After debuting at Cannes , Wes Anderson ‘s latest offering Moonrise Kingdom hits limited release in New York and Los Angeles this week. You’ve seen the twee snippets previewing the tale of young puppy love in flight, circa 1965. You’ve pored over the visual charm assault that is its poster . Now let co-star Bill Murray be your guide — wearing patchwork madras pants, with a little bit o’ rum in his belly — through the New England set of Moonrise Kingdom . Among Murray’s observational insights: Anderson’s characters wear their pants flooded because that’s how the director dresses himself! It’s all clicking into place. “He likes everyone in the film to wear their pants really short to look just a little bit like the kind of person you’d like to mug.” Wes Anderson Chic, whittled down to its base elements. Moonrise Kingdom is really quite lovely and charming and sweet, but then I’m a sucker for Wes Anderson and angsty adolescents and little girls who listen to Francoise Hardy. The synopsis: Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.
The easiest way to start an interview is to ask someone, “Was there a cock sock or not?” Take Jason Ritter, who plays Wally, the sub-par musician friend of Jillian (Jess Weixler), in Free Samples — which premiered last weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Spotlight program. “It was cock sock,” Ritter said, marking the second time Ritter appeared pantsless in a Tribeca film costarring Jesse Eisenberg. “[Before] was The Education of Charlie Banks , but this one was the first time I’ve been bare-assed for an entire scene.” Meanwhile, the new film’s plot is simple enough: Jillian gets roped into handing out free ice cream samples from a truck as a variety of characters weave in and out of the scene. Samples acts as a counter-point to the classic indie slacker story, as the characters deal with having plans that fall apart — Jillian was in law school and had a fiancé before deciding to “become an artist” — as Ritter plays “Jason Ritter” in Mark Webber’s Sundance film The End of Love , portraying an established, mature version of his actor persona. “I feel like there are a lot of movies about late 20s, early 30s being directionless and you wonder, ‘How are any of these people surviving?'” Ritter said. “What do they do? I really like that there does seem to be more thought put into this character Jillian. It’s been fun to jump in and do a day here and a day there on each of their films.” Just when it seemed like we were getting to the heart of the film’s subject, alas, Ritter complicated things by revealing how he’d blacked out the memory of Weixler slapping his ass. “Did you?” he asked. “I did smack you on the ass, it’s in the movie,” Wexler replied. “I barely remember doing it either. It just went into some black hole. I’m sure it was great at the time.” “Just like Levar Burton on the slave ship in Roots ,” Ritter said. “He doesn’t remember it at all. That’s true, by the way. He doesn’t remember shooting the slave ship sequences in Roots ,” “It’s the same thing as Roots then,” Weixler concurred as her castmate and confidante was shuttled off to another interview. So Free Samples is the food truck of equivalent of Roots then? “I guess so, according to Jason Ritter,” she said. While that could be taken any number of ways, it’s just as well to ignore it. Although being in a single location for the 12-day shoot gave Weixler the mood for being hungover, she kept a clear vision of the character’s overarching traits in mind. “What I made very clear to myself when I went into the role that it wasn’t a slacker role,” she told Movieline. “This is somebody who has been very ambitious her whole life. She was really on course and now she doesn’t know why she was doing what she was doing.” It’s the type of role that’s weird to see, since — as both Ritter and Weixler alluded — hungover slackers have been the film festival norm for the better part of two decades. Say what you want about Free Samples overall, but there seems to be an obvious tonal shift among indies when it comes to growing up and moving on. (Other Tribeca 2012 films like Consuming Spirits and Any Day Now investigate this as well.) But there are more functional questions for director Jay Gammill and co-star Jocelin Donahue — like why does Upright Citizen’s Brigade co-founder Matt Walsh appear to condemn food trucks that can’t give him stamps? And what’s up with the vignette nature of the film that continues on until Tippi Hedren appears to console Weixler? It ultimately comes down to the whims of shooting and editing. “As a director, I’m concerned with how we’re going to pull that off every time,” Gammill said. “What could be a weakness we have to make our strength. It was fun to cast a wide variety of people from different backgrounds. I think every person had their own unique performance.” The same duality lies in art vs. practicality, since both sides are shown to be equally screwed up in Jim Beggarly’s script. “I think that’s one of the major themes,” said Donahue. “How do you choose your path when you desire to do something more creative than the more conventional path?” “What do you base your choices on?” asked Gammill. “Does your family push you into it?” That’s getting a little heady over uneven ensemble comedy, but the sentiment resonates: Free Samples represents a shift that may end the days of freewheeling indies in favor of growing up. Especially if it includes a cock sock. Read all of Movieline’s Tribeca 2012 coverage here . John Lichman has written for The Playlist , Washington City Paper and does a fine Armond White impression. He tweets here .
You already know you’re in for a twee-fest packed with richly colorful characters and a healthy dose of quirky charm in Wes Anderson ‘s period kid romance Moonrise Kingdom , so watching these six newly unveiled clips from the film probably won’t spoil all that much. Instead, they give us more of what we’re already expecting: Game turns by Anderson regulars like Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman as well as Bruce Willis , Frances McDormand , and Ed Norton , the hazy muted palette of the isolated New England countryside as if filtered through Instagram, and our two preternatural adolescent heroes, plotting their summer camp flight through the wilderness in the name of love. Obviously, avoid the below clips if you’d like to go in completely spoiler-free. While I’m guessing the scenes in question occur in the below order in the film, who knows? The charm of Moonrise Kingdom promises to be in the performances (get a fun glimpse of Tilda Swinton ‘s ball-busting turn as Social Services, for instance), though I will add this spoiler: Moonrise Kingdom ‘s dolly shot budget appears to have been quite high. “New Penzance” “The Most Important Decision in Your Lives” “Were You Followed?” “Loaded Question” “I’m Deputizing the Little Guy” “Juvenile Refugee” Official synopsis: Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl. Moonrise Kingdom debuts at Cannes and opens in limited release May 25.
Movieline is pleased to present the first installment of One-Sheet Wonder , a new column on the best, worst, weirdest and other milestones of contemporary movie-poster art. — Ed. We’re a little more than two months away from the debut of the Cannes Film Festival opener Moonrise Kingdom , Wes Anderson’s first live-action film in five years, and the promo push is on. The first trailer hit a while back, and the first poster was revealed last week. And while the trailer is an exhilarating promo clip, on first glance it’s easy to dismiss the poster. It feels minimal and rather meh overall, like a starving-artist, Bob Ross knock-off masquerading as a one-sheet (“Look at that happy little waterfall…”). But since The Life Aquatic , posters for Anderson’s films have trended to a less-is-more approach. The Darjeeling Limited , for example, focused on, essentially, a snapshot of the three leads in a moment of quiet introspection, whereas Rushmore is all about bombastic (Photoshopped) revolution. The reason for this change is Anderson’s movies, increasingly, have been sold to his fans rather than audiences at large. Not surprisingly, this began with The Royal Tenenbaums as Anderson established his unique visual style. Since then, his posters have become more conceptual and more for his acolytes. ( Fantastic Mr. Fox — aimed squarely at kids with its kooky, busy everything-but-whackbat design — is the exception.) Moonrise Kingdom is the zenith (so far) of this marketing strategy. It’s not very active, but it picks up many of Anderson’s trademarks. Sam and Suzy, the film’s leads, are in full-on Anderson mode — Sam carries a popgun and pulls his best young Bud Cort impression while Suzy is loaded down with a travel record player and Margot Tenenbaum-esque style/ennui — and their straight-on confrontation of the viewer is an Anderson trademark. And while the foreground is fairly flat, there’s a world of depth and texture in the background, a staple of Anderson’s cinematography. The poster also continues the practice (begun on Darjeeling ) of placing the credit block at the top of the poster, above the title, drawing our eye (and consideration) to an image rather than text. When you factor in the font-type similarities to the invitation script at the beginning of Tenenbaums , it could be that Anderson is finally establishing a design continuum for his ad art to complement the one in his films. Visually dazzling? Maybe not to the motion-poster (blech) crowd, but for Anderson devotees it’s exciting. It picks up on his filmmaking sensibilities like no poster before it — and it aesthetically establishes Moonrise Kingdom ’s place in Anderson’s legacy vis-à-vis the Criterion Collection. Criterion’s releases of Bottle Rocket , Rushmore , Tenenbaums , Aquatic and Darjeeling are whimsical, but they eschew studio publicity shots for a handcrafted, Andersonian representation of a scene or the essence of the film. (Criterion’s Tenenbaums and Aquatic releases had studio art slipcovers over the hand-drawn ones because they were the only official releases of the films, Buena Vista didn’t likely want to scare off the normals with childlike illustrations.) Moonrise Kingdom is the first theatrical poster for an Anderson film to similarly disregard poorly edited stills (a la Rushmore or Bottle Rocket ) for a painted distillation of what we can imply is the film’s spirit. Ultimately, it might seem this poster is selling Anderson’s sensibility more than the film, but that’s because they’re one and the same. The poster says, “Wes Anderson has a new movie coming out,” and that will either sell people on it or drive them away. Such is the plight of an auteur. Focus Features understands the audience for this film — the cinephile who genuflects at the Wes Anderson altar — and the studio absolutely reaches it with this poster. It might not be the flashiest of Anderson’s ads to date, but it’s certainly the most authentic. Dante A. Ciampaglia is a writer, editor and photographer in New York. You can find him on Twitter , Tumblr , and, occasionally, his blog .
Get ready for some twee twinkling on the Croisette — Wes Anderson ‘s Moonrise Kingdom is set to open the 2012 Cannes Film Festival! Last year’s opener, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris , went on to enjoy a rousingly successful theatrical run on its way to a Best Picture nomination; Anderson’s comedy, about a pair of pre-teen lovebirds on the lam in 1960s New England, will open stateside just over a week after its May 16 Cannes debut and marks his return to live-action film after his most recent film, the Oscar-nominated Fantastic Mr. Fox . In a statement announcing the premiere, Cannes head Thierry Frémaux referenced Fellini and Renoir while calling Anderson a ‘ brilliant and inventive filmmaker ‘; not too shabby for a guy who most recently followed in the footsteps of some of cinema’s brightest directors by helming a pair of car commercials for Hyundai ! (Said ads are classic Anderson, though, through and through — can’t quite say the same for this week’s other ad director-for-hire, Darren Aronofsky .) Moonrise Kingdom stars youngsters Jared Gilman as Sam and Kara Hayward as his best gal Suzy, along with Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton, Ed Norton, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban, and Harvey Keitel. [ Deadline ]
The trailer for Wes Anderson ’s Moonrise Kingdom , his first live action movie since The Darjeeling Limited in 2007, was released on Thursday. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Gossip Cop Discovery Date : 12/01/2012 21:18 Number of articles : 2
