Awesome Wes Anderson

Hot on the heels of Asteroid City, Wes Anderson is back with a 39-minute short film based on a Roald Dahl story. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar follows a wealthy man (Benedict Cumberbatch) who masters a unique skill after hearing about a guru who can see without using his eyes. Coming to Netflix 9.27.2023.

Before the 2000s, models, and miniatures were commonplace in moviemaking. But with the advent of CGI, it’s become something of a lost art. Vox sat down with expert prop and modelmaker Simon Weisse to learn about the renaissance brewing with filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, John Favreau, and master of miniatures Wes Anderson.

Wes Anderson remaking Ridley Scott’s Alien seems highly unlikely, but the way Hollywood reboots things these days, you can never say never. AI Fungi used generative technology to simulate what Anderson’s take on the classic sci-fi/horror flick might look like, with Tilda Swinton taking on the role of Ripley and the Nostromo being much more colorful.

There’s no question that Wes Anderson has a distinctive visual style. Curious Refuge envisions what sort of movie we might get if the auteur filmmaker was invited to direct a Star Wars movie, titled The Galactic Menagerie. Though we’re disappointed that Jason Schwarzman isn’t playing C-3PO. (Thanks, Rob!)

There’s an entire photographic community inspired by the flat, symmetrical, color-coordinated world of Wes Anderson. Imitative Photography offers some great pointers on emulating the look in your original images. Beyond some basic techniques, the best and most important part is finding the right locations.

Wes Anderson returns to the screen with another star-packed ensemble. Asteroid City is a Kodachrome-tinged tale of the attendees of the Junior Stargazer convention as they visit a massive crater – and the relationships that develop as they find themselves under quarantine at the landing site. In theaters 6.16.23.

(PG-13: Language) Creative writing requires persistence and a willingness to accept failure far more than success. J. Marcelo Borromeo of 101 Things I Learned About Fiction from Film created this video essay on the challenges and rewards of writing, told using footage from the films of Wes Anderson. (Thanks, Rob!)

Zeppelin Zeerip’s offbeat short film owes more than a bit to the style of Wes Anderson, telling the story of a group of young men who head into the snowy mountains of Idaho in search of an elusive Hermit who escaped from an asylum. It’s an unexpected blend of winter sports action and quirky indie film tropes.

Wally Koval and the followers of the Accidentally Wes Anderson Instagram page are on a mission to find real locations that capture the fastidious and whimsical style of filmmaker Wes Anderson. This 368-page book chronicles some of these wondrous destinations through images and stories, along with a foreword by Anderson himself.

There’s no question that filmmakers often reference other films in their works. Film scholar Yaron Baruch demonstrates just how true that is for Wes Anderson in this side-by-side comparison of footage from Moonrise Kingdom and Walt Disney’s animated version of Peter Pan.

(PG-13) Wes Anderson has always had a very precise and fastidious aesthetic. But after making Fantastic Mr. Fox, his style changed in ways that made his subsequent movies even more magical. The Discarded Image and Beyond The Frame teamed up to explore how his stop-motion learnings affected even Anderson’s live-action films.

Wes Anderson does what he does best, telling intricately woven tales of unusual people, portrayed by a star-studded cast, and setting them into fastidiously-arranged living paintings. The French Dispatch follows a series of stories surrounding the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional French city.

The guys at Best Play Ever offer up a variety of funny notebooks featuring imagery from pop culture, including hilarious memes from The Simpsons, Back to the Future’s Gray’s Sports Almanac, books from the world of Wes Anderson, and more.

Do you enjoy the distinctive color palettes of Wes Anderson’s movies? Live every day like you’re in one with these special color-enhancing sunglasses, which feature a custom filter lens inspired by the cinematography of the director’s films. Now if only they could make everything symmetrical and fastidiously organized.

Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs is loaded with wonderfully-inventive stop-motion animation. Among the many scenes is one where a pair of hands artfully create a meal of sushi. Now, go inside that scene, created by Andy Biddle and Tony Farquhar-Smith over the course of 32 days.

We’ve learned about the animators and puppet makers behind Wes Anderson’s wonderful Isle of Dogs, now find out how the film’s artists and designers created the numerous and amazing miniature environments, as well as effects like waves, fire, smoke, and fog.

If you haven’t seen Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs yet, it’s definitely well worth a watch. In this behind-the-scenes clip, go inside UK-based Arch Model Studio, home to the talented men and women who handcrafted the film’s intricate puppets for over 800 on-screen characters.

Screen Junkies pokes fun at some of the many common themes and techniques found in Wes Anderson’s movies, from the bittersweet family stories, to the visual symmetry, linear camera movements, his meticulous attention to detail, and the Futura font.

Go behind the scenes with the talented artists behind Wes Anderson’s stop-motion film, Isle of Dogs and see how the puppet makers, set builders, animators, and voice actors come together to bring the characters and story to life from otherwise inanimate objects. More here.

A brief scene from Wes Anderson’s upcoming stop-motion animated film Isle of Dogs, in which two warring packs of dogs meet up and argue over a bag of trash. Seriously, nobody can do it like Anderson does.

ScreenPrism treats Wes Anderson’s breakout film Rushmore as the director’s coming-of-age. The movie sees the debut of Anderson’s dollhouse aesthetic – albeit raw and less ornate – and penchant for indie music, while the story and theme are lifted from his life.

Wes Anderson returns to the world of stop-motion animation in his latest film, about a future in which dog overpopulation leads to an evil overlord quarantining our best friends on an island filled with junk and garbage. Stars pretty much everyone in the universe.

Retailer H&M enlisted director Wes Anderson to apply his colorful, fastidious, and bittersweet style to their big holiday advert, which stars Adrien Brody as a train conductor who must break the news to his passengers they won’t make it home in time for Christmas.