A cinema lesson by Wes Anderson: Five things to remember from the Masterclass
The Texan filmmaker gave a masterclass as part of his unprecedented exhibition at the Cinémathèque française. The opportunity to return in more detail to Asteroid City, his last feature film…
Last week, The Cinémathèque launched its exhibition dedicated to the extravagant world of Wes Anderson. Available until July 27it is accompanied in particular by a retrospective and other events to discover on The official website. This is the projection ofAsteroid Cityfollowed by a one hour masterclass With this master of symmetry and colors, which started this new edition. Just like for James Cameron last year, we went there for you!
The screen of the film hall of the French institution – filled with a block for the occasion – has widened to make way for Asteroid City,, The latest UFO dated From pastel -colored filmmakers and retro sets. History takes place in 1955in a tiny city in the middle of the desert located southwest of the United States, where the crater of an asteroid that gives the name of the place. How to summarize the film? Nuclear tests, an agreement of young passionate scientists, an alien who arrives, an actress at the Marilyn Monroe and a mourning photographer, but all this is only a play … In the casting we find Jason Schwartzman And Adrien Brodyfaithful employees of the director, Scarlett Johansson,, Tom Hanks, Maya Hawke or Margot Robbie.
This film double -level dialogue with a good number of works by Wes Anderson, as precisely emphasizes Matthieu Orléanco-commissioner of the exhibition and host of this conference which allowed us to better understand the underside of this Andersonian desert. Here are the five points who marked us …
1 – Wes Anderson has the theater anchored in him
All Wes Anderson films have a more or less visible – With the world of theater. In Rushmorethe young Max Fischer, interpreted by Jason Schwartzman, begins to do theater. The sets of his feature and short films, often visible and mobile, make one think of a show taking place before our eyes. In Asteroid Citythe wink is more than obvious, since a room is rising. To the question of Matthieu Orléan on the tribute to the New York the 1950sthe filmmaker answered: “I don’t know if it’s a tribute, because it’s just obvious”before completing:
“When I was young, I always wanted to be part of this world of theater. I even wrote plays, which I abandoned as growing. I could never participate directly but I may have resigned myself to the fact that my version of the theater is located in the cinema.”
Fun Fact, Wes Anderson said he was impressed with the speed at which the translator transcribed her word: “It seems to me that the Frenchman takes more words… but you are so fast!” (Laughter). The filmmaker Dandy well primed as a brown whole wanted to interact with the public, and to slide little jokes here and there …
2 – Wes Anderson is a “thief” costumes
The world of theater is not the only reference or inspiration that we find in Asteroid City. When we look at Scarlett Johansson in the role of a famous actress, impossible not to think of Grace Kelly or even more in Marilyn Monroeand this despite her brown hair. Marilyn also filmed in a western which also happens in the Nevada of the 1950s: The offspring by John Huston. The dresses of the two actresses are also very similar … About costumes, the filmmaker says: “We were talking about a tribute but in this case it is direct loan, even almost theft!”. For him, these already existing costumes are perfect as they are and serve as time landmark : “To evoke an era we can either reinterpret, or directly go there ”.
Speaking of costume, Jason Schwartzman didn’t want to leave hers To stay in the character of Augie. “He wanted to live in the film. Even when he was not running, he was on set. For a filmmaker, it’s absolutely great”. Even before having the final scenario, Wes Anderson knew he wanted Jason Schwartzman at the center of his film. It must be said that their very first collaboration dates back to Rushmore (1998), while the actor was only 18 years old. If you wish to see them closely, the exhibition of the Cinémathèque exhibits many original costumes, including one of the dresses of Scarlett Johansson.
3 – Wes Anderson tries SF for the first time … but in his own way!
Asteroid City is a real Melting Pot of genres and subjects. Wes Anderson also confides with humor: “I have never been very good to make a film on one thing, nor to the fact that the film is only one thing”. But for the very first time, Science fiction is invited within its universe With this alien who arrives in the middle of the film. The reason for extraterrestrials being very present in the imagination of the 1950s, the idea of introducing one therefore quickly appeared to the filmmaker.
But it is an alien at Wes Anderson, since the latter is made in stop motion. This technique, which filmmakers no longer use so much for the benefit of special effects, also makes the leg of the director who uses it for These two animation feature films :: Fantastic Mister Fox And Dog Island. To make this alien funnier than frightening, Wes Anderson appeals again to the genius of Andy Gent. But the extraterrestrial is still played by an actor who is none other than … Jeff Goldblum ! The director uses the image of the toolbox: each film he makes allows him to complete it. He knew nothing about the stop motion when he wanted to realize Fantastic Mister Fox. From now on, it is a tool that he has at his disposal to create somewhat crazy moments, like the arrival of an alien.
4 – Asteroid City is not as American as it looks, just like his filmmaker
If in fiction the city of Asteroid City takes place in the United Stateshis place of filming is far from the American continent. Wes Anderson told us about his research process on Google Mapsthen in the middle of the covid pandemic. At the start, the director thought of finding a natural landscape in his native Texas Before moving towards Arizona and Utah. The Death Valley, located in California, has also been part of the list of possibilities. Wes Anderson explains its selection criteria with irony:
“You need your desert but also a place to house all your team, so you have to find a four -star hotel next to your filming location … It must be quite nice for the actors to live there but you should not either a five -star hotel, because it is too expensive (laughs). So you have to find a four -star hotel near the desert.”
The more he was looking for his desert, the more Wes Anderson was refined A precise idea of this decor. It was therefore going to have to build it from scratch, on a flat and large land. This field, the director found it in Europe, and more precisely in Chinchón in Spain. It must be said that Wes Anderson is himself very European… He has lived for several years in Paris and there are several references in the country of the wand in his films: The Champs-Élysées of Joe Dassin fence Aboard the Darjeeling Limitedteens of Kingdom moonrise dance on Françoise Hardywe hear a recovery d ‘Aline by Christophe in The French Dispatchwhose filming took place in Angoulême. “I think there is something particularly French in me” Share the filmmaker with his delighted (and patriotic) audience.
5 – Wes Anderson reveals clues to his next film
At the time granted to public questions, his next film has slipped among the questions. “Can you tell us more about The Phoenician Scheme?”launches one of the spectators. Wes Anderson answers it without saying too much: Benicio Del Toro will be at the center of the film as a business man. He will be accompanied by Mia Threapleton in the role of his daughter, as well as Michael Cera. “It is a story around a big entrepreneurial project but also a family that implodes and its reconstruction, hence the title The Phoenician Scheme”Pitch the filmmaker, before revealing that The trailer will be released in the coming days ! A little patience therefore …
Immerse yourself in the whimsical universe of Wes Anderson films at the Cinémathèque
