Jason Schwarztman talked to the New York Post (of all people) about Wes Anderson’s upcoming, “The Darjeeling Limited.” Somehow New York’s finest ultra-conservative sensationalist rag resisted asking questions about Owen Wilson (either that or the interview was likely conducted before Wilson’s 911 sucide-attempt imbroglio happened).
As Schwartman noted to EW, his involvement with co-writing ‘Darjeeling,’ with Anderson and Sofia Coppola’s older brother Roman, came as an off-the-cuff inquiry from Wes asking, “How about a movie with three brothers on a train?,’ and evolved from there. According to Schwartzman, Wes and he ended up living together in Paris while Wes was promoting ‘The Life Aquatic’ and he was shooting, “Marie Antoinette.” From there the story started to develop. “We’d walk around and tell each other stories about our lives, and we’d ask each other what these brothers were doing on the train and where they were going. It felt like a murder mystery that we were trying to figure out,” he said.
Then when the co-writing began, Wes was in Paris and Schwartzman and Coppola were in L.A. and they would via three-to five-hour conference calls every morning where they would “brainstorm ideas and concepts.” From there the California-bound duo would fly to wherever Wes was and write together in person.
Schwartzman said the chaos and unpredictability of India made the shooting experience one to remember. “One of the great things about India is the feeling that anything can happen. I think it’s foolish to go into a foreign country with your cameras and expect to control it. I remember Wes saying that if we ask for a red car and tomorrow they show up with a blue truck, we’re going to shoot the blue truck. It was unpredictable, and that’s the beauty of the place.”
He also noted that religion, people and nosies were ubiquitous and pervasive, saying it was difficult to go to India and not feel significantly, “moved or changed.” Of the constant barrage of honking, music playing, people yelling and general hectic hustle and bustle he said, the country was a constant “audio extravaganza.” (Unfortunately, the NYPost weren’t bright enough to ask about “The Hotel Chevalier“; the 12-minute prequel to ‘Darjeeling’ that screens at the Venice and New York festival which starts Natalie Portman and Schwartzman as what many assume is the girlfriend that dumps Jack and sets him on his voyage to India (Many assume that ‘Chevalier’ was originally part of the film and then later broken out due to length and superfluous issues).
A Familial Observation
Something to note: Schwartzman and Coppola are members of the larger Coppola film family dynasty which includes patriarch Francis Ford, Rocky’s Adrienne (Talia Shire) and the surname-changing Nicholas Cage (born Nicholas Coppola). It appears that the three brothers in the ‘Darjeeling’ film are named after Coppola family members. Owen Wilson’s character is named Francis; Jason Schwartman’s character is named Jack (his actual father’s name) and Adrien Brody plays Peter (and that’s where our connection ends, at least til we dig up a Peter in the family). Some people have suggested the trio is supposed to be named after a triumvirate of ’70s film royalty, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson and Peter Bogdanovich, and as much as we’re sure Anderson and co. love Boganovich (which self respecting film snob doesn’t?) we like our theory better (and it hits closer to both the home and heart for an “emotional comedy.”
Press Notes – The Reinvention
Press notes from the film have leaked online and a few interesting bits of information are revealed. Kumar Pallana does make an appearance in the film (Pallana being the short old Indian man that has appeared in almost every Anderson film save ‘Aquatic.’ His biggest role was of Pagoda, Royal Tenenbaums’ friend and assistant in the titular film), Bill Murray plays “The Businessman,” and Anderson wanted to reinvent the way he made movies with this one according to producer Lydia Dean. “[Wes] wanted to abandon the traditional entrapments of making a movie and really pare down the process. So, he wanted the actors to do their own makeup, to dress themselves in the morning and to really try to create an environment where the characters are functioning in this fictional world as if they were real people taking this trip.” Apparently the brothers’ suitcases were designed by Marc Jacobs on behalf of Louis Vuitton.
A Positive Review: A lot of the online reviews out there have called the film a mess, in the vein of ‘Aquatic,’ but we get a gleam of hope from Rolling Stone’s amiable and respectable Peter Travers who confessed that he “loved” the film. For those of us (us) really looking forward to the “emotional” part of emo-comedy and hoping he gets back to the heart of “Rushmore,” Travers calls it his “most assured and mature work” (sure that’s stock hack crit speak, but still). He writes that on the surface, “the film is a lark,” but adds that you “laugh, sometimes to keep from crying,” and later on in the story, “the film moves deeper into melancholy and pain.” Frankly, this is what we want to hear. We’re a little sick of the wacky minutia and overly mean-spirited protagonists (the perennially scowling Bill Murray got a bit much to take in “Aquatic’)
The Soundtrack
Meanwhile, the entire list of music used in “The Darjeeling Limited” has been revealed (or at least in the case of the Satyajit Ray/Indian Music songs – the movies in which they come from; the songs titles haven’t been listed and there’s a ton of songs in those films), and now the released date for the soundtrack disc itself has been set for September 25.
What’s actually on the soundtrack has not been unveiled yet, but since Abkco is releasing it and they own the Rolling Stones licensing and the Kinks licensing (boy, don’t we know now, please buy all their stuff), we can expect for a Wes Anderson soundtrack CD to finally have a Rolling Stones track on it. Hopefully the songs by French pop singer Joe Dassin and 60s British folky Peter Sarsted will be included as well (and those great Satyajit Ray and Ravi Shankar tracks).
