The Secret to Wes Anderson Movies: Warmth, Humor and Strangeness

GQ talks to stars of Anderson's movies about the director.

wes anderson
Wes Anderson attends 'Isla de Perros' photocall at Villa Magna Hotel on February 27, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images)
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GQ sat down with people who have spent dozens of years and traveled thousands of miles in service of Wes Anderson’s art. Why do these people go to the ends of the earth to work with the director? Jeff Goldblum says Anderson gets the best people around him because “he’s such a genius” and that Wes is particularly generous and “makes people put their best feet forward.” F. Murray Abraham told GQ that when you meet Anderson, “you want to be around him — you want to be part of his society.” Tilda Swinton said that “membership of this magnificent and joyful circus band is one of the great joys of my life.” Meanwhile, Bob Balaban said that you “just want to do anything that Wes is doing.” And Bryan Cranston said that Anderson does not just form community in his movies, but in his personal life too. “I’ve come to know his partner and his daughter—I went out to their home outside of London and stayed with them overnight, and we all pitched in on setting the table and preparing the food. That kind of community feeling is not just in his movies but in his life.” The director is known to be particular and specific in his desires, but helpful. He lives in a “certain kind of zone,” Balaban explains, and he seems to be “very much the same when he’s directing as when he’s having dinner.”

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