Any press conference for a major motion picture is going to be a zoo, but when you’re the opening night selection for the Berlin International Film Festival with a cast larger than many small countries like “Grand Budapest Hotel,” things are going to get a little nuttier than usual.
The conference — which preceded the premiere by several hours — featured director Wes Anderson, producer Jeremy Dawson, as well as stars (deep breath), Willem Dafoe (Jopling), Jeff Goldblum (Kovacs), Tilda Swinton (Madame D.), Tony Revolari (Zero Moustafa), Ralph Fiennes (M. Gustave), Saoirse Ronan (Agatha), Edward Norton (Henckels), and Bill Murray (M. Ivan). Whew.
Once the conference got underway a grand (Budapest hotel) time was had by all, so here are all of the big highlights:
» “We are promised very long hours and low wages,” Murray joked on how Anderson gets such great casts for his movies. “And stale bread. It’s this crazy thing where you’re asked to work long hours. You end up spending more money on tips than you make on the movie. But you get to live in — Wes, his dreamscape comes true. You get to watch it happen.”
Anderson added that Murray only had about a day’s work on “The Darjeeling Limited,” but hung around in India for a full week. Murray joked back that on the various films he’s worked on, they work for a very hard twenty minutes but get to spend five or six days in Paris.
» Anderson talked extensively about the inspiration for the movie, from little known children’s books to old movies. But ultimately he said that it’s not set any particular place. “I sort of think our movie is an Eastern Europe filtered through movies,” Anderson said.
» “Madame D. is what I look like when I don’t put on this makeup. I am very, very, very old,” Tilda Swinton joked on the wrinkled look of her character in the movie.
» Ronan commented on her casting in the movie, saying that when she got the script she thought she was being pranked. “I didn’t think it was you,” Ronan said to Anderson. “I thought it was a Wes Anderson impersonator.”
» “Well, the romance is gone,” Murray quipped when asked about his relationship with Anderson. The questioner clarified that he meant whether they had a father and son relationship, Murray continued, “I’m a grizzled veteran, I guess. I’m just handy in that respect. Wes could probably speak better to that… I’ve really enjoyed the jobs. My children are not as well behaved as Wes.”
» “I guess Wes just likes trousers and tight epaulettes on a man, and I’m happy to wear them for him,” Norton commented on the costumes in the movie. “It’s the best fancy dress party I can imagine,” added Swinton.
» “To be in a film where the filmmaker is allowed to make the film he wants to make is a rare thing,” Fiennes said on why he took the role. He added that the process is to play around, but in very tight constraints, doing take after take until, “You’re exhausted.”
“The best way to get an actor to not be in your film is to offer them a part,” Anderson added. “They’ll say, ‘Well, I like this part, and this part…’ I wanted to work with Ralph.” So Anderson asked him which role he wanted after showing him the script, and Fiennes picked the role Anderson had written for him.
» “We don’t want to fight about it, but there were pajamas,” Anderson said, when challenged by a reporter who insisted this was Anderson’s first film where no one donned night-wear.
» “Who looked like a vampire? That could be anyone at this table,” Swinton retorted to the same reporter who confusingly asked whether the vampire would be back in the sequel.
And with that, the press conference was over. Head back to MTV News later when we’ll have a wrap-up of the opening premiere and after-party!
“Grand Budapest Hotel” premieres February 6 at the Berlin International Film Festival, and stateside on March 7 from Fox Searchlight.
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