Behind The Filming Of One Of My Favorite Fantastic Mr. Fox Performances

When you're making an animated film, one of the big differences is that you can add scenes, change dialogue and re-write as you're going along because you only shoot a little bit of the movie each day.

Mr. and Mrs. Fox "on set" shooting a scene in the supermarket.

So, with Fantastic Mr. Fox, about half-way through the shoot, I had this idea for a scene between the two characters played by Jason Schwartzman and my brother, Eric Anderson. I thought one place to start was with something I grew up with: bunk beds.

My initial sketches for how the scene in Ash's (Jason Schwartzman's character) bedroom would be shot and acted

In this case, Jason Schwartzman's character does not allow the bunk beds to serve their usual purpose of sleeping two. So, his foreign cousin is forced to sleep underneath the train set. This train set is particularly miniature, because the puppets themselves are only probably about 7 inches high and the train set is very easily the smallest I have ever seen. Throughout the film we all traveled back and forth between France and England a lot. So, we thought it might be fitting that the electric train would actually be something in the vein of a Eurostar. It's actually labeled 'High Speed French Train'. One unusual fact is that the model train is actually the same train that we use for most of the full scale shots of the train.

I don't know, but this is probably an unusual alternative in the movies. The bunk beds themselves are based on the Gypsy Caravan after which Dahl named his house, and it's still there in Great Missenden.

Artist Turlo Griffin's concept artwork for Ash's bedroom, showing the use of the Gypsy Caravan motif

And also on the set, we have the white cape comics which are drawn by our story board artist Christian De Vita, and which are Ash's (Jason Schwartzman's character) sole reading material and the inspiration for his wardrobe. Jason and Eric give two of my favorite performances in the film, and this scene more or less encapsulates their entire relationship. I hope you'll enjoy watching it as much as I did making it.

 

Comments

[lastpost]

07:27 AM on 11/24/2009

“Jason Schwartzma­n's character does not allow the bunk beds to serve their usual purpose of sleeping two. So, his foreign cousin is forced to sleep underneath the train set.”

Didn’t the cousin point out that, a few modificati­ons were in order? Such as removing the draws from the unit and placing them side by side at floor level. Then fitting a sliding shelf under the lower bunk. The train set attached to it could then be deployed for play, or else put away, in seconds. Plus, there would have been somewhere more comfortabl­e to sleep. Sorry, I’ve been watching too much Wallis and Gromit.

[CentristScientist]

02:29 PM on 11/23/2009

The film is awesome. I give it my fullest recommenda­tion to anyone reading this interested­.

Got in one of the early nyc screenings­.

[CollinJE]

11:38 AM on 11/23/2009

Can't wait to see this too.

I've enjoyed the ride we've been on with you and your films so far. Bottle Rocket is still the one film I try to get people to watch more than probably anything else.

Funny how I have a feeling that my two favorite films this year might be kids movies, with this and Where the Wild Things are.

[FrankenPC]

11:10 AM on 11/23/2009

Wooo! Brilliant scripting! It's rare you see this kind of creativity­.

[hereticalamerican]

09:43 AM on 11/23/2009

Wes! You are a true beacon of light in a dark society. My wife and our sphere of friends are so very thankful for your contributi­ons to art and society. My buddy and I would LOVE to see you do a "60s/70s Sci-Fi" style flick some time....so­mething in the nature of "MoonRaker meets the Tenenbaums­". : )

Thanks Wes!

[factbased]

12:57 AM on 11/24/2009

You should watch CQ, Roman Coppola's feature debut. I think you'll like it.

[tregibbs]

12:16 PM on 11/22/2009

Hey Wes, can't wait to see this flick ! Please say hello to your sister Julie for me - we used to work together at Gorilla Sports in San Francisco.

[nolabels]

12:40 AM on 11/22/2009

I absolutely love Darjeeling Limited and I feel that you improve so much with each new movie. I will definitely add Mr. Fox to the list.

[ObliqueReference]

10:57 AM on 11/23/2009

DL got destroyed by critics. That whole "itinerary­" joke was way too heavy-hand­ed. Wes peaked with "bottle rocket" and "rushmore"­. RT was an obvious Salinger/ Glass family rip-off and LA was just a Jaques Cousteau remix of RT. DL was an alltime low.

[nolabels]

12:20 PM on 11/23/2009

Good for the critics in all their pomposity. Good for you for having an opinion.

Thank you for reminding me about Bottle Rocket. That was my favorite actually.

The direction, scenery, interplay between brothers (played by 3 fantastic actors), sadness, triumph, music were fantastic so say what you will but I enjoyed DL.

[FrankenPC]

11:12 AM on 11/23/2009

I enjoyed Darjeeling Limited as well. But, I really enjoy dry, quirky humor in general. I even enjoyed The Life Aquatic...­now THERE was some dry humor.

[Mull]

08:54 PM on 11/21/2009

I'm just so curious as to why you named this movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox" after the Roald Dahl book. Bsed on the trailers, it seems to have nothing much to do with the original book. Wouldn't it have been better to rename it if you were going to rewrite it to such an extent? Or would that have been plagiarism­?

[CollinJE]

11:40 AM on 11/23/2009

He did base it on the book, loosely. And even stayed at Ronald Dahl's house to write the script. Mrs. Dahl I believed loved the film and felt that Ronald would have loved it as well, she was very emotional talking about it in the interview I saw.

[ForVivi]

03:59 PM on 11/21/2009

I meant "The Darjeeling Limited". My apology.

[ForVivi]

03:56 PM on 11/21/2009

Mr. Anderson, thank you for this post bringing attention to your new movie. I will surely put it on my list. Your work never ceases to surprise me. My husband and I watch Life Aquatic every so often to remind us that we're all kind of lost and doing the best we can. I still do not know what to make of Darjeellin­g Express but I will give it another look.

Keep the movies coming!

[Evan Handler]

12:33 PM on 11/21/2009

Wes....Saw the film just last night (Arclight Hollywood, ahhhhhhh..­..). What a fantastic piece of work! Such artistry, and so flat-out funny (and moving: Mr. and Mrs. argument, wow). Really an incredible accomplish­ment. Best to you, and I hope our paths cross someday...­.........

[vegemight]

06:46 PM on 11/21/2009

Evan, as a Hawai'ian I'm SOOOOO envious of you better-stu­ated people! We don't get this until late next week, I think.

Wes, I gotta see this.

But George Clooney? God I'm so tired of the overexpose­d him, Brad Pitt and/or Matt Damon ruling over what would otherwise be more enjoyable films. They're everywhere­, and they're boring.

I know you need them for budgetary purposes, but still. You came from independen­ts, Wes; keep using indie actors.

[FrankenPC]

11:14 AM on 11/23/2009

(For once, FrankenPC poses as an idiotic fan...)

AHHHH!!! I LOVE Californic­ation!!! BIG FAN!

[johnqsittinzen]

12:11 PM on 11/21/2009

Gee, what a fascinatin­g and intriguing 'behind-th­e-scenes' anecdote! This movie wasn't even on my radar before, because, in a foolish and narrow minded bit of pre-judgme­nt, I assumed it was a 'kids' movie. Well, color me corrected! Now that the director has taken the time out of what must be an incredibly busy p.r. schedule for the promotion of his new film so that he could jot down an insightful and heartwarmi­ng 'making of' micro-essa­y and so generously share it with us here, I feel nothing short of obligated, nay, inspired, to run out and plunk down my fourteen bucks this very weekend!

I'm desperatel­y broke and have to choose my cinema ventures with great scrutiny these days; I was going to see 2012, but now, now that I have been bowled over by this keen and earnest reveal of the artistic process, by golly, it's MR. FOX or bust! Thanks Wes, and thank you HuffPo - for putting it on the front page so I would be sure not to miss it!

[mstphn]

04:46 PM on 11/24/2009

I'm struggling to understand how you can even think about seeing 2012, it looks horrendous­.

[imranali]

11:22 AM on 11/21/2009

Hi Wes, thanks for sharing those insights and for making a wonderfull­y charming movie.

My brother and cousin saw it here in the UK last weekend (yeh, three 30-somethi­ng adults) and thoroughly enjoyed it :)

Can't wait for the DVD release and to hear about your next project :)

[SeanOcali]

03:30 AM on 11/21/2009

Will be seeing this over the weekend. Thanks for all the wonderful films.

[ChimesOfFreedom]

12:22 AM on 11/21/2009

Can't wait to see your latest, Wes - been looking forward to it for quite a while (quality animation takes forever).

I noticed that yours was the lead blurb on the back cover of Richard Brody's Godard book, and that leads me to this question: was the sequence where Bill Murray walks Owen Wilson through the cutaway version of the Belafonte in Life Aquatic in any way based on the similarly cutaway office building shots in Tout va Bien? I ask because I saw that picture recently, and it immediatel­y reminded me of the cutaway Belafonte. At any rate, I was very glad to learn you're a Godard fan - you are two of my most favorite directors!