Wes Anderson doesn’t believe he has an aesthetic when it comes to filmmaking.
In a recent interview with Deadline, Anderson commented on the way he approaches his movies when the topic of 1998’s Rushmore and 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums was brought up.
“Well, I don’t have an aesthetic,” Anderson began.
When Deadline noted that some people would likely disagree with that statement, Anderson elaborated, “I totally understand! Even I can say, ‘Well, yes, I can tell that’s the same person.’ But it’s an invention, you know? What I was doing in Bottle Rocket was what I had. That was my aesthetic. And it changed in this one. And, every time, so much of the next movie is informed by something we did in the one before. Like, people often refer to me doing these kinds of dolly shots, and Asteroid City begins with a long one. We go from one place to the next, and we run around. It’s a certain kind of way to film a sequence that is not so typical for everybody. And I do it a lot.”
After pointing to a specific example from Rushmore, Anderson concluded, “You know, you find the thing you like, and then you do it again, do it a bit differently, and then you say, ‘OK, I’m going to try a different thing here. I’ll go another direction.'”
What’s next for Wes Anderson?
Anderson began his filmmaking career in 1996 with Bottle Rocket, which starred Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, and Lumi Cavazos. He went on to make Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, 2004’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited, 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom, 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2018’s Isle of Dogs, 2021’s The French Dispatch, and 2023’s Asteroid City.
Anderson’s latest project is a series of short films based on the works of Roald Dahl. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar arrives first on Netflix on September 27, followed by The Swan on September 28, The Rat Catcher on September 29, and Poison on September 30.
Anderson also told Deadline that, prior to the start of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike in May 2023, he’d begun working on a new script with Roman Coppola. The director didn’t reveal any details about the upcoming project apart from noting that it will star Benicio Del Toro.
