The films of Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson sits in the submarine pilot's seat on the set of "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou."
The Oscar-nominated writer-director of such stylized comedies as "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox," has released his eighth feature film, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," a murder-mystery caper that recently won the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson's films are highly-stylized worlds in which the camera frame - gliding through elaborate sets jammed with detail - almost becomes a character itself.
Through his scripts' arch, quotable dialogue, Anderson explores characters who have romantic visions of themselves, who nonetheless confront situations that undercut their success or authority. The best-laid plans almost never come to anything good, no matter how well-equipped the protagonists, though a kind of happiness may be achieved in spite of themselves.
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Wes Anderson's latest film, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014), is a murder mystery-comedy set in an Eastern European resort in the 1930s. Among the starry cast (which includes Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Lea Seydoux, Willem Dafoe and Jason Schwartzman) are Saoirse Ronan as Agatha, a young baker, and Tony Revolori as the Lobby Boy, Zero.
"Bottle Rocket"
Born in Houston, Wes Anderson met Owen Wilson at the University of Texas at Austin; they later collaborated on the short "Bottle Rocket" (1994), starring Owen and Luke Wilson as two amateur thieves. Their burglaries (including of their parents' house) are committed while riffing on pop culture (TV's "Starsky & Hutch"), and are successful almost despite the rigorous plotting of Dignan (Owen Wilson).
"Bottle Rocket"
Anderson and Wilson expanded "Bottle Rocket" into a feature-length script. Released in 1996, the film co-starred Robert Musgrave, Lumi Cavazos ("Like Water for Chocolate"), and James Caan as criminal leader Mr. Henry.
"Bottle Rocket"
Three prospective armed robbers (Owen Wilson, Robert Musgrave and Luke Wilson) show varying degrees of enthusiasm during target practice in Wes Anderson's "Bottle Rocket" (1996).
Anderson and the Wilson brothers won the Lone Star Film & TV Award for Debut of the Year, and Anderson won the MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker.
"Rushmore"
"Rushmore"
Mr. Blume (Bill Murray): "What's the secret, Max?"
Max: (Jason Schwartzman): "The secret?"
Mr. Blume: "Yeah. You look like you've got it all figured out."
Max: "I don't know. I think you just got to find something you love to do, then do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore."
"Rushmore"
Bill Murray won the New York Film Critics Circle, L.A. Film Critics Assn., and Independent Spirit Awards, and earned a Golden Globe nomination, for his performance as jaded businessman Herman Blume in "Rushmore." It was his first of seven appearances in Wes Anderson's films.
"The Royal Tenenbaums"
Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson co-wrote "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001), an absurdist saga of a "Family of Geniuses" whose brilliance had been erased by "two decades of betrayal, failure and disaster." The cast featured Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bill Murray, and Luke and Owen Wilson. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
"The Royal Tenenbaums"
Gene Hackman racing go karts in "The Royal Tenenbaums." He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor - Musical/Comedy.
"The Squid and the Whale"
Wes Anderson produced "The Squid and the Whale" (2005), Noah Baumbach's brutal semi-autobiographical comedy-drama of his parents' divorce. The film starred Jess Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels.
Anderson and Baumbach would later collaborate on the screenplays of "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox."
"The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou"
"The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004) starred Bill Murray as a renowned oceanographer obsessed with his own white whale: capturing on film the legendary Jaguar shark. The film co-starred Michael Gambon, Angelica Huston, Bud Cort, Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett and Willem Dafoe.
"The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou"
Wes Anderson with actors Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett during filming of "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004).
"The Darjeeling Limited"
Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson as brothers on a spiritual journey through India on board "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007). As in "Bottle Rocket," Wilson played a meticulous planner, this time using the train journey as a means to reconnect with his siblings and his mother (Anjelica Huston).
"The Darjeeling Limited"
Jason Schwartzman and Amara Karan in "The Darjeeling Limited."
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
In 2009 Wes Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach adapted Roald Dahl's charming children's classic, "Fantastic Mr. Fox," as a stop-motion animated film.
Featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Bill Murray, with animation coordinated by Mark Waring, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" tells of a rehabilitated chicken thief who decides to plot one last, big heist.
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
The targets of Mr. Fox: Three of the nastiest farmers around: chicken farmer Boggis (left), who "weighs the same as a young rhinoceros"; duck and goose farmer Bunce (right), whose chin "would be under water in the shallow end of any swimming pool on the planet"; and turkey and apple farmer Bean, who "invented his own species of each."
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
Bill Murray as Badger, an attorney, in Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009).
"Moonrise Kingdom"
Young love prompts two adolescents (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) to run away from home, leading to a desperate search by parents, police and Boy Scouts on an island off the New England coast, in Wes Anderson's endearing comedy, "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012). Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
"Moonrise Kingdom"
A precipitous treehouse at a Boy Scout jamboree in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom."
"Moonrise Kingdom"
"Moonrise Kingdom"
Edward Norton starred as Scout Master Ward, discovering one of his scouts has flown the coop, in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom."
Ward: "You have your orders. Use the orienteering and path-finding skills you've been practicing all summer. Let's find our man and bring him safely back to camp. Remember: this isn't just a search party, it's a chance to do some first-class scouting."
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
In Wes Anderson's typically stylized comedy "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014), set at an opulent resort in the Eastern European Republic of Zubrowka between the Wars, Ralph Fiennes plays the hotel concierge who is framed for murder after one of his conquests - an elderly resident played by Tilda Swinton (left) - is found dead under mysterious circumstances.
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Ralph Fiennes as the Concierge and Tony Revolori as the Lobby Boy, Zero, in Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel."
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Adrien Brody as Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis, seeking to inherit a painting his mother bequeathed to Ralph Fienne's concierge, in Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014).
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