Swingers: Brooklyn Heights

Today we’ve got an update on Moonrise Kingdom, the next project for yellow text-loving ascot enthusiast Wes Anderson and his cabal of quip-spewing indie rock glibsters.  Not surprisingly, it’s set to star Anderson BFFs Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, who, although he’s way too effeminate to be playing Jonathan Ames on Bored to Death, is the perfect muse for a dapper intellectual with a fondness for vintage suits.  Here’s the rest of the rundown:

The local Rhode Island casting agency LDI Casting has revealed that “Ed Norton, Frances McDormand and Jason Schwartzman will join Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray.”

The screenplay was written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola (who also co-wrote The Darjeeling Limited).

[The film] is set in the 60s. Two young adults fall in love and run away. Leaders in their New England town are sticking the idea that they’ve disappeared and go in search of them. Norton will play a scout leader who brings his charges on a search. Willis is in talks to play the town sheriff who’s also looking, and who is having an affair with the missing girl’s mother, the role McDormand is in talks to play. Murray, a regular in Anderson films, will play the girl’s father, who has his own issues. [/Film]

Now that is a cast.  It’s like Valentine’s Day for non-idiots. Anyway, it’s always tempting to bash Wes Anderson for his Fauntleroy-esque looks and popularity among obnoxious hipsters, but the truth is that he’s made some amazing movies, including his last one (Fantastic Mr. Fox).  He’s always a brilliant production designer, but the X-factor seems to be the writing.  He’s credited on all his movies as co-writer with a rotating partner — Owen Wilson on Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums, Noah Baumbach on Life Aquatic and Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Roman Coppola on Darjeeling Limited.  I’m not thrilled that he went back to the writer of his worst movie, or that he’s doing his first period piece, since you know those two are going to spend 90% of their pre-production time picking out skinny ties.  But based on the cast, I’ve got my fingers crossed. Over the sleeve of my soy chai.

Hipster visionary Wes Anderson is back at work on another of his delightfully quirky comedies, as he once again has the greatest man alive, Bill Murray, headlining his latest project, Moon Rise Kingdom. The film is about a love-crazed teenage couple that runs off together, leaving the town’s adults in a state of frantic unrest as they think the worst has happened to them. It’s like that time that I eloped with Diora Baird and then everyone got all crazy as soon as terms like “chloroform” and “duct tape” were thrown around.

Murray is tentatively set to be joined by another all-star cast, as Anderson is known for, with Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Bruce Willis currently in talks. Norton, I assume, will also take over writing and directing duties, single-handedly edit the film using only scissors and his saliva and then package the movie for release in 72.6 million theaters in New York City alone. He’s the most versatile man in show business, folks.

Tell us a little bit about this next quirk-filled Anderson project, Moviefone:

Written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, the film will be a sixties-set story about two kids who fall in love and run away. Obviously, none of the above players are the kids. Rather, after the lovers flee, the leaders of their New England hometown stick with the idea that they’ve disappeared instead, and try to search for them. Should everyone sign on the dotted line: Norton gets to play a scout leader who brings his scouts on the search, Willis is the town sheriff who is having an affair with the missing girl’s mom (McDormand) and leading his own searches, and Murray will play the girl’s father. That leaves Swinton, without a role mentioned — perhaps she’s the mother of the boy?

Call him a hipster visionary all you want – because I already did – but Anderson makes a damn entertaining film. I didn’t care for The Darjeeling Limited when I first saw it at my local cinema and arthouse, but after I watched it again on DVD, I enjoyed it plenty more. And I don’t care what anyone says, Life Aquatic was a masterpiece. You know what else is a masterpiece?

*points to crotch, flips scarf, rides away on women’s beach cruiser*

This new featurette from Disney shows some of the finished effects from Alice in Wonderland alongside the same shots being filmed with a green screen (what I’d like to see: the production meeting where they decided on Johnny Depp’s retarded dance at the end).  It’s pretty cool to see stuff stripped of its FX magic, but also brings back some emotional memories from childhood, when I found out fairies weren’t real and my step dad made me bury my wand and leotard in the back yard.  F*cker.

After the jump, check out some more behind the scenes video of Wes Anderson scrutinizing the set of Fantastic Mr. Fox — something the DP had earlier criticized him for not doing — from the DVD extras.  And in case you were wondering whether he gently strokes his chin while supporting his elbow with the other hand like a finishing school headmistress, hell to the mothereffin yeah he does.  And yet, that movie was awesome.  So congratulations, Wes, you cartoonishly foppish dandy boy you.  This guy grew up in Texas?  He must know karate or something.

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This is a little video from SlateV called “If Famous Directors Directed the Super Bowl”, which is awesome because posting it allows me to really mail it in on my Friday.  And I like that.  It’s actually pretty solid once you get through the Tarantino part, which is super lame.  I’d like to think that if Tarantino directed the Super Bowl, it would involve a lot more doing coke with Lawrence Taylor.  So basically, Any Given Sunday.  I’d also like to see one about if Old Dogs’ Walt Becker directed the Super Bowl.  Spoiler alert: it’s three-straight hours of footballs to the groin.

The Wes Anderson segment made me feel oddly nostalgic.

[hat tip: CinemaBlend]

(With great power… Spider-Man ponders his responsibility to strangle hipsters.)

It’s only been three days since the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire Spider-Man franchise died, but Sony’s wasted no time digging up its corpse and trying to jerk it off.  Uh, metaphorically.  Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb is at the top of their list to direct the reboot.  You might say Spider-Man is caught in his Webb-ing!  *blows brains out*

While the studio has a wish list of star directors like James Cameron, David Fincher, and Wes Anderson, the emergence of Webb as director comes as a huge surprise. But [our sources say] Webb met about the Spidey reboot with the pic’s producers and executives looking to get the picture into production later this year for a Summer 2012 release. Why will the pic take so long? Because it’s likely to be shot in 3-D [of course it will.  "Do you think Spider-Man could have a blue tail?  Audiences really seem to respond to that."]. Sony Pictures plans to make an announcement about that “at the appropriate time”.

Webb would be an okay choice.  He definitely has a visual style, though I question his sanity for not chopping off the end of 500 Days of Summer (Spoiler Alert: Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets over his breakup with Summer by asking out a girl named… wait for it… Autumn.  Are. You. Kidding. Me.).  But hold on, let’s back up a second. Sony wanted… Wes. Anderson.  For Spider-Man.  Oh my gosh, he’s swinging through the city in slow motion set to a Rolling Stones song!  Here come the titles in big yellow text!  …Man, if you can think of an idea dumber than that, sell it to Fox.