Dream Actors I Want to See Star in Wes Anderson Films

       Hello people! As you may have figured out, I am a bit out of ideas for the blog. Anna was kind enough to suggest this idea to me on Twitter and here I am!

          With the recently released poster and trailer for Wes Andersons highly anticipated eighth feature, The Grand Budapest Hotel, everyone's been buzzing about the filmmaker and the incredible cast he has amassed for the film. There are a number of new names there, none more impressive and frankly perfect as that of Ralph Fiennes. I have been going a bit crazy about it all and therefore Anna suggested that I should make my own list of dream actors that I would like to see in a Wes Anderson movie.

         I must say that I took the idea up rather excitedly and got 31 names the first time. I have narrowed the list down to 14 actors, who I have chosen for many reasons such as curiosity, intuition or maybe just their looks.

Honourable mentions: Mark Ruffalo because who doesn't want to see a Brothers Bloom reunion, Joaquin Phoenix because who doesn't want to see him in everything ever, and Emily Blunt because she's adorable and sexy.

The obvious one

Johnny Depp

If you recall, there was a rumour that had started about Johnny Depp starring in The Grand Budapest Hotel. I had become very excited because this would have been exactly the kind of role Depp needed to get out of this awful weird-character-blockbuster muck he's been stuck in. Unfortunately, it all ended up being totally untrue and while I am more than happy about Fiennes, I do still want a Depp-Anderson collaboration to take place. Before Depp became a big star, he was the guy who starred in interesting off-beat films and made a name for himself. A film with Anderson would be a return to such films for him. And yes, some of us do think that Depp should put his eccentric side to rest but even at their most quirky, Wes Anderson characters have very human aspects to them, and I think Depp still has enough talent left in him to play someone like that.

The curious cases

Marion Cotillard, Daniel Day Lewis

Ralph Fiennes is usually considered a dramatic actor but anyone who has watched In Bruges and, well, the trailer of The Grand Budapest Hotel, know that he has the most surprising comic side to him. Cotillard and Day-Lewis are two actors whose comedic side I would really like to see. The former has mentioned in interviews that she would like to do something funny and I think she has the kind of beauty that would work really well in a Wes Anderson movie. And as for the latter, I have only ever seen him play very serious roles and considering what a great actor he is and just how sweet he seems in real life, I am very curious to see how he would tackle something lighter. As mentioned above, Anderson's movies are a unique blend of quirky and dark and actors such as these two can do wonders.

The ones I think will just belong- males

Michael Shannon, Christoph Waltz

Right? There is something about Shannon, in spite of his towering figure and crazy eyes, that I can see fitting in a Wes Anderson movie. I mean even though he usually plays somewhat scary characters, he kind of makes me laugh because of the slight confused expression he always has on his face and I think that's interesting. As for Waltz, I think he'll be perfect. Think about Willem Defoe's character in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and try telling me that Waltz wouldn't have been cast in that role if the film had been made after his big Hollywood breakout. His dialogue delivery, comic timing and general awesomeness will really work in a Wes Anderson movie.

The ones I think will just belong- females

Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence

The American Hustle girls! But seriously, I think both of these women can do the sexy, lonely, misunderstood, deadpan thing that the female characters in Wes Anderson movies have. In case of Adams, firstly think about her hair and how it will look in the Wes Anderson colour palate. Next is the fact that she can do both funny and icy really well and that combination can work wonders. As for Lawrence, Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook when she's not being manic is pretty much a female character from a Wes Anderson film. I think she has that down.

My Brit obsessions

Daniel Radcliffe, Arthur Darvill

I am loving Radcliffe's career choices so far and it will be great if he gets to work with someone as brilliant as Anderson. I think he's talented enough and then there is also his height. Honestly, I just thought of Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore and Tony Revolori in The Grand Budapest Hotel and then came to the conclusion that DanRad will fit right in. That's how my brain works. As for Darvill, he has a natural quirkiness and oddness to him and he can be very funny very effortlessly and I think he would do great in a Wes Anderson film. Also, I think both of them can embody the struggling genius motif that runs through many of Anderson's films pretty well.

The Indians

Kalki Koechlin, Nimrat Kaur

One of my favourite things about Wes Anderson is his affinity towards India. He has set a film in India and has worked Indian actors like the late great Kumar Pallana, Waris Ahluwalia and the amazing Irrfan Khan (something I had forgotten because he was in this list earlier). So I really wanted to include Indian actors. However, the problem with Bollywood actors, which is more my area of expertise, is that they tend to overplay while acting which just won't work. Having said that, there are a number of Indian actors who do have the kind of subtlety that will be better suited to an Anderson film. Koechlin just has such a unique look (thanks to her part-Indian-part-French heritage) that I think she will be brilliant in a Wes Anderson movie. Kaur, on the other hand, has a very Indian look. She's obviously beautiful but she isn't as glamorous as the other Bollywood actresses and so if anyone was to play a real Indian woman, she would be perfect. And both of them are fantastic actors of course.

I just really really want to know what this will be like

Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

I know what you're thinking but let me explain. The moment this crazy idea came into my head, I tried to brush it away as something totally mental but it just kind of stuck along with a big "What if..." Just try and imagine Allen and Keaton as directed by Wes Anderson. Don't you want to watch that? I sure do.

The eyessssssssssssssssssssss

James McAvoy
McAvoy has the most ridiculous blue eyes on the planet, which is something everyone knows. Now all I want is to see them in a Wes Anderson movie with the Wes Anderson colours. Come on, you know you want it too...

       So that's it! Thanks once again to Anna. I hope you all liked this. Or not. It's perfectly alright. Tell me in the comments below how good my chances are of becoming a casting director :)

Thoughts

          Hello everyone! So guess what? My exams have been postponed for another month which is great news except that they are starting the same day as the new ANTM cycle which is the Guys and Girls cycle AKA my most anticipated thing on TV ever! Gahhhhhhh.
           Don't judge me.

1) Gary Oldman is eyeing Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes for his second directorial feature, Flying Horse. It will be about a photographer who murders a theatre critic who is having an affair with his wife. I think this will be excellent. All of them should definitely act together, even though Oldman has separately costarred with both the actors- with Cumberbatch in Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy and with Fiennes in the Harry Potter movies. Honestly though, if the Harry Potter films were still being made, Cumberbatch would have definitely made it into its gargantuan British cast. He could have been a Death Eater, or maybe a younger version of Snape. Yes! They should actually make a Snape spin-off with Cumberbatch- I will not mind one bit. Anyways, I want Flying Horse now!

2) Speaking of other Hogwarts alumni, Emma Watson is going to reteam with Harry Potter producer David Heyman in Queen of the Tearling, the adaptation of the first book in a trilogy. The story is "set three centuries after an environmental catastrophe when a malevolent Red Queen holds considerable power". People are calling it the Game of Thrones for women, which makes no actual sense if you watch the show- the women are the biggest badasses in Westeros. Like duhhh. Still, I am really happy that Watson is going places, though I don't know if another blockbuster series is a good idea. Having said that, she has already played one of the most inspiring female role models in recent times so she is an apt choice for this.

3) This news came out on the morning of the day Matt Smith announced his retirement which was when my world ended. Anyhoo, Karen Gillan, Smith's ex-costar and companion on Doctor Who, is going to play a lead villain in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which is brilliant! She will be a baddie alongside another beautiful tall person, Lee Pace, and Michael Rooker. Rumours suggest that she will play a bounty-hunter named Angela but we will see if that's true or not. The film will also star Chris Pratt, John C. Reily, Zoe Saldana and Glenn Close. So happy for Gillan- redheads FTW!

4) Other casting news- Eddie Redmayne is going to play Stephen Hawking in Theory of Everything. The film will chronicle that period of Hawking's life when he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease and was told he has a couple of years to live, causing him to go into depression and have problems with his to-be wife. It sounds like a very demanding, dramatic role and it will be interesting to see what Redmayne does with it. It will be directed by Man on Wire director, James Marsh. Next, Leonardo DiCaprio is going to play Rasputin and Jason Hall, the screenwriter who wrote the upcoming Steven Spielberg-Bradley Cooper movie American Sniper, is going to pen the script. It's still very much in early development but it sounds cool and weird and I'm glad to see that Leo is still after that Oscar. GIVE HIM THAT OSCAR, YOU BASTARDS! Finally, the dude who did win the Oscar, Christoph Waltz might be starring in Roman Polanski's True Crimes which is based on a New Yorker article about a Polish detective solving a cold case that leads him into Poland's underworld. Waltz has worked with Polanski on the delightful Carnage, where he outshone everyone else, and it would be very cool to see Waltz do something subdued and grim like this.

5) Oh btw, are you guys listening to our podcast? You can click on the page above named "Across the Universe Podcast" to listen :)

6) I am on such a Bollywood music binge right now, all because of Yeh Jawaan Hai Deewani. This song in particular-

Yes I am plugging a song in a language most of you don't understand about a festival most of you don't celebrate but imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do etcetera etcetera. THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!

7) Posters- Well, not actual posters but discarded ones in fact. Spike Lee's Oldboy remake starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley didn't use these 4 posters but I think they're pretty cool, especially the trunk one.

8) Trailers- Touchy Feely made by Lynn Shelton who direcred the wonderful Your Sister's Sister, looks just as sweet and touching (haha get it?). This too stars Rosemary DeWitt, along with Ellen Page, Scoot McNairy and Allison Janney. Filth has another awesomely disgusting red-band trailer out. I really want to watch this. The Way, Way Back looks very good too. Loving Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell in it. 300: Rise of an Empire looks as over the top as one would expect. It kind of sucks that the main guy isn't hot but hey, Eva Green is one gorgeous lady. The trailer to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has me concerned as it somehow features more Legolas than Bilbo. Also I disapprove of us not hearing Benedict Cumberbatch's voice in it. Thank god for all the Lee Pace though. Pretty elf is pretty. Naomi Watts-starrer Diana has a teaser out and it looks very boring, though I have faith in her. Aside from her exciting new project, Karen Gillan is also the star of Not Another Happy Ending which looks cute albeit predictable but I love her so I will watch it. Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer star in gangster-family-comedy The Family, erstwhile known as the v. exotic Malavita, and I might watch it. Might. The trailer of the week/fortnight is *obviously* Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. It looks amazing and I'm really loving Cate Blanchett losing her mind and Sally Hawkins being just awesome. Two Oscars please.

9) Finally, how awesome is Hannibal? And Mads Mikkelsen? I give you-

Mads Mikkelsen

Sads Mikkelsen

Glads Mikkelsen

Bads Mikkelsen

Knee-pads Mikkelsen

Rads Mikkelsen

Plaids Mikkelsen

Cool-dads Mikkelsen

Honestly, I just wanted a lot of Mads Mikkelsen on my blog. Muahahahahaa.

Be careful of what or who you are eating. Good bye!

My Misadventures with the Oscars

      My late-ish thoughts on the 85th Annual Academy Awards.

Fellini, about the Oscars from Fellini on Fellini

- I was not feeling the Oscars till about 1 a.m. last night and then I could not fall asleep due to the excitement. This was a bad thing since I had to give a film studies exam after eight and a half hours and I had officially stopped giving a shit.
- I woke up at 5:30 a.m. after having slept for only two and a half hours give or take. I was going to start studying but I decided to go on Twitter and Tumblr instead and start freaking out over everyone's dresses.

- Favourite dresses were La Chastain and Miss Adams. A goddess and a princess, both redheads.
- Speaking of men, Daniel Day-Lewis and Christoph Waltz were hot stuff in blue and Daniel Radcliffe, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine and George Clooney looked amazing too. Sexy older men ^^

- Kristen Chenowyth was so annoying on the red carpet. Someone tranquilize her.
- Anne Hathaway, why? It will forever be known as the nipple dress. Ask the twitter account.
- So anyways, show starts.
- I can't come to a conclusive opinion on Seth MacFarlane's hosting. It was incredibly offensive most of the time and many jokes fell flat, but his musical stuff and the random jokes in between were pretty funny. I don't hate him though. Just the song "We Saw Your Boobs". Maybe because I did not expect much.

Truer words have not been spoken.

- Tommy Lee Jones laughing!
- Speaking of the good stuff, Charlize "The Goddess" Theron dancing in a flowy gown (with Channing Tatum) followed by a number by Daniel "My Dream Husband Since 2001" Radcliffe and Joseph "Adorbs" Gordon-Levitt (and Seth MacFarlane) were just awesome. I forgive the entire ceremony just for these two things.

- I liked the Flight-sock puppet thing.
- First award of the night, Best Supporting Actor, went rather deservedly to (though not my first choice) Christoph Waltz. He quoted Tarantino. Most successful Tarantino actor ever.

- Did anyone think of Leo?
- Oh Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy = worst presenters ever. Which did not even make sense because they are usually adorable and hilarious but I could not understand what the hell was going on. Paperman and Brave won though, so yaay for animation!
- A number of The Avengers came to present the visual categories. No Chris Hemsworth, ScarJo or Hiddles though. Once again, I must request the Oscars to give Robert Downey Jr. as Oscar for being himself.

- Worst win of the evening- cinematography. For two years now, this award has been given to the wrong person. I mean, Roger Deakins in Skyfall was beyond spectacular. Someone give him 10 or 20 Oscars already.
- Visual effects for Life of Pi made sense because Richard Parker is a beauty (even though I officially want James Bond to kill him now).
- Orchestra kept playing the Jaws theme to make the winners shorten their speech. It was funny the first time with Life of Pi and all. After that, it was plain rude.
- Anna Karenina won Best Costume and Les Mis won Best Make-up. I agree on the first one though I wish Ishioka would have won. The latter is a pointless category because Cloud Atlas was not nominated.
- The James Bond tribute was mainly shit. None of the Bonds even came. However Dame Shirley Bassey was on!
- The direction was all over the place. They cut to De Niro and Bradley Cooper after some black thing and then didn't show reaction shots for any of MacFarlane's jokes. I heard people laughing. Dunno :/
- Documentary was given out. That dude with that awesome accent was awesome.
- The musical tribute- Catherine Zeta-Jones has still got it. Jennifer Hudson got a standing ovation- what? She was just screaming.

      At this point I had to leave to go give my exam. I thought it was a clever decision to leave before Russell Crowe started to sing. Anyways, I was incredibly annoyed throughout the exam and I wrote at breakneck speed and with total disinterest. I should pass but I couldn't care less. Once I finished, I tried checking the results on my phone but the goddamn thing had to die on me then (technology sucks balls) and then I stood like an idiot for fifteen minutes waiting for the traffic flow to change when it wasn't going to for another hour. The ride back home was long and irritating and hot. However, once I was near functional technology again, I was very happy with the results.

- So back to the point I left off. Another good reason to have gone before the Les Mis number-

       WHAT IS AIR?! I could not have concentrated on my exam if I had seen this before. I really liked the entire performance. Even Russell Crowe couldn't ruin it.

- Chris Pine! I wish he would have presented with Benedict Cumberbatch though.
- Ugh Ted and Jew jokes. Anyways, aren't the computer generated stuff on the Oscars totally awkward for the audience?
- ZOMG TIE!! Skyfall :)
- Did anyone else think that all the Zero Dark Thirty clips were huge spoilers for the people who haven't seen it yet?
- Question- what if someone had a proper fear of sharks? What would the Jaws theme do to them? I think Fassy is terrified of the film.
- Christopher Plummer is brilliance. "Pick someone your own size." Haha. Also, wasn't Amy Adams just terrifying in The Master? I was happy at Anne Hathaway's reaction. It was genuine. Also, "It came true" is one of the best openings to an Oscar speech ever.
- Popcorn ladies are here again!
- Oh those lucky bitch college students. Man, Hugh Jackman and George Clooney were in that crowd.
- Sandra Bullock's hair accessory was gorgeous. Just saying. Happy Argo won editing. Also, Silver Linings Playbook had terrible editing. Why was it nominated?
- I love that Jennifer Lawrence introduced Adele. She's a huge fan, as she said in the Jimmy Kimmel interview.
- Adele is so perfect. All these people got to see her perform live! :P She was actually singing also, and not screaming. Although, apparently screaming ensures a standing ovation. Really people?
- Nicole Kidman is such a class act. She's a genuine fangirl. Tarantino looked really pissed though.

- Daniel Radcliffe presented with Kristen Stewart. I didn't realise she was on crutches (through no fault of my own). They played the Harry Potter music. Thanks for remembering after 10 fucking years, Academy.
- Salma Hayek's introduction was so funny. As was Meryl Streep's later on.
- George Clooney is lovely. He presented In Memorium. I cried. Nora Ephron :( Also Barbara Streisand was really good.
- Chicago crew came to give the music awards. RICHARD GERE! Life of Pi won Best Original Score and "Skyfall" won Best original Song. Oh god, I love Adele.

"I want to thank my man."

Twitter Haneke is the best.

- Best Screenplays were next. Argo got Adapted and Chris Terrio's speech was very nice. And then Quentin Tarantino won Original. YAAAYYY! Django Unchained isn't the greatest but the man definitely is. Last year Woody Allen won this award. Two years, two movie gods.

- He and Charlize are neighbours :O
- Poor Leo. Of course he is not there.



- Oh Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas came to present Best Director. I would love for Fonda to introduce me. She's so theatrical, it's great!
- Yaay Ang Lee won! He seems like the sweetest man who ever lived. He said some of the funniest things. Re: the cast- "I can't waste time talking about them" and about thanking his lawyers- "I have to do that." Also, NAMASTE DUDE!

Ang Lee and DDL are the nicest people ever.

- Jean Dujardin is a cutie. YAYAYAYAY JLAW! And she fell, but it was okay because Jean Dujardin, Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper all ran to her rescue. And her speech was really endearing given the circumstances. "Happy Birthday Emmanuelle!"

- Btw, Hugh Jackman = perfect man.

- Did Meryl Streep even look at the envelope? Also, Joaquin Phoenix at the Oscars everybody-

So much pain.

- Daniel Day-Lewis is the first man ever to get three Best Actor Oscars, and though I did not care for his Lincoln performance (the voice annoyed me too much), it could not have happened to a better man and actor. His jokes were brilliant. Next film should be a comedy with Meryl, amirite?

- Jack Nicholson is boss. And woah, Michelle Obama! Anyways, yaaaayyyy for Argo! 

Ben Affleck's speech was the best. I was watching his and bezzie Matt's Good Will Hunting win yesterday and this is another classic. My favourite part was him thanking the lovely Jennifer Garner, "I want to thank my wife, who I don’t normally associate with Iran, but I want to thank you for working on our marriage for ten Christmases. It’s good. It is work, but it’s the best kind of work and there’s no one I’d rather work with." George Clooney was just the classiest man throughout.

- The final song was nice.

        And there you have it. The winners were pretty good and the hosting was somehow still tolerable and ZOMG DANRAD AND ENJOLRAS!