Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom opens May 25th and today four new charmingly glib featurettes are online, narrated by Bob Balaban (“Balaban” backwards is “Nabalab”). In each one, he introduces us to the Island of New Penzance (filmed in Rhode Island) and then shows some quick behind-the-scenes footage of each of the players — Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and the little wiener kids who play the Khaki Scouts. Mainly I’m posting it because it includes Shirtless Bill Murray holding a bottle of wine, and as you know, Shirtless Bill Murray is my spirit animal. Still, the rest of them are worth a watch, though I’ll admit, even as a Wes Anderson fan, the smoky French pop music was a little much. At the end of the last one, Wes Anderson even skips a rock across a pond for the kid actors. Sadly, he did not raise his hands above his head and shout “WHIMSY! I LIVE IT, MOTHERF*CKER!” Call it a missed opportunity.

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The trailer for The Bourne Legacy, the fourth movie of the Bourne series with new star Jeremy Renner and new director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Duplicity), appears below. It’s still called “Bourne,” but Renner plays a new punchy amnesia guy named Aaron Cross (not an unacknowledged actor switcharoo a la Bewitched). If you’re anything like Burnsy, you’re probably super duper excited right now. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking “More like BORED legacy, am I right?” Seriously though, these movies are like Phil Collins’ keynote address at an oatmeal convention, and they’ve made four of them. I liked the secret-agent-with-amnesia plot better when it was called The Long Kiss Goodnight.

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Moonrise Kingdom, the new Wes Anderson movie starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Francis McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Jason Schwartzman has a trailer out, and I don’t know what else a person could possibly need to know about it other than that cast. But in case you were worried, it appears to have everything we demand from a Wes Anderson project, including:

• Yellow text
• Center-framed shots
• Matter-of-fact line readings
• French music
• Vintage film stock
• Earth tones
• Quirky childhood romance

And of course, enough whimsy to power a thousand ukulele farms. Holy crap I’m excited.

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Murray later shoved the kid in a puddle, yelling "Liddell was a pussy!"

An IMDB user recently uploaded the first pictures from the set of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, currently shooting in Rhode Island, starring Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton and Harvey Keitel, with a rumored 2012 release.  It sounds amazing, and I’m not just saying that because I’m blogging from a coffee shop in San Francisco and love the smell of my own farts.  Anything would sound amazing with that cast, short of a Glee episode directed by M. Night Shyamalan.  To refresh your memory, here’s the synopsis:

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, Moonrise Kingdom follows a young boy and girl falling in love. When they are moved to run away together, various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down – which might not be such a bad thing. Bruce Willis plays the town sheriff; two-time Academy Award nominee Edward Norton is cast as a camp leader; Academy Award nominee Bill Murray and Academy Award winner Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents; the cast also includes Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman. The young boy and girl are played by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward.

You can see Ed Norton in his Scout Leader outfit after the jump.  It’s set in the 60s, so I have to assume the Tapout sweatshirt in the banner is the kid’s own and not part of wardrobe.  Which is disappointing, because nothing pleases me more than the image of foppish dandy Wes Anderson rubbing his be-ascotted chin thoughtfully while leafing through pieces at the Ed Hardy store. “Hmm, the skull vomiting blood is nice, but… too on the nose?  How about this dragon queefing a glitter rose?  Though I do like the rhinestone lettering on this ‘Tapping is for Fagg*ts’ shirt…. decisions decisions.”

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Note: That is not Bruce Willis

Wes Anderson, whom I love, because I ride my bike around San Francisco hopping from coffee shop to coffee shop writing arch blog posts, has a new film going into production, but even the most virulent anti-hipster would have to concede that this sounds pretty awesome.  Focus Features has acquired the US distribution rights to Moonlight Kingdom, according to the latest press release (with plans to sell the international rights at Cannes), and get a load of this cast:

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, Moonrise Kingdom follows a young boy and girl falling in love. When they are moved to run away together, various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down – which might not be such a bad thing. Bruce Willis plays the town sheriff; two-time Academy Award nominee Edward Norton is cast as a camp leader; Academy Award nominee Bill Murray and Academy Award winner Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents; the cast also includes Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman. The young boy and girl are played by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward.

If there isn’t a slow-motion running away sequence set to a Rolling Stones song and title cards with big yellow text, I will choke myself with Wes Anderson’s ascot.  I’m interested to see how Bill Murray plays “concerned parent”, though.  The role would seem to rob Bill Murray of his most appealing quality, being pleasantly aloof and not giving a f*ck. When it comes to f*ck giving, Bill Murray is the stingiest.