Brand New Fantastic Mr. Fox Featurette
Fox Searchlight just made a brand new featurette for “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” available giving us some clues as to how director Wes Anderson and his crew used old-school stop-motion animation to bring the Roald Dahl classic to life.
Plot summary: Mr and Mrs Fox (Clooney and Streep) live an idyllic home life with their son Ash (Schwartzman) and visiting young nephew Kristopherson (Eric Anderson). But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground and with not enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers – Boggis, Bunce and Bean – who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr Fox at any cost.
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” is both written and directed by the Oscar nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited). The film features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker and Helen McCrory.
Fantastic Mr. Fox Poster
The poster for Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is now online. The stop-motion animated film, based on the classic Roald Dahl book of the same name, features the voice talent of George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Helen McCrory, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Brian Cox.
Synopsis: “Boggis and Bunce and Bean, One short, one fat, one lean. These horrible crooks, so different in looks, were nonetheless equally mean.”
Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, and all their fox babies live under a hill under a tree, along with Badger, Rabbit, Weasel, and all of their families. To make ends meet, every night, Mr. Fox steals a meal from one of the three crooked farmers–Boggis, a chicken farmer, Bunce, who has a little bit of everything but only eats duck liver, and Bean, who farms turkeys and apples and subsists solely on apple cider. With his keen sense of smell, and the farmers’ distinctive diets, Mr. Fox has no problem evading them.
Fantastic Mr. Fox Trailer
Check out the first, official trailer for “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” animated film based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name.
Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) live an idyllic home life with their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) and visiting young nephew Kristopherson (Eric Anderson). But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr. Fox’s wild animal instincts and he soon slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief, landing him and his family in a lot of trouble.
The movie features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker and Helen McCrory. It is produced by Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin and Allison Abbate.
The film will be made using the same stop motion photography technique used in “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “James and the Giant Peach.”
The Fantastic Mr. Fox Photo Gallery
Take a look at these photos from Wes Anderson’s first animated film “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” based on a Roald Dahl book.
Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) live an idyllic home life with their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) and visiting young nephew Kristopherson (Eric Anderson). But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr. Fox’s wild animal instincts and he soon slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief, landing him and his family in a lot of trouble.
The movie features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker and Helen McCrory. It is produced by Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin and Allison Abbate.
“Frost/Nixon” Premiered At London Film Festival
London Film Festival opening movie Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” premiered last night in London’s Leicester Square.
Among those attending the red carpet event – Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Frank Langella, Toby Jones, Matthew Macfadyen, Oliver Platt, Peter Morgan – was David Frost himself, who said he was “delighted” by the film.
“I am delighted. It really is good, it really is powerful,” Frost said.
The movie depicts the tense meetings between David Frost and disgraced US president Richard Nixon in 1977 and series of interviews culminating in Nixon’s seeming admission of guilt over the Watergate scandal.
Frank Langella, who plays the former commander-in-chief, said Nixon continued to figure in his thoughts long after the cameras were turned off.
“I do not think I will ever say goodbye to him. I think about him every day,” he said last night. “It is not a political film but a human film.”
“David Frost is not a character, he is more of a way of life, so I started to get worried when I found it more enjoyable being him than I did being me. So now I’m starting to kind of de-Frost, come out of character and let it go,” Michael Sheen said.
The film has already received attention as a potential award winner. Director Ron Howard said:
“It is a little early for me to talk about. A movie like this – it needs that kind of support and acknowledgement.”
London Film Festival runs Oct. 15-30.
Read more about 52nd London Film Festival HERE
London Film Festival 2008
52nd London Film Festival is set to be bigger than ever, with a huge selection of screenings, talks and special events lined up.
London film fest artistic director Sandra Hebron unveiled a program that includes 15 world, 20 European and 119 U.K. preems.
“We are excited that London in October will play host to world renowned directors, writers and actors, as well as to some of the most important new voices in international cinema,”
she said and added:
“I spent the weekend reading about the Venice Film Festival and some of the things that I read suggested that it wasn’t a vintage year for cinema. Well, luckily for us, while we do give awards for short films, the fact that we are not a prize-giving festival gives us much freer reign to screen a series of great films.”
The festival’s opening and closing gala screenings had already been announced: Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” reimagines a series of interviews between the British TV personality and the disgraced American president and Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.”
With films from all over the world, each year there are close to 180 feature films screened as well as documentaries, restored classics, shorts, animation and artists’ film and video installations, featuring approximately 20 screenings and special events every day.
This year’s London Film Festival includes a record number of world and European premieres with a total of 189 features and 108 shorts screening.
