Working with Wes Anderson

Brut America

TikTokers are turning their daily lives into scenes from Wes Anderson movies. So what is it actually like being directed by the filmmaker?      Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, and Jeffrey Wright talk to Brut about being his actors in "Asteroid City," at Cannes Film Festival.

Transcript

00:00My head tends to go this way, but he wants it this way.

00:02And artistic frustration is inherent in the work itself.

00:06He's invited you there because he wants you there.

00:09He creates such a familial environment.

00:12You know, everyone comes home.

00:14We all live in the same hotel.

00:16We all stay together.

00:17We dine together.

00:19We sleep together.

00:20Keep it simple.

00:22I shouldn't have said that.

00:24That's true.

00:25But we, you know, I think that's really unusual.

00:30Not the sleeping together part,

00:31but the ability to create a real sense of community.

00:39Everything is so unique and special, though.

00:42But you know Wes quite well now.

00:44It's been ages.

00:46Is it difficult for some new people

00:48to enter in this kind of family,

00:50in this kind of new environment somehow?

00:53I mean, I think there's a learning curve.

00:55There was for me.

00:57And there is whenever you step on a set

01:01with a new filmmaker,

01:03and you don't necessarily know how either of you work.

01:07They don't know how your process is.

01:09And you develop a shorthand now, I feel.

01:12So once you've experienced it,

01:15even for an actor coming on board,

01:17I think you got it within a few days.

01:21Okay, this is how you need to be prepared,

01:24a certain level of preparation

01:26that's different from every other job.

01:32The one thing about Wes is he's very kind and thoughtful.

01:36And even though there's all this specificity in his work,

01:40it is collaborative.

01:42You're finding things.

01:46It's playful, very alive.

01:48So I think you just get an understanding of that.

01:52It's also, it's very challenging to do the work

01:55because he's so specific on what he wants.

01:59And artistic frustration is inherent in the work itself.

02:04I don't think I've ever worked on any project

02:07where at some point I'm not frustrated with myself

02:12for lack of being able to grab onto something

02:14or completely understand a moment

02:17where it escapes you.

02:18And it has its frustration built in.

02:22But as long as you have a support group around you

02:26of other actors who have felt the same way

02:29at some point in the process and can help you.

02:34We learn to trust each other.

02:37And we trust Wes to, in a calm way,

02:41guide us through the logjams that we may be facing.

02:45For you actors, the body is quite an important tool.

02:49And in a Wes Anderson movie, as a viewer,

02:52I saw very symmetrical things and stuff.

02:54I was wondering, how do you deal with his universe

02:58and your body?

03:00It's a good question.

03:01Well, I think it's what Adrian was saying

03:03about you learn to speak his language.

03:05He has a cinematic language that he uses

03:10in all of his work.

03:11And it's up to us to learn that language,

03:14to adapt to it, and to figure out how we get to it.

03:20Actors work very differently.

03:22So you can't write a rule that this is what you do.

03:25You have to discover it on your own.

03:27You're there for a reason.

03:29And he's invited you there because he wants you there.

03:36And that makes it easier to kind of assimilate

03:40to what's required.

03:41Yes, there is a need.

03:42I remember at certain times we'll do a very distinct

03:46close-up or a shot, and you feel like you're straight,

03:50or you wouldn't normally be aware of certain things,

03:53and he would want it tilted slightly differently

03:56or whatever.

03:56And then you've gotta still exist in the moment

04:00and try and create it to a sense that it feels very calm,

04:03but my head tends to go this way, but he wants it this way.

04:06And that doesn't necessarily feel the same for me,

04:08but you have to make it work.

04:10You just go with it.

04:12You have to really...

04:13There's a wonderful physicality in all of the characters.

04:18I think really it all comes down to preparation

04:20because the material is so...

04:22The writing needs to be delivered at a certain way

04:26and certain inflections,

04:28and everything has to feel very true to you,

04:33but they also have to work in half the time

04:35that you would normally convey the same sentence.

04:37And then there are multiple camera moves

04:39and adjustments going on and interactions with others

04:43and the physical stuff.

04:44So when you show up,

04:48you need to know it so well that you can adjust.

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