The Darjeeling Limited: A Journey With Wes Anderson

"What I'd had in mind was to work in India, and before that, three brothers on a train." Director Wes Anderson describes the creative genesis of his latest feature, The Darjeeling Limited, with disarming simplicity. Whilst certainly, at its most basic level, the tale "of three brothers on a train", there's much more to it than that, as you would expect from a filmmaker proclaimed by some to be the next Martin Scorsese, and certainly one of the most fascinating and exciting American writer-directors. Filmed on location in Northwest India, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman star as brothers Peter and Jack Whitman, summoned to the sub-continent by eldest brother Francis, played by Anderson stalwart Owen Wilson. Having not spoken to each other since their father's funeral a year previously, the three siblings find themselves sharing a cramped compartment on the eponymous train, struggling to both adapt to each other's company and understand Francis' real reasons for such a peculiar family gathering.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a director whose CV includes quirky titles such as The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Anderson's latest project experienced a somewhat unconventional journey to the big-screen. Co-written by Anderson, Schwartzman and also Roman Coppola, the story found its origins in Anderson's experiences on his first trip to India. The three friends then made their own journey into the sub-continent, deciding to stay until the screenplay was complete. "[The story] is filled with all our personal experiences," Anderson explains, shortly before the film closes the London Film Festival, "We had an idea that we wanted to make a very personal movie. Practically everything in it is something that happened to either one of us, or someone we know." Writing as they travelled, they went further, actually acting out scenes in public places, that often ended up being used as the actual shoot-locations. It was a method that Schwartzman clearly found a liberating experience. "We'd be walking down the street," he says enthusiastically, "and if we had a scene that took place in a temple we would take out our scripts if we happened to be in front of a temple, and we would act out the scenes. We would see what worked and what didn't work." Anderson smiles as he remembers the crowds gathering to watch three American tourists role-playing in the open. "Without realising it you're surrounded by ten Indian men," he says, "[They're] looking at the script too, trying to make sense of it all, and giving their two cents about it."

Anderson insisted on shooting on a real train for the scenes onboard The Darjeeling itself. The production acquired ten carriages and an engine, and created interiors that fused several different East-West designs. To top it all off, the train ran on live track throughout the three-month shoot. Co-star Adrien Brody thoroughly enjoyed the experience. "The most exciting aspect of that was that it was real," he says in his calm, considered tones, "I think that as an actor your objective is to connect as much as you can to not only your character's emotions, but the environment, and oftentimes in film, the actual environment is very different than what the character is supposedly going through." He adds, "In this case, [Wes] created a very authentic and inspirational environment." Anderson also points out that the train presented "a very intimate working environment" that contrasted sharply with scenes shot amongst crowds of people in the towns and train-stations. As he observed, the train station "was absolutely overwhelmed with people, and [in] the train compartment there's not room for the sound-man!" In these circumstances it's perhaps just as well that family dysfunction, Anderson's speciality, remained firmly in the pages of the screenplay, and the reality on-set was a far more amiable affair. As Brody notes, "I think the fact that we were all in such an exotic location, and we were all on such an adventure, it created a real sense of family and closeness."

In true Anderson style, the story itself has an abundance of subtle character quirks that suggest each character's emotional baggage. From Francis' recent brush with death in a mysterious motorcyle accident (his head is bandaged throughout the film), through Peter clinging onto items belonging to their late father, to Jack scrawling short, ostensibly fictional stories of sibling rivalry and relationship woes. Despite having the opportunity to present rich back-stories throughout the film, the writing team resisted the temptation to deliver too much detail. "We wanted a movie that was a bit more mysterious, that was more sparse, and would imply more than say more," Schwartzman explains, "The audience could make up their own mind about things, and create their own back-story for a lot of what they were seeing." The result is eccentricity, peculiarity and quirky humour, all of which will be familiar to Anderson's fans, and should, if there's any justice, win him some more.

Click here for a full review of the film. This article can also be read at reviews website The Smell of Napalm.

Werner Herzog on Rescue Dawn

"What's his name who did Star Wars?" asks German filmmaking legend Werner Herzog. He nods his head at the mention of George Lucas' name, but rather than launching into an anti-Lucas tirade, as you might expect from someone whose spent decades avoiding mainstream Hollywood, he says instead, "You shouldn't be worried about George Lucas going to the outer galaxy; he's making a film within his culture." It's a refreshing viewpoint, almost too fresh to take seriously, but Herzog's not joking. Cultural identity is important to the Bavarian auteur, who insists, "I have left my country, but I have never left my culture."

Herzog's in good humour, despite just entering his fourth hour of press-meetings. When he first enters the room, in the bowels of London's Charlotte Street Hotel, he moves around the table and gives each one of us (there are eight) a firm handshake and a smile, before we settle down to business. He's in London to promote his latest feature, Rescue Dawn, the true story of German-born US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler who was shot down during a top-secret bombing campaign over Laos in 1966. After spending months on the edge of starvation and subject to medieval conditions in a remote prison-camp, he and fellow prisoner Duane Martin made a daring escape into the dense jungle. Christian Bale takes on the role of Dengler, bringing a sprightly spirit, optimism and unrelenting determination to the character who Herzog says, "had all the qualities I like in Americans." Quick to play down Bale's weight-loss, achieved to portray a prisoner living in such conditions, Herzog states that his primary concern was "to stop Christian from going too much into an imitation of the real Dieter Dengler." He goes on to explain that Dengler's heavy German accent would have never worked for the project, and it becomes clear that Herzog was keen to focus instead on what he refers to as the "frontier-spirit" that kept the pilot alive during his ordeal.

Rescue Dawn in fact marks the second time that Herzog has approached the subject of Dieter Dengler's "wild" life, the first being his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly. The film only touched briefly, however, on the time Dengler spent in the prison-camp, and Dengler himself turned to Herzog at the documentary's premiere and said "this is unfinished business". Herzog reveals that the feature-film would have come first if circumstances had allowed it, but funding complications led to the documentary coming to fruition first. Herzog believes that "the films complement each other very well," adding, "in spirit, in its heart, the feature film has always been the first one."

It's clear that Herzog feels a strong connection to Dengler, having invested so much of himself in bringing the pilot's story to the big-screen over the past ten years. The two men shared strikingly similar upbringings, neither having a father-figure in their lives as children, and both suffering from deprivation and hardship in postwar Germany. Although touched upon with only a few lines of dialogue in Rescue Dawn, Dengler's childhood is looked at in Herzog's initial documentary, for which Herzog met with the man himself, in the process forming a close friendship. Dengler sadly died in 2001, but Herzog has a clear and lifelong affection for the man: "Even now, when I get into complicated situations," he says, "I often ask myself: 'What would Dieter have done?'"

Of course, Herzog is no stranger to 'complicated situations', be they physical or emotional. Take Klaus Kinski, the German actor with whom Herzog experienced an at-best tumultuous, at worst near-homicidal relationship, during the filming of such jungle-set classics as Aguirre, Wrath Of God and Fitzcarraldo in the 70s; the mere mention of his name leaves Herzog instantly stony-faced (for the record, Herzog doesn't think Bale, or anyone for that matter, should attempt to tackle a Kinski biopic - the journalist in question hastily adds his tongue was firmly in his cheek). Beyond Kinski, however, Herzog is notorious for journeying to the most inaccessible corners of the world in pursuit of cinematic gold, and of course he's particularly well-known for his apparent affinity with the jungle. In discussing the making of Rescue Dawn, it's clear he relishes a challenge, as he describes scouting for appropriate locations in the thick Thai jungle and discovering a dense wall of vines: "You literally cannot imagine that a human being can penetrate," he says, adding with a sly smile, "we stopped and said 'Let's go for that one!'"

Rescue Dawn may be Herzog's first collaboration with Hollywood actors, with Christian Bale heading up acting talent that includes unlikely casting choice Steve Zahn (as downed helicopter pilot Duane Martin), and also Jeremy Davies as the deluded and antagonistic Gene DeBruin, but otherwise the production is, in Herzog's words, "not Hollywood". Although the lack of pestering studio executives gave him the freedom to shoot the film his way, remaining outside the system brought its own problems. "There was always financial trouble," he says, explaining the pitfalls of working with committed but inexperienced producers: "There was one day when over thirty people in the Thai crew quit because they were not paid in time... I, as a filmmaker, had to make something out of a disaster."

Beyond the set, the film has become the subject of a low-key internet campaign, instigated primarily by Gene DeBruin's family. They object to Herzog's depiction of Gene as deluded and even traitorous, as he is shown threatening to thwart Dengler's escape plan, so convinced is he that their release is imminent. Herzog acknowledges the campaign as unfortunate, but states that he has stayed true to Dengler's story, in bringing the project to the big-screen. Rescue Dawn is Dieter's story, and, for all its apparent controversies, it is without doubt a remarkable one.

Click here for a full review of the film. This article can also be read at reviews site The Smell of Napalm.

A Writer's A-Z of the 51st London Film Festival

Opening with the appropriately London-set Eastern Promises, and closing with Wes Anderson's quirky The Darjeeling Limited, this year's festival was a real treat. Here's my A-Z overview:

A is for Absences
Not to start on a sour note, but although the festival's considered international enough to host the world premiere of Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs, there were still many faces conspicuous by their absence. Opening-night gala duties for Eastern Promises were distinctly Viggo-less, although nobody seemed to really care as Naomi Watts provided all the necessary glamour. Later in the festival, clearly-very-talented-but-not-very-recognisable Chopper director Andrew Dominik arrived on the red carpet for the gala show of his stunning sophomore piece The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. The cast were nowhere to be seen, with Casey 'Brother of Ben' Affleck having apparently pulled out when Gone Baby Gone was disappointingly dropped from the schedule.

B is for 'Better than Brad'
He and his more famous brother may have pulled out, but Casey Affleck delivers a brilliantly layered performance in The Assassination Of Jesse James. Managing to out-act an on-form Brad Pitt, Affleck plays it subtle in the arguably meatier role of the notoriously villified Robert Ford. His impressive performance in brother Ben's directorial debut Gone Baby Gone should cement his graduation from supporting comic-relief opposite Brad n' George in the Ocean's 11 franchise, to fully certified leading man, although British audiences will have to wait til next year to see the Boston-set kidnap drama.

C is for Crappy Weather
This being London, the gala performance of Lions for Lambs - the biggest of the festival - was blighted by climatic cliche. "I'm surprised this many people showed up," Tom Cruise commented to a BBC journalist, "It's cold, it's wet... Londoners love film!"

D is for Dictaphones
The obligatory tool of every self-respecting journo. A few hours before the gala show of Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg walked into the screening-room of the Soho Hotel to find fifteen voice-recorders littering the table next to his microphone. "I'm having a yard-sale in these afterwards..." he deadpanned. Juno director Jason Reitman, and The Darjeeling Limited's Jason Schwartzman, both felt compelled to turn over the tapes on devices that clicked off in front of them. "They keep turning off when I'm in the middle of answering a question!" Schwartzman laughed in response to murmours of amusement from the crowd.

E is for Entertaining Banter
"It's gonna be awesome!" was Diablo 'Best Name In The Business' Cody's response when she heard that Jason Reitman was interested in directing her debut screenplay, Juno. With Reitman, Cody and former West-Winger Allison Janney bouncing off each other so effectively, the press conference was less a media grilling and more a lighthearted conversation between friends, overheard by fifty members of the press. How else could you hope to learn that Janney finds the idea of trampolining in heels sexy? It is possible she was joking...

F is for Fresh-Faced
The Darjeeling Limited marks Brit Amara Karan's feature debut as a train stewardess who has a fling with Jason Schwartzman's Jack. Auditioning for the role just weeks after graduating from drama school, Karan's initial nerves were well and truly dispensed with when it came to the actual shoot. Describing a key scene between herself and Schwartzman, she bluntly states, "I felt like I nailed that on the first take". Cue a gesture of mock intimidation from Schwartzman.

G is for Gala Performances
Otherwise known as the shows that got all the attention, as the stars came out for the press. Audiences frequently emerged from a non-gala show to find themselves leaving over a red carpet, while they dodged reporters and press-photographers massing for the gala performance that was next on the schedule.

H is for Haneke, Michael
The German director's English-language remake of his own 1997 domestic thriller Funny Games, titled simply Funny Games US, is a devastating comment on the relationship between audiences and the media-portrayal of onscreen violence. Starring Tim Roth and Naomi Watts as an unassuming middleclass couple tormented by disturbed teens Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet, the film is a shot-for-shot remake but nevertheless more effective as a dramatic punch to the gut for the English-speaking world. Juxtaposing a media-influenced teen perception of violence without consequence, with lingering shots of characters recovering from savagely real acts of extreme violence, it's top issue-driven filmmaking.

I is for Inappropriate Questions
With the tabloids providing ample speculation as to Owen Wilson's mental state over the past few months, co-star Adrian Brody professed quiet relief to Wes Anderson that the press conference for The Darjeeling Limited was very civilised. A rare case, perhaps, of the British media behaving themselves.

J is for Juno
Ellen Page stars as the eponymous teen who loses her virginity and gets pregnant on the same night, with unexpectedly hilarious consequences. Expect comic subversion, a screenplay from Diablo 'Best Name In The Business' Cody, and support from former Arrested Developers Jason Bateman and Michael Cera. As the film isn't due out in the UK until February, that's what you call Positive Early Buzz.

K is for Kudos
On a personal note, being a film buff with a press-pass at a film festival really is very, very cool.

L is for London
Bit of a no-brainer, that one. As Michael Caine's iconic tones stated on the official, cooler-than-expected festival trailer, "The best new films, right here in London".

M is for Moore, Michael
Hammersmith Hospital rocks! For his new doc Sicko, Moore tramps around the London hospital seeking out wherever it is patients go to pay their medical bills; his search is long, fruitless and much-mocked but entertaining nonetheless. One-sided as ever, but still outstanding, and frequently shocking, filmmaking polemic that sees Moore return to the inspiring heights of Bowling For Columbine.

N is for No Response
Despite a dozen polite interview requests emailed to publicists, only two replied. Against all expectations, one of them was the representative for Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Unfortunately it was a no, but at least they dignified the request with a response. Suppressing. Bitterness. Now.

O is for Opportunism
Emerging from a press-conference with David Cronenberg and Naomi Watts, a mooch across the bridge back to the South Bank turned into perfect timing for a press-screening of below-the-radar doc The English Surgeon, listed somewhat confusingly in the festival programme as Russian Roulette With Two Revolvers (taken from a striking analogy made in the film). The touching tale of neurosurgeon Henry Marsh's ongoing fifteen-year quest to bring medical resources and knowledge to Ukraine, one sequence in the film follows himself and local colleague Igor Kurilets as they browse a street-market in search of hardware to use in a brain-surgery operation. Yep, a street-market. The film currently faces a future as uncertain as many of the featured patients, although a limited, arthouse release may be happening next year.

P is for Press Centre
Expectations of something not unlike the New York Stock Exchange, with brokers perhaps replaced by dozens of film-writers frantically hammering away on laptops to meet imminent editorial deadlines, proved naive. The reality was a very low-key affair that felt more like the teacher's staffroom at breaktime. There never seemed to be more than about fifteen people there, and a hefty chunk of them were staff. Still, you couldn't fault the resources. Three separate information desks, free net access on big shiny Macs, a handful of sofas, and a full video-library complete with screeners for twenty or thirty of the smaller festival entrees.

Q is for Quite Slow
Time slows down when Adrian Brody speaks. Not one to be rushed, the Academy's youngest ever Best Actor has the air of a true artiste determined to deliver a considered answer in his own time. This doesn't always suit the PR, whose nervous watch-checking intensified when Brody spent several minutes talking about filming on a fake boat for Peter Jackson on King Kong, as a sort-of relevance to shooting on a real train for Wes Anderson on The Darjeeling Limited.

R is for Reitman, Jason
Laidback and amiable, the Son of Ivan ended up staying behind for ten minutes after the Juno press conference to talk to curious journos about the pros and cons of the iPhone, three weeks before it was released in the UK. Just a cool guy.

S is for Swanky Hotels
The Soho Hotel in, well, Soho, may be impressive, but Clarridges has the edge. Elegant and sophisticated, if a little too Donald Trump when it comes to the gold trimmings, it was host to the press conference for The Darjeeling Limited. The slightest hint of disapproval could be noted on the faces of some of the more senior staffers as our ragtag band of journos massed by the surprisingly small lift enroute to the surprisingly compact 6th floor conference room. The lift may have been small, but it did have a sofa.

T is for Technical Problems
No public event is complete these days, it seems, without those minor hitches drawing attention to an embarrassed techie somewhere. The gala performance of this year's Palme d'Or winner at Cannes, Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, was a resounding success and played to a packed-out audience. Writer-director Cristian Mungiu and star Anamaria Marinca introduced the film, or at least we presume they did, as they could barely be heard past the tenth row, while the post-screening Q&A session was plagued with similar problems. Meanwhile, the Juno press conference was underscored with constant electronic interference. When the PR eventually wrapped things up, he thanked everyone for a discussion "broadcast simultaneously in morse-code".

U is for Unnecessary Cancellation
Ben Affleck's impressive directorial debut, child-abduction drama Gone Baby Gone, was pulled from the schedule and has had its UK release put back til next year, owing to similarities with the Madeleine McCann abduction. The film has drawn added attention owing to the young actress' striking resemblence to Madeleine McCann, and the fact that the actress' real name is also Madeleine. Coincidental creepiness aside, the decision to postpone its release seems unnecessary given that a) the film is really quite good, b) questionable content in Hollywood's general output is routinely ignored by the media and c) nobody has to watch it if they don't want to. Having said that, the postponement will certainly delay a seemingly inevitable cry of insensitivity from The Daily Mail.

V is for Very Early
Once the festival was officially opened, the majority of press-screenings took place mid-morning in order to free up cinemas for the public shows after midday. For anyone used to working late into the night, morning screenings take a bit of getting used to. That probably explains why attending journos tended to be bleary-eyed and wrapped up in endless layers of warm clothes, their hands cradling a hot beverage, and a glint of annoyance in their eyes as they signed in with the relentlessly chipper festival staff.

W is for Wild, Into The
Sean Penn's best film as director, Into The Wild is the true-life story of Christopher McCandless, who marked his 1992 college graduation by donating his entire $22,000 college fund to Oxfam, assuming the name Alexander Supertramp, and setting out on a two-year trek across the continental United States to Alaska. Inspired, touching and tragic stuff.

X is for, er, Xander Berkeley
A jobbing actor perhaps best known recently for playing Jack Bauer's boss in the first few seasons of 24, he also played 'Railroad Foreman' in this year's Seraphim Falls (stay with me here...) Seraphim Falls is a Western, as is The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, which played at the festival. He may well have been at the festival too... but probably wasn't. X is a real toughie...

Y is for Yuck!
A particularly unpleasant afternoon in a North London sauna results in some necessarily extreme self-defence moves for Viggo Mortensen's mob-affiliated 'driver' Nikolai in Eastern Promises. 250-odd audience members cringe simultaneously.

Z is for Zoo
The festival's token touch of controversy was provided by this documentary exploration of a Seattle-based group's indulgence in bestiality. Evasively described by IMDB as "a look at the life of a Seattle man who died as a result of an unusual encounter with a horse."