“Many of the ideas expressed and/or explored in ‘Grand Budapest’ we stole directly from Zweig’s own life and work,” director Wes Anderson said recently in his self-deprecating way. He’s talking about turn of the 20th century Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig who he’s credited as having a huge influence on his latest movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” At the recent Berlin Film Festival, where the movie premiered, Anderson said the movie was his “version” of doing Zweig. Anderson is such a Zweig proponent he’s helped get a book published to get the word out on this once-famous, now forgotten writer. Pushkin Press is releasing “The Society of the Crossed Keys,” Anderson’s favorite selections from Zweig’s various novels.
“They’re not old-fashioned stories in the least. They’re post-Freudian, by a guy who actually knew Freud,” Anderson told the New York Times recently. Anderson’s delightful comedic caper with nostalgic and melancholic undertones (read our review here) opens in limited release this weekend, so Fox Searchlight is in the home stretch of marketing and handful of items have arrived: a new clip, new photos, behind-the-scenes photos from the Times (a cool little slideshow worth checking out), and the cover of the aforementioned book.
And one more thing: a recent interview with Jeff Goldblum seems to have been taken out of context or exaggerated. “He had, I think developed from having done ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox,’ an animated version of the movie,” the actor told The Wrap and other outlets last week. “It was a beautifully animated version of the whole movie, with all the cuts as they pretty much I think wound up to be. And he voiced all the characters. He called it animatics. I had it on my computer, you could see the whole movie.”
That has been interpreted as Anderson having made a “fully animated” version of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” before he made the movie itself. Considering it took him three years to make “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” You can probably see why that’s not the case. Journalists who spoke to Anderson, Goldblum, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Ralph Fiennes and more in Berlin (including our own reporter) were told the story of the “animated” version several times. And the term “animatic” is far more accurate: it’s the black and white storyboards of the film presented with Anderson speaking out all the roles. And while that’s cute, and helpful for the actors, there’s no music, there’s no true movement and it’s hardly “fully animated.”
As the New York Times more accurately describes it. “[The actors] also had the option of watching an animatic (a rough film of storyboard images edited together) Mr. Anderson had made of the entire movie, as he envisioned it, with him voicing all the characters.”
And so while you’ll likely see some of this on the eventual DVD, which we assume will hit The Criterion Collection (like most Wes Anderson films do), those expecting to see a second, “fully animated” version of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” should probably adjust their expectations.
Meanwhile, the new clip in question centers on The Author (Jude Law) as he first lays eyes on the older Zero Mustafa (F. Murray Abraham). Jason Schwartzman is in the scene too (note this scene takes place in the 1960s, not the 1930s like the bulk of the movie). “The Grand Budapest Hotel” opens in New York and L.A. this weekend. Below a handy list on where and when to see the movie when it begins expansion the following weekend on March 14th. Clip, pics and more below.
MARCH 7, 2014
NEW YORK, NY
AMC Lincoln Square 13, New York, NY
Union Square Stadium 14, New York, NY
LOS ANGELES, CA
The Landmark, Los Angeles, CA
Arclight Hollywood, Hollywood CA
MARCH 14, 2014
ATLANTA, GA
BOSTON, MA
BROOKLINE, MA
CAMBRIDGE, MA
FAIRFAX, VA
BETHESDA, MD
WASHINGTON, DC
PARAMUS, NJ
WESTBURY, NY
MANHASSET, NY
MONTCLAIR, NJ
RED BANK, NJ
KEW GARDENS, NY
HUNTINGTON, NY
PLEASANTVILLE, NY
BROOKLYN, NY
PHILADELPHIA, PA
ETOBIOKE, ON
TORONTO, ON
VANCOUVER, BC
CHICAGO, IL
EVANSTON, IL
AUSTIN, TX
DLLAS, TX
HOUSTON, TX
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
PASEDENA, CA
SHERMAN OAKS, CA
IRVINE, CA
LA JOLLA, CA
SAN DIEGO, CA
BOULDER, CO
DENVER, CO
SCOTTSDALE, AZ
SEATTLE, WA
PORTLAND, OR
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
SAN JOSE, CA
SAN RAFAEL, CA
BERKELEY, CA
PALO ALTO, CA
CAMPBELL, CA