Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson (birthname: Wesley Wales Anderson) has created one of the most distinctive and stylish bodies of work of any American filmmaker since the late 1990s, when he made his debut feature, Bottle Rocket (1996), based on his short film of the same title, and co-written with lead actor, Owen Wilson, along with actor-brothers Luke and Andrew Wilson, and James Caan.

The strong critical acclaim for the debut set a course that nearly no other American filmmaker of his generation has matched: As of 2023, Anderson has had eight of his eleven movies in the main competitions of the world’s top three film festivals—Berlin, Venice, and Cannes.

Anderson’s second feature was the well-received comedy, Rushmore (1998), co-starring names who became regulars in Anderson’s company of actors, including Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray, along with Olivia Williams, Brian Cox, and Seymour Cassel, and winning Anderson and Murray Independent Spirit Awards.

Wes Anderson’s first major, international triumph (including a strong $71.4 million global gross) was the comedy-drama, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), premiering at the New York Film Festival and co-starring Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, and Alec Baldwin, earning an Oscar nomination for original screenplay, and winning Hackman two best acting prizes from the Golden Globes and the National Society of Film Critics.

Anderson’s first flop was The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), with Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, and Bud Cort. Anderson bounced back three years later with his Indian-themed comedy-drama, The Darjeeling Limited (2007), co-written with Roman Coppola and co-star Schwartzman,  featuring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Irrfan Khan, Huston, Murray, Natalie Portman, and Barbet Schroeder, and premiering at the Venice film festival.

In a brilliant filmmaking departure, Wes Anderson made his first animated feature, his entertaining stop-motion adaptation (with co-writer Noah Baumbach) of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), with the voices of George Clooney (as Fox), Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Brian Cox, and Adrien Brody, and nominated for the best-animated feature Oscar.

Anderson’s first Cannes competition premiere was his well-reviewed and commercial hit ($68.3 million globally), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), co-written with Roman Coppola, and co-starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban, and winning best feature from the Gotham Awards as well as an Oscar nomination for best screenplay.

Wes Anderson’s biggest commercial success ($173 million gross on $25 million costs) was The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), starring a sprawling cast including Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Almaric, Brody, Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Murray, Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Schwartzman, Lea Seydoux, Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, and Wilson, and winning four of nine Oscar nominations (which included a Best Picture nomination).

Anderson’s second stop-motion animated feature was Isle of Dogs (2018), once again featuring a massive ensemble of first-rate actors (this time in voice performances, and for the first time several Japanese actors) including Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Norton, Bob Balaban, Goldblum, Murray, Kunichi Nomura, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, McDormand, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, Abraham, Swinton, Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel, Ken Watanabe, Courtney B. Vance, and Angelica Huston; grossing $64.2 million worldwide, the film became the first PG-13 animated film to earn a best animated feature Oscar nomination.

Wes Anderson returned to live-action as director-writer-producer (for the first time in several years without producer Steve Rudin) of the anthology-episodic comedy-drama, The French Dispatch (2021), based on a story created by Anderson with Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Schwartzman, and once again involving a massive cast including Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Lea Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Christoph Waltz, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Liev Schreiber, Mathieu Almaric, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, and Angelica Huston, and after premiering in competition at the Cannes film festival, grossing a healthy amount ($46.3 million) nearly double costs.

It took Anderson only two years to return to the big screen with his eleventh feature as director-writer-producer, Asteroid City (2023), based on a story by Anderson and Coppola, and a large cast led by Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jake Ryan, Wright, Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Norton, Brody, Hong Chau, Schreiber, Hope Davis, and Jeff Goldblum, and after premiering in competition at Cannes, received a wide summer 2023 release by Focus Features.