Talk about getting the gang back together. While he's been playing close to the chest about what he's building with "Grand Budapest Hotel," Wes Anderson has at least slowly been revealing who'll be part of the project. Right around Christmas the director shared that Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe would be joining the ensemble cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Saoirse Ronan, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman. As always, the actors are a mix of familiar and new faces, but when it comes to the talent behind the camera, Anderson is keeping it in the family.
Screen Daily recently caught up with the director as he continues to do the final awards circuit push for "Moonrise Kingdom," and in wrapping up their article, the trade noted that 'Budapest' will see "[producer Scott] Rudin, [cinematographer Robert] Yeoman and composer Alexandre Desplat back for the ride." None of this is really a surprise. Rudin has produced every Anderson picture since "The Royal Tenenbaums," Yeomen has lensed every movie except "Fantastic Mr. Fox," and Desplat has become a regular as well since the animated film.
Nevertheless, this news is more reason to get excited about the movie, which is the first Anderson has penned completely on his own. Production is gearing up shortly, and while there's no release date yet, could it be cranked out in time to be an awards season contender twelve months from now? If 'Moonrise' picks up some Oscar nominations next week, we wouldn't be surprised.
This guy's okay, but he ain't no Mark Mothersbaugh.
Great news.