George Clooney, Bill Murray and Wes Anderson Interview

On the opening day of the BFI London Film Festival I attended a very entertaining press conference for Wes Anderson`s Fantastic Mr Fox. In attendence were George Clooney, Wes Anderson Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzmen, Eric Anderson, Wally Wolodarsky and Jarvis Cocker. Below is the majority of the press conference, I excluded all the tabloidy questions like `George does this film make you broody`, quite a few of the press seemed to be more interested in George Clooney having children than the actual film!

Earlier in the day I attended the press screening of Fantastic Mr Fox and was really impressed, it`s alot of fun, it`s one of them rare animated films that adults can enjoy just as much as a child. Fantastic Mr Fox is Wes Anderson`s first animated film, utilizing classic stop motion techniques to tell the story of the best selling children`s book by Roald Dahl. Check out the trailer below

What is the appeal for you with Roald Dahl`s story telling and characters?

George Clooney: I just showed up for the paycheck (laughs), it`s been a well known book for a long period of time now, it was not only an opportunity to work on the story but also to work with Wes so I was excited about the whole process, it was a very different process to what people usually have with working on an animated film, we were out in the middle of nowhere running around and doing sound effects, the whole process was exciting. That wasn`t an interesting answer I apologise.

(Laughs) Wes what brought you to the project and why did you particulary choose this style of animation in stop motion?

Wes Anderson: This was the first book I actually owned, it was a book I loved as a child and it introduced me to Roald Dahl`s work in general, it made a big impression on me. About 10 years ago I apporached Liccy, Roald`s wife and asked permission to do it, so it`s been a long process with this project, I always intended it to be stop motion, I`ve always wanted to do a stop motion film, especially with animals and fur, I love that odd but magical look. Dahl is quite anarchic and the movie is a bit of a Robin Hood movie, it`s a bit communist.

Bill Murray: Or English (Laughs)

Wes Anderson: There`s a French stop motion film called Le Roman De Renard that was a great influence on us.

What are your thoughts on your character Mr Fox, as a Fox?

George Clooney: (Laughs) For me he`s an optimist and was a fun character to play, I remember reading the script and telling Wes I love it, I was real excited to do it, I wasn`t sure if people would see it because it`s not really a kids movie or a grown up movie, Wes said don`t worry about it let`s go make a movie and have some fun, thats a great way of approaching a film. Working with Wes and these guys was great, I didn`t enjoy working with Bill Murrey though.

Bill Murray: Thanks George

George Clooney: (Laughs) I`ve let go of some of the anger, we seem to get along now though

What is the moral lesson for this film?

George Clooney: Stealing is good, we applied that I think. I don`t even know

Wes Anderson: It`s a celebration of stealing yeah

Eric Anderson: To be true to your animal nature

George Clooney: That`s it let`s start again, it`s to be true to your animal nature.

Did working on this film make you want to do more animated films?

George Clooney: In fairness the actors only worked for a few days on the farm, running around and playing in barnes and fields, Wes spent a year and a half to two years, in some ways us being up here is a little silly it was Wes doing the real job. I would certainly do this again, it was a incredibally fun experience for all of us.

Wes Anderson: One thing I learnt, is that with the actors and their voices they give so much to the animators, we recorded the voices first, the animators spend all this time on the puppets but their inspiration is the moments these actors had. Stop motion is in my arsenal now.

Jason Shwartzman: I loved being apart of this movie, running around digging dirt, growling, it was so much fun, I can`t even tell you how much fun it was working with everyone, it`s weird to say but when your working with someone you admire, you can`t stare at them and take it in, but because there`s no cameras rolling. It was nice to work and to watch, it sounds odd but that`s what I really loved.

Liccy Dahl says that Roald was a wonderful man to live with until the few weeks before his books would come out he becomes really grumpy and stressed, can you relate to that?

Bill Murray: I was with her yesterday and she made me feel that way too (laughs), she brings out the fear in you, she seems ok but he`s dead now so he`s safe, she can`t do him any damage now, he seemed like a great guy and she rubbed him up pretty bad, whatever happened in their household should stay there.

We saw where they lived, she`s quite a person, they had a great life together and she`s so devoted to him even now, so I`m sure in that moment it must have been hard for her to think I can`t do nothing for you now, it`s an anxiety no person can help you with. She`s a wonderful wonderful women and if I was to re-marry I`d take her.

Your known for your improvisational skills does working with animation help or hinder that?

Bill Murray: It`s really to do with the Director and the actors you`re working with, the worse the script the more you improvise, it`s as simple as that, whether you`re a Doctor, a Badger or a House Wife, if the scripts lousy you`ll see more improv, especially if your a house wife.

Roald Dahl seemed to like scaring children, did you want to have a similar effect?

Wes Anderson: As a kid I remember being scared with his books, I loved that. We didn`t try to make it darker, we wanted to keep it as dark though, while we were writing the script our goal was to imagine how Dahl would have expanded the book into a movie, that was our ideal.

What were the difficulties and positives to making an animation film as opposed to a live action film?

Wes Anderson: The big adjustment you make with making an animation film to a live action film is that you film much slower, but what I enjoyed about that is it meant we could have so many opportunity`s on working on different aspects of the production and refine them, you could find more things that are funny or connect to the story. The fact that it was slowed down so radically introduced more opportunity. What animators provide is very serious and interesting they take a list of the frames of the film and they have instructions to every single frame but two different animators will interpret those instructions very differently, their personality comes into it, that was a suprise.

I shot this film the same way I would shoot a live action movie, I enjoyed doing it that way, people who are used to working on a animated movie were a bit thrown off by that at first, but we found a way of making it work and I enjoyed it that way.

Bill Murrey: This film couldn`t have been made anywhere else in the world but London, one of the most exciting days I`ve had in the film business was the day I spent at The Three Mills Studios there`s more talent in one little factory than any other single place I`ve been, I`ve never been with so many talented people in one place. They do more things with sets, designs, models, than Americans can dream about, we can put a man on the moon but we couldn`t have made this movie. That to me is a celebration to all the people who worked on this film. They`re fun after work too, I wanna make a special point of saying that (Laughs)

FANTASTIC MR FOX IS IN CINEMAS 23/10/2009