted with him standing around micro-managing the process?

How is this approach really any different than any artist (e.g., nearly any famous painter of note) who has people execute their artistic vision?

With the amount of money involved in making a film, bitching to the press has no place on a movie set no matter how disgruntled you are. If I was high-up at Fox Animation (or even at another studio) I would add both that DP and Head of Animation to my list of people never to hire.

comment #17

Pinko Punko says ...

Circumvrent- that is very Max Fischer. I think this is clearly coming out because it is the tip of the iceberg, and Wells can't ask Wes because Wes treated him pretty poorly when Jeff didn't love The Royal Tenenbaums. I really enjoyed TRT, but it went for some easy Wes-isms and I think Jeff was right not to go crazy over it.

comment #18

natsyelzom says ...

Agree with everything Krazy Eyes says.

comment #19

Gabriel says ...

Krazy Eyes, the point isn't that Wes wasn't on set every second going Michael Mann on everyone. The point is that he was in fucking PARIS while the film was being shot in LONDON. This isn't some car commercial where you can conceive the shots and then piss off while everyone else works. Deathtongue had it right - he should at the very least be within an hour of the set so his feedback can be sought and given in person.

comment #20

natsyelzom says ...

....except the part about blacklisting the DP and Head of Animation. It was a mistake to blab, but ultimately, it looks like they did a good job.

comment #21

Ponderer says ...

I wonder how Henry Selick feels about Anderson. Didn't he work on The Life Aquatic? Surely Anderson wasn't a *complete* novice about stop-motion after that.

comment #22

Circumvrent says ...

With the amount of money involved in making a film, bitching to the press has no place on a movie set no matter how disgruntled you are. If I was high-up at Fox Animation (or even at another studio) I would add both that DP and Head of Animation to my list of people never to hire.

I understand where you're coming from, but I imagine that the pool of talented stop-motion animators is pretty shallow. If they're working on this film, they're probably sought-after by anyone looking to do this sort of film.

As I mentioned in the London thread, it's pretty shocking how candid this is for the usual director/movie profile in the LA Times. Anderson must have reeeeeally pissed these people off.

comment #23

Circumvrent says ...

Ponderer, that's a good point.

comment #24

erniesouchak says ...

Sure, stop-motion isn't for everyone, but if you don't want to DO it, why do it? I get the feeling Henry Selick is always on HIS sets.

comment #25

jmevans says ...

pinko punko,

what exactly did wes do to jeff in regards to "treated him poorly"?

comment #26

corey3rd says ...

The LA Times article didn't seem to want to address the ever shrinking theatrical value of Anderon's name since he's mainly a video superstar filmmaker like Andrew Stevens.

Is Fox geared more towards the home video market where kiddie oriented flicks make their major coin?

And I showed the preview to a nephew. He kept asking why Paddington Bear wasn't in it.

comment #27

arch451 says ...

There is a fine line between pushing one's team to achieve a singular vision or denying the creative collaboration between disciplines that might result in a better film. Neither option is inherently better; it is up to the director's judgment. Based on his recent films I don't trust Anderson's judgment.

comment #28

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Hate to get D.Z here, but has Jeff talked about PARANORMAL ACTIVITY yet? After that jaw-dropping weekend he doesn't have a choice to not talk about it now. I'm just waiting until the Mrs. and I don't have to pay overinflated prices at the Arclight.

comment #29

Terry McCarty says ...

Re jmevans post:
So I'm guessing that Anderson's American Express commercial was more documentary than self-parody...

comment #30

DarthCorleone says ...

I recall Mr. Wells having some mixed feelings about Tenenbaums as well, but - whatever quibbles he had at the time aside - check out the best of the decade thread. It's not in the top 37, but he does list it as in the top 5 for 2001.

comment #31

MathewM says ...

Having been underwhelmed by the trailer I have to question the commercial value of the project. I'm sure Wes could give two shits about how much money the film makes and only if he is personally entertained by it. However I find that Wes's sensibilities are a little too obscure and overrated. He reminds me of a "Beatles" version of Tarantino's "Elvis". However, unlike Tarantino he's yet to make a really great film. Rushmore, my personal fav hasn't aged all that well.

comment #32

Alboone says ...

"For what it's worth, if I were writing a novel I'm not sure I'd want to hang out at the keyboard for weeks and months on end, endlessly futzing with words".

Classic.

comment #33

Bass Ackwards says ...

I mean, on an animated film, I'm sure the director isn't standing over the animator's shoulder watching them draw. The work is brought to a certain point, the director looks at it, gives notes on what he wants and sends it back. This doesn't sound too terribly different, other than Anderson was conferencing his input in rather than meeting, but everyone working on this was a professional that seems like an adjustment more than some kind show of disrespect.

comment #34

Gaydos says ...

At the risk of taking a entertainment business journo's number-crunching view of this brouhaha, consider the following number crunching:

As a general rule, the director's fee is roughly 5% of the film's production budget.

Anderson's production budgets have been, post "Bottle Rocket," $20 million, $21 million, $50 million and $15 million, in order.

His grosses, also in order, have been $17 million, $52 million, $24 million and $12 million.

So the business dilemma of the working auteur is: how do you get your production budget up, when your production budgets have been descending
(because of/along with) your descending grosses?

Smart agent's answer....make a $40 million budget animated family film and hope it plays in Peoria!

comment #35

Gaydos says ...

typo correction: "an entertainment business journo's..."

comment #36

Joe G says ...

Amen, lehigh.

Anyway, do animation directors fly off to Korea to watch them paint and shoot the cells? It's a different process.

The trailer looks like Anderson to me. I'd have to see the whole picture though, and I will.

comment #37

Phreaker says ...

Well now I see why they had to send all of those folks to London - so no shit storm would rain down.

comment #38

matt cousens says ...

But Gaydos, he bought the rights in 2001. It wasn't some last minute financial decision. I just don't see how a finicky auteur is anything new. Artists are often selfish pricks? No kidding.

comment #39

derekhill.wordpress.com says ...

Tristan Oliver has posted a comment regarding the LA Times piece over at the Rushmore Academy:

http://www.rushmoreacademy.com/2009/10/12/exclusive-dp-tristan-oliver-addresses-mr-fox-controversy

As usual, things are a little more complicated than the initial report.

comment #40

Nate West says ...

If the movie's any good, it won't matter that the California Raisins guy got his feelings hurt because things were done in a totally un-California Raisins way.

comment #41

televisiontears says ...

There's no way Oliver's getting death threats. Is there? He has to be joking.

comment #42

DeeZee says ...

I guess Ahnie saw that Sean Penn movie.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091012/ap_on_re_us/us_harvey_milk_honor
Oh, and he's ok with his state accepting girlie men getting hitched.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091012/ap_on_re_us/us_gay_marriage_calif
Latest Hollywood film fest awards.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ib26dae96f6367a444aac3db6ddbbeb1a
Wasn't there a movie with a similar premise featuring a pizza delivery guy?
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009854.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
The Toy Stories get an extension in theaters.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009861.html?categoryId=13&cs=1
Another indie drama...
http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2009/STUVWXYZ/Women-In-Trouble/trailer.php
Zombieland director's next gig(s)?
http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/10/zombieland-ruben-fleischer-new-movie-will-ferrell.html

comment #43

bitplayer says ...

I liked Royal and Rushmore is overrated. But have any of Anderson's movies been a commercial hit? Where the fuck does this arrogance come from? The above poster was right. If he wasn't going to be around be a producer. Speilberg did it when he didn't want to do Jurrasic Park 3 or whatever. I hope the guys don't get blacklisted. The sound like talented guys. I'm sure Anderson isn't the first ass they've encountered. Imagine how bad this experience was for guys with experience and rep to talk publicly about it. They know the stakes.

comment #44

DeeZee says ...

Oh, yeah, forgot one from Digital Bits via Home Media:

"...Warner is working on old Marx Brothers titles for Blu-ray, along with older films featuring Errol Flynn, Betty Davis and Humphrey Bogart - including The Maltese Falcon, which is due on Blu next year. Also, Kino is releasing Buster Keaton's The General on Blu-ray on 11/10."

comment #45

DeeZee says ...

Oh, and a Q+A w/ the Trick 'R Treat guy. http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2009/10/trick-r-treat-michael-doughtery-q-a.html#more

comment #46

matt cousens says ...

Jesus, bitplayer. You're over reacting just like everyone else, based on an la times article and some sort of belief that you know what goes into directing a stop motion animation movie. Tim Burton wasn't around for Corpse Bride, either. You people are lunatics...

Oh, and ya...http://www.rushmoreacademy.com/2009/10/12/exclusive-dp-tristan-oliver-addresses-mr-fox-controversy

comment #47

corey3rd says ...

"Tim Burton wasn't around for Corpse Bride, either."

and that is why Mike Johnson is also listed as director on the film. Selick is the only person listed as director on Nightmare, but Burton could have claimed it under Wes Anderson's rules of directing stop motion animation..

comment #48

matt cousens says ...

If this is purely Wes' vision, and it obviously is, how could anyone BUT Wes be listed as director? DP's do a lot of this hands on, important work. But that doesn't make them a director...

comment #49

Gaydos says ...

Matt Cousens: I never said it was a "last minute financial decision," that's your phrase.

But let's retrace our steps:

It addition to the art of filmmaking - and Wes is clearly one of the most celebrated American film artists of the past decade - there's a business to attend to.

Financial backing is generally supposed to be connected to recoupment.

I say generally, because the wasteland that is the American independent film scene is a result of too many high roller bets that were only connected to lining the pockets of producers, filmmakers and financiers out of production funds and fees, not from audience receipts.

But I digress.

Wes's track record at the box office should have a connection to his ability to access certain levels of funding. Sorry to explain this in 101 terms, but it seems necessary.

Another biz aspect of this story that others here seem more hip to than thou: taking the producer credit, or sharing the director credit, two paths taken by the wonderful Mr. Burton, were important business options also open to Mr. Anderson who chose another path, that of the sole director credit.

And now there's a bit of shitstorm about it.

One thing we agree upon: finicky, fidgety, crotchety, pretentious, imperious auteurs have been with us since the days of monocles, riding crops and jodhpurs.

When Wes adds those acoutrements to his famed and precious wardrobe, watch out.

comment #50

plastiqueelephant says ...

i think this is fine. basically, after doing a huge amount of prep work up front he was presented with digital dailies and he responded back with video/written notes. it's not so different to what spielberg did on jurassic park (while shooting schindler's in warsaw) and with google wave we'll see much, much, much more of this realtime remote work. one look at the trailer shows his fingerprints all over it, ergo he directed not produced it.

obviously, wes isn't for everyone, but for the $30M odd who see his films, he's expresses something intuitively very, very compelling. personally, i anticipate his films more than scorcese's, probably only behind pta's.

comment #51

Mr. F. says ...

Plastique: the difference, of course, is that in re: Spielberg and JURASSIC PARK... he was actually on set directing for the entire shoot. He mostly worked on editing remotely while on SCHINDLER'S, as well as reviewed VFX work (which, don't forget, he had already spent months developing both before and during production). I'll cut him some slack for doing some of the post work remotely...

I think the bigger question is to how much work Wes did up front -- I'm sure he'd describe it as "huge"; it sounds like other crew on the production would disagree.

comment #52

DeeZee says ...

Courtesy of cityonfire.com, Nick Cage is already in debt?! http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b148198_nicolas_cage_has_mo_money.html

comment #53

Gaydos says ...

Bottom line on Fox:

If it's awesome and it's a hit, none of this will matter.

If it's awesome and it recoups, none of this will matter.

If it's awesome and it loses money....

Here's the number for Seth Green's "Robot Chicken."

comment #54

Gordon27 says ...

I think, long-term, it would be pretty difficult for them to lose money on a stop-motion 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' movie. Even if it isn't huge, it's going to be a perennial seller just based on love for the material.

comment #55

Chris Willman says ...

However it got there, the movie is great.

comment #56

greengirl says ...

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