By mid-spring, Wes Anderson-inspired clips monopolized TikTok. Amateur filmmakers imitated Anderson’s distinct cinematic style, with over-the-top color palettes, visual balance, and whimsical title sequences.
Despite the valiant efforts of up-and-coming filmmakers, there was something so glaringly missing from Anderson’s TikTok clips as his dry diction — his recurring all-star cast.
Anderson’s latest movie, Asteroid City, hit theaters last weekend along with the usual suspects: Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton and Willem Dafoe.
He brought a few familiar faces to his star roster, like Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks, but that didn’t hide the apparent absence of Bill Murray and the Wilson brothers (Owen, Luke and Andrew).
Anderson is known for consistently casting short rosters of actors. Murray, Schwartzman and Wilson have made more than a half-dozen appearances in the director’s films – and he writes them faithfully in his screenplays.
“I always write with Bill in mind,” Anderson told Rolling Stone of Murray, who has since appeared in ten of his films.
“Asteroid City,” which features a ridiculously star-studded cast of Anderson newcomers (Margot Robbie, Steve Carrell, Rita Wilson, and Bryan Cranston, to name a few), received mixed reviews from critics. Esquire called it “Anderson’s big-hearted masterpiece,” while Vulture concluded that Anderson had “finally gone insane.”
As Anderson’s films become more mainstream and attract crowds of high-profile actors, he remains true to the stars who have shown an interest in him since the beginning of his career.
Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson were college roommates
Owen Wilson and Anderson met in 1989 during their sophomore year at the University of Texas at Austin in a playwriting class. They got along well. The two shared a love of directors such as John Cassavetes, Sam Peckinpah and Martin Scorsese. Soon after, they became roommates and discussed collaborating on a film, reports Interview Magazine.
Anderson’s first film, Bottle Rocket, was inspired by a feud between the college roommates and their landlord, who refused to fix their window cranks.
To demonstrate the need for repairs, Anderson and Wilson devised a plan to break into their own home. They removed some items, made a bit of a mess of the place and called the police. Blame was placed on the damaged window cranks. Neither the police nor her landlord took the burglary seriously. According to LA Weekly, Anderson and Wilson waived the rent payments.
“We ended up moving in the middle of the night and he was chasing us down with a private investigator,” Anderson told LA Weekly.
The experience grew into Anderson’s first feature film. He and Wilson co-wrote the screenplay, which began with a staged burglary and starred Wilson and his brother Luke.
“When we had our first test exam and it was a disaster, I was just shocked,” Anderson told LA Weekly. “I was convinced that people would like it. I didn’t realize it was a weird movie that only certain people would like and a lot of people would hate. And that was the situation.”
Although “Bottle Rocket” was met with criticism, it gained a cult following that paved the way for Anderson’s second feature film “Rushmore” and Wilson’s impressive career.
“Sometimes I stop and think about how weird this all is,” Wilson told Texas Monthly. “Something that started out as a small idea in Austin that Wes and I would just walk around and talk to each other about has grown into all of this.”
Bill Murray has acted in almost every Anderson film
Hollywood icon and prankster Murray has appeared in every Anderson film except his first Bottle Rocket. He joined Anderson’s cast in Rushmore and has starred in almost every Anderson film since. Murray often has leading roles, but sometimes he only has brief cameo appearances – such as the unnamed businessman who misses his train in The Darjeeling Limited.
Anderson and Murray never met before their first film together, but Anderson bravely sent him the script for Rushmore anyway.
“I sent the script to Bill and had no idea what was going to happen after that,” Anderson told Rolling Stone in 2014. “One day I was in a Disney manager’s office and they said Bill Murray was on the phone; I had no idea how he even knew I was there. The Disney manager then had to leave his own office so I could have a long chat with Bill about the role.
“On our first day on set we had a reading with Jason Schwartzman. …it didn’t go well at all. We quibbled about changing the dialogue, but Bill said the dialogue was why he signed up.
“A day later, Bill took us to a restaurant where we ate chicken steak. After that everything was fine. I like to think he was great in the role – but beyond that he was the godfather of this film.”
Murray saw potential in Anderson early in his career. He began working with the now-legendary director when he was “practically a nobody, just a kid from Texas,” and appreciates how Anderson’s career “was rounded out,” Murray explained, according to Searchlight Pictures.
Through the joint production of ten films, the two have grown close and feel mutual admiration for each other.
“I love working with him and I think he enjoys it too,” Anderson told Vanity Fair. “There’s no one better at being on a movie set than Bill Murray.”
Jason Schwartzman embodies Anderson’s unique style
From the beginning of his career, Anderson was sure of a few things. He wanted to work with Owen Wilson, Murray and Schwartzman.
“When Owen Wilson and I started making a film, I wanted Owen to be involved in the other films I was going to do. Once I had Bill Murray, I wanted him next time. I wanted Jason Schwartzman. It came naturally to me,” Anderson told Rolling Stone.
Anderson made his film debut as Schwartzman’s overachiever Max Fischer in Rushmore. He starred in several of Anderson’s subsequent films, including Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Schwartzman met Anderson as a teenager.
“I was 17. He was the first non-family person in his 20s who actually asked me a question and cared about what I said,” the actor recalled before meeting Anderson, according to Vulture many years.
“He was curious about what interested me.”
Now, at age 42, Schwartzman “is a master of his craft and his medium” (Anderson’s words, according to Vulture) and has had a fruitful acting career, thanks in large part to Anderson, who boosted his career and has kept Schwartzman continuously in his career involved scripts.
According to GQ, Anderson wrote the role of war photographer and widowed father Augie Steenbeck on Asteroid City with Schwartzman in mind.
At first, Schwartzman was “nervous” about playing the role of Steenbeck. “When I read the script I was like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t think I’m there,'” he told GQ.
“It was him (Anderson) who said, ‘No, do it, you can do it,’ that only comes when you work with someone you know so well that they can, in a very loving way, challenge you to move on. “
“He’s basically seen me in every version of me.”
Why isn’t Bill Murray in Asteroid City?
Although he was originally cast on Asteroid City, Murray dropped out before filming in Spain after falling ill with COVID-19, according to . His character is understood to have been recast as Steve Carrell.