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The Grand Budapest Hotel



Wes Anderson brings his dry wit and visual inventiveness to this exquisite caper set amid the old-world splendor of Europe between the World Wars. At the opulent Grand Budapest Hotel, the concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and his young protégé Zero (Tony Revolori) forge a steadfast bond as they are swept up in a scheme involving the theft of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune—while around them, political upheaval consumes the continent. Meticulously designed, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a breathless picaresque and a poignant paean to friendship and the grandeur of a vanished world, performed with panache by an all-star ensemble that includes F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Mathieu Amalric, Tilda Swinton, and Bill Murray.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Wes Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New audio commentary featuring Anderson, filmmaker Roman Coppola, and actor Jeff Goldblum
• Selected-scene storyboard animatics
• The Making of "The Grand Budapest Hotel," a new documentary about the film
• New interviews with the cast and crew
• Video essays from 2015 and 2020 by critic Matt Zoller Seitz and film scholar David Bordwell
• Behind-the-scenes, special-effects, and test footage
• Trailer
• PLUS: Two pieces by critic Richard Brody and (with the Blu-ray) a double-sided poster and other ephemera

Jeff wrote: Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:37 pm The script is done for Anderson's Europe-set next feature, and he's started approaching potential cast members including Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Angela Lansbury, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe.

Johnny Depp has now officially signed on to star in the next film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. If you're a “young Arab/Middle Eastern male aged 16-21 who is intelligent, charming, and lively," you could be on board too. No experience needed.

Angela Lansbury is still alive?!

Alan Smithee wrote:Angela Lansbury is still alive?!

And active too. She's still doing Broadway with three major shows since 2009 (currently in Gore Vidal's The Best Man). I saw her in the revival of Blithe Spirit and can attest that she hasn't lost her charms.

I saw her in that Jim Carrey penguin movie while channel surfing.

She's younger than I thought - if a cable network is going to bank on a sitcom starring 90-year old Betty White, of course there's room for Lansbury to be alive, well, and still working.

I hope Anderson is certain that he got the right Johnny Depp. I know my Johnny Depp!

Spoiler

Lansbury is one of those character actresses like Beulah Bondi who, because of her face and her voice, has always played older than her actual age. She was 36 or 37 when she played Laurence Harvey's mother in The Manchurian Candidate (and only 3 years older than him).

We think of her playing an old woman on "Murder, She Wrote," but she was only 58 when that show started. You know who's 58 now? Rene Russo. Ellen Barkin. Katey Sagal. Oprah Winfrey.

Matt wrote:We think of her playing an old woman on "Murder, She Wrote," but she was only 58 when that show started. You know who's 58 now? Rene Russo. Ellen Barkin. Katey Sagal. Oprah Winfrey.

Very good point, Matt. I've loved Lansbury for as long as I can remember thanks to Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I've been disappointed that she hasn't been selected for an honorary Oscar the last few years. Maybe Anderson will give her a shot at a competitive one.

The problem with using Lansbury won't be her age, it's that she's so damned busy. She's in The Best Man on Broadway through the first week of September, and is supposed to do the stage production of Driving Miss Daisy with James Earl Jones in Australia sometime early next year. My guess is that Anderson intends to shoot sometime during that window anyway, since this is supposed to be Depp's next project after wrapping up Lone Ranger reshoots.

Curious to see the logline for this film. With Lansbury, a European hotel, an all-star cast, and a "personal medium," I'm hoping for a 70s-style Agatha Christie pastiche. I think that means I'm getting old.

I would totally love that. Maybe he gets some of his Ealing rocks off at the same time? Oh god I am too excited

Jude Law has also now officially signed on to The Grand Budapest Hotel, and filming is scheduled to begin in January.

Angela Lansbury is down and, in a shocking turn of events, Bill Murray is too!

Has there been mention of who Anderson's co-writer is for this film?

Professor Wagstaff wrote:Has there been mention of who Anderson's co-writer is for this film?

Anderson has said it was written with an old friend who's never been in the film industry.

Turns out Johnny Depp's not in the film after all.

Ralph Fiennes has joined the cast.

Jude Law and Ralph Fiennes in a film together? I think my wife just fainted.

I'd say that Fiennes for Depp is a pretty good trade, on balance.

It's tough to keep up with the revolving door cast. Lansbury's out now. Damn.

Jeff wrote:It's tough to keep up with the revolving door cast. Lansbury's out now. Damn.

That's incredibly disappointing. Lansbury was an intriguing fit for an Anderson movie, especially in the role of one of his assertive matriarchs.

Ralph Fiennes is a poor substitute for Mrs. Potts.

They won't be playing the same part, don't worry

Brian C wrote:I'd say that Fiennes for Depp is a pretty good trade, on balance.

I say it's a great trade. I can't stand Depp and his only character anymore.

mfunk9786 wrote:They won't be playing the same part, don't worry

Now it's even worse news!

Daily casting update: Schwartzman's in it.

Maybe this will end up being a remake of Grand Hotel. You know, "Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens."

Ooh, not the Christie pastiche I had predicted at all...much better.

[i][url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/goldstandard/la-et-mn-wes-anderson-moonrise-kingdom-20121030,0,5560472.story]The L.A. Times[/url][/i] wrote:"Uuuuum ... it's a ... as you might gather from the title, a hotel figures prominently in it," says Anderson, who's not exactly a chatterbox when it comes to talking about upcoming work. "And it mostly takes place about 85 years ago." Good. (Long pause.) Please. Go on. "And it's kind of European ... a bit inspired partly by Hollywood Europe, and also by some European writers around that time. Yeah. That's a little bit about it. Kind of vague, but ..."

Now, when you say "Hollywood Europe," do you mean the tone of movies by directors like Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder?

"Yes, like 'To Be or Not to Be,' the Lubitsch with Carole Lombard, that Europe which is not made in Europe at all," Anderson says, warming to the subject. "Or 'Shop Around the Corner.' Or did you ever see 'Love Me Tonight,' the one Rouben Mamoulian made with Maurice Chevalier? I'm not a big musical fan, but it's a wonderful one."

"So I think we've got a little bit of that feel, that Europe on the Hollywood back lot, even though we're actually going to Europe to do it," Anderson continues. "It's got some of that kind of thing in it. The Lubitsch ones are always good to aim for."

Jeff wrote:"I'm not a big musical fan, but it's a wonderful one."

Very pleased to see that he adores Love Me Tonight (as if there were any other reasonable reaction!), but it stings a bit to read that first part. I guess I'll have to re-evaluate my planned if-I-ever-meet-Wes-Anderson questions...

I can't believe I beat Jeff to this: Saoirse Ronan will be the female lead