Wes Anderson’s number one skill, ahead of even writing, directing, and dressing like the boy prince of Preciouswoodshire, is production design. Even his worst movies (*cough* Darjeeling Limited! *cough, cough*) tend to have a unifying sense of visual design. This succinct supercut (it’s only a minute long) is dedicated to one of the most oft-repeated tenets of Andersonian composition, the center-framed, ceiling-down, above shot. It’s a pleasure to watch, and helps explain why I can’t help but love Wes Anderson, even at his twee-est, most ascot-y ponciness. I imagine a Wes Anderson/Quentin Tarantino collaboration would involve some characters looking down into a trunk, followed by an annotated above shot of them carefully placing bodies into it.

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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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The New York Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend, and one of the events that actually makes me wish I’d been in New York to attend was a 10th anniversary screening of Royal Tenenbaums, with Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, and Wes Anderson in attendance, with Anderson collaborator Noah Baumbach moderating. ThePlaylist has the whole rundown, but probably the most interesting bit was about how everyone thought Gene Hackman was a mean, scary, prick. And thank God they put up with him, because that mean, scary prick is like a pretend father to me. Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum is all-time, Badass-Hall-of-Fame-level greatness.

BUT FIRST! Did you know the part of Mordecai the hawk was originally written for Jason Schwartzman?

Though it was nearly 10 years before Anderson reunited with his “Rushmore” star in “The Darjeeling Limited,” his intention was to include him much earlier. The part of Mordecai, eventually portrayed by a hawk in the film, was originally conceived for Jason Schwartzman. Anderson explained, “We had a character that was called Mordecai, which in the movie was the name of a bird, but Jason Schwartzman was supposed to be a boy who lived across the street from the Tenenbaums in some embassy or something in an attic.”

Jason Schwartzman is okay, but let’s be honest, he’s no hawk. Dude can barely catch mice.

…Right, but we came here to hear about Gene Hackman. The gist of this next block quote: Gene Hackman called Wes Anderson a c*nt, and once told him to “pull up his pants and act like a man.”

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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.