6 Filmmaking Tips From Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom)

"Oh, Wes Anderson. Some have already gotten to see his latest film, Moonrise Kingdom, and even more will see it as it opens wider this weekend. Without seeing his name on the title cards, it’s easy to spot as one of his projects. The auteur has developed a look and feel all his own – usually constructed by primary colors, detailed set design, Britpop, and Bill Murray.

This Texan who often lives in France is idiosyncratic in his storytelling, but he’s also unafraid to put his personal demons onto the screen (in as twee a way as possible). From Bottle Rocket to Rushmore to Fantastic Mr. Fox, his work is usually ridiculously rich and infinitely quotable.

So here is a bit of free film school (for fans and filmmakers alike) from the son of an advertiser and an archeologist.

Plan Carefully and Plan to Throw Out Your Plans

“I love the feeling of chaos that you feel when you are in India, but a lot of making a movie is about order. You make a schedule, and you try to stick to it, and the better you plan, the better off you are in the end, in most cases. But our approach with [The Darjeeling Limited] was very much that whatever went wrong, we were going to make that part of our story. If the hut was brown, and we left for the evening, and when we came back, the hut was painted blue with flowers all over it because somebody thought that it would be a good idea, that’s the way we were going to use it in the story. That happened. And that is the sort of thing that happens all the time. The bumps in the road can be so peculiar, and that was what we wanted the movie to be about. ”

You Don’t Necessarily Have to Study Filmmaking to Make Films

Anderson speaks often about the books and writing that influenced his life (and elements of life that influenced his career). He doesn’t have a degree in filmmaking. In fact, he earned a degree in philosophy (as if that’s a giant surprise) alongside writing partner Owen Wilson, who he met in a playwriting class.

It’s also not surprising that he took a playwriting class.

But Anderson’s style comes from continued work in filmmaking alongside a base of personal experiences dealing with broad elements like divorce and father issues and specific places like St. John’s School in Houston where he (and Max Fischer) went. His reading has also influenced where he’s filmed (like India) and the types of stories he tells. He’s even based movies off of books that don’t exist."

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