Below is a compiled list of the most interesting facts about Wes Anderson. Check it out!
Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers, Eric and Mel. Anderson’s parents divorced when he was a young child, an event that he described as the most crucial event of his brothers and his growing up. During childhood, Anderson also began writing plays and making super-8 movies. He was educated at Westchester High School and then St. John’s, a private prep school in Houston, Texas, which was later to prove an inspiration for the film Rushmore (1998).
Interesting Facts about Wes Anderson
- Has an Italian song about him called “Wes Anderson” by I Cani. The music video is a tribute to the director and his movies.
- His father is of Swedish and Norwegian descent, and his mother has English, Scots-Irish, and German ancestry.
- Seven of his films, Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and Moonrise Kingdom (2012) are in the Criterion Collection.
- All of his films since The Royal Tenenbaums have featured a type of shot composition called “planimetric staging” which involves placing the camera at a 90 degree angle with the subject of the shot. This type of shot is one of the main reasons Anderson’s films are said to have a unique visual style. Other directors who have used this technique include Buster Keaton, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanley Kubrick, and Yasujiro Ozu, although almost none have used at as frequently as Anderson has (almost every shot).
- Wrote Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) with Owen Wilson, whose brother, Luke Wilson, appears in all three movies.
- Has a daughter named Freya with his partner Juman Malouf. She is named after the main character in The Mortal Storm (1940).
- Some of the character names in his movies, most notably in Rushmore (1998), were actually the names of his St. John’s classmates.
- Martin Scorsese is a big fan of his movies, even choosing him as the next Martin Scorsese in an Esquire magazine article.
- Currently expecting his first child with partner, Juman Malouf (as of October, 2015).
- Many of his cast members have connections to The Godfather (1972). His first film, Bottle Rocket (1993), featured James Caan. Rushmore (1998) starred Jason Schwartzman, son of Talia Shire, and he has become a regular in Anderson’s films. That film also featured numerous Godfather references. Roman Coppola, son of director Francis Ford Coppola and cousin to Schwartzman, has also co-written several of his films.
- His great-grandfather was Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author most famous for his creation of Tarzan and John Carter.
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is his favorite film.
Personal Quotes by Wes Anderson
I will say that Edward Norton, who plays the scout master, would be a first-rate Eagle Scout. He’s got all those techniques. If your plane crashes into the jungle somewhere, he would be the guy you would want to have with you.
Wes Anderson
And Hackman had really choked up when he was telling it. It was very moving.
Wes Anderson
When I see the first dailies on any movie, I usually feel that I had no idea how this combination of ingredients was going to mix together, what it was going to produce.
Wes Anderson
I usually set aside a lot of time in advance of a movie with important roles for kids to search, but when you have great ones, they can be a real ace in the hole.
Wes Anderson
That’s the kind of movie that I like to make, where there is an invented reality and the audience is going to go someplace where hopefully they’ve never been before. The details, that’s what the world is made of.
Wes Anderson
