Wes Anderson and his unique style

Wes Anderson isn’t an uncommon name for most people. With movies like The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonlight Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox, he wrote and directed great movies. He stands out and exactly that makes him unique. Either you like his movies or you don’t. Read all about him, his style and my opinion below.

Biography

Wes Anderson was born in 1969, which makes him 49 years old today. He studied philosophy, and there is where he met Owen Wilson. He is in a relationship with the Lebanese Juman Malouf and they have one daughter together, born in 2016.

His first movie came out in 1996, Bottle Rocket. It was based on a short movie he made earlier with Owen Wilson and his brother, Like Wilson. The movie had good reviews but didn’t make that much in the box office.

However, his next movie, Rushmore, in 1998 was a great hit. It starred Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray. From then on, Bill Murray was in every movie Anderson made.

The movies that followed were The Royal Tenenbaums, which was nominated for an Academy Award, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited and Fantastic Mr. Fox, which gained him another Academy Award nomination.

2012 was the year his most successful movie until then came out: Moonrise Kingdom. This movie gained him an Academy Award. The movie was a great hit and did very good at the box office. The Grand Budapest Hotel, what might be his best-known movie, came in 2014 and gained him nine Academy Award nominations of which he took four home.

His most recent movie was the stop motion Isle of Dogs. It has been nominated for two Academy Awards. He’s currently busy with The French Dispatch, which will come out next year.

Style

I would describe Anderson’s style as quirky. The story, the characters, the sets: None of them are “normal”. It’s quite absurd. But that’s what makes him stand out from the rest.

Most recognizable is probably the use of color and symmetry: Every movie seems to have its own color palette. Take a look at some palettes I made below.

Like or hate?

“So, Rafke, what exactly do you think of Wes Anderson’s movies?” I like them. But you know what’s with his movies? You have to get a bit into the story, most of them start off quite slow. Just don’t give up, and you’ll love ’em.

The reason I like Anderson’s movies, is the uniqueness. I don’t know any other writers or directors with that kind of style. The stories, the cinematography, the colors, the actors: All of these make it his.

Trivia

There are some interesting things so say about Wes Anderson. Take a look at a few below.

• Wes Anderson loves to have the same actors as before. Bill Murray has appeared in every movie of him except from one, Jason Schwartzman is a recurring actor (in different roles, of course), Owen Wilson and his older brother Luke too.
• His great-grandfather was writer Edgar Rice Burroughs. He is most famous for writing Tarzan. I guess the writing is in his blood!
• I’m an active user of Reddit. Reddit consists of a lot of subreddits, dedicated to different subjects. If you’re looking for aesthetically pleasing photographs, take a look at r/accidentalWesAnderson!