Wes Anderson can’t catch a break either these days. We playfully jabbed/joked about the phoned-in voice performances of “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” and now Vulture is taking him to task for apparently emailing in some of his direction via quotes from those that worked on the film..
Evidently the film’s cinematographer threw him under the bus a little. Asked about their working relationship, the DP Tristan Oliver said:
“I think Wes doesn’t understand what you can do, and he often wants us to do what you can’t do, and the length of time the process takes … I don’t think he quite comprehends that, and how difficult it is to change something once you’ve started. It takes a big amount of someone’s time to change a very small thing. I think he also doesn’t understand that an animator is a performer. An animator is an actor. And this is the secret to animation: You direct your animator, you do not direct the puppet, because the puppet is an inanimate object. You direct an animator as if you’re directing an actor, and they will give you a performance. So we’ll get a note back from Wes saying ‘that arm movement is wrong.’ But that arm movement is part of a fluid performance. And that has been really quite difficult for the animators.”
Animator Mark Gustafson, who replaced Henry Selick on the project said Anderson was, “keeping his distance from the set and directing via e-mail, sending in his favorite DVDs to give an impression of what he’d like to see.”
We’re not gonna frame that too much otherwise the Rushmore Academy will descend down upon us like hawks. Look we’re hoping “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is great. Hopefully one of our U.K. writers will see it in London before the rest of the world does. And we’re out…
HOW DARE YOU SPEAK ABOUT WES ANDERSON IN SUCH A MANNER. nah, kidding. Seriously don't be afraid to rag on the dude. You have no problem with doing it to other directors. Anyways, I'm really tired of filmmakers taking credit for animation projects when they really have little input (see: Tim Burton).
I think this may reveal why live action directors rarely attempt animation projects. Still, this appears very one-sided and I still have high hopes for the film.
Agreed. Look at all the grief Richard Linklater went through on A SCANNER DARKLY. Just say no!
It's been reported earlier elsehwere that Anderson, knowing nothing about animation, trusted to the team to handle it and instead of sitting over their shoulders, let them do their job while sending in his comments. Given Anderson's meticulous set and shot design, it's no surprise that he might be difficult to work with, especially if he has to leave a bulk of the work with someone else.
And sending someone DVDs of the look/feel you're trying to achieve? Sounds like a decent idea to get across what you're trying to do.
He sent them DVD's of The Royal Tenenbaums.
Did you ever debunk that rumour that Mr. Fox was playing at Venice? Obviously it hasn't screened yet but there's three more days…
It's having its world premiere in London which means its not playing Venice.
We once said that meant Venice and TIFF didn't accept it, but the film WAS submitted.
So well, what does that mean to you?
A certain Wes Anderson fan site says we got that info "wrong" because FOX Searchlight told them so.
That made us laugh…
You very well may have a point, but it is unsubstantiated at best. Maybe it IS spin, but our source has never been dishonest with us.
On the issue of Wes' role in the making of Mr. Fox, I will quote my co-editor:
"That's the thing though with this, lots of different units are working on different parts of the film all the time. So Wes could reasonably only be there for part of the production just so he hits every animation department, not even mentioned the costuming and the design and if he stuck with the way he's done it in the past, working on the score with Desplat during shooting. From the looks of the behind the scenes video it seems to have been a combination of what we'd already heard, Wes visiting the set in London sometimes, and sometimes recording himself doing movement, which the animators apparently used in the animatics. Disgruntled animators are a dime a dozen, and it seems highly unlikely that a guy who's been given the chance to work on something like this would just bad mouth his director in the months leading up to the release of the film. Also he's British, there's sometimes a way of speaking that might sound rude on paper and given that he's an animator he probably isn't hugely experience with what translates to print."