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 :)

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!

"I am a false prophet! God is a superstition!"

       
          It is the beginning of the 20th century and Daniel Plainview is a silver prospector who while working in a mine strikes oil. He starts an oil drilling company, in which while working one of his co-workers accidentally dies. He then adopts the man's infant son and names him H.W.  Almost a decade later, we see the Plainviews are richer and their business is in full swing. It is then that a young man named Paul Sunday comes to them with information about oil under his property in a town called Little Boston, California. Daniel and H.W venture there and find out that Paul had been true to his word. Daniel decides to buy the Sunday farm and it's owner, Paukl's father is more than happy to do so. Except then Paul's twin brother Eli, who is the pastor of the Church of Third Revelation there, asks for more money to fund the church. The deal is made at the former price and along with the Sunday estate, Daniel buys all the available land in the area, save that belonging to a certain Mr. Bandy.
           Oil drilling begins in full swing but for the two accidents in the beginning, a man dies during extraction and then an explosion in the mine causes H.W. to lose his hearing completely. Around this time an unspoken feud starts between Daniel and Eli which continues till the rest of their lives. Also a stranger name Henry appears at the Plainviews' footstep claiming to be Daniel's half-brother. He takes him in and starts showing him the ropes but H.W., on reading his diary, finds some discrepancies and tries to kill him by setting him on fire to protect him and his father. The fire is stopped in time and Daniel, angered by H.W.'s act, sends him away to San Fransisco. While rival firm Standard Oil tries to buy him out, Daniel decides to go with Union Oil instead, which requires him to build a pipeline to the Californian coast, but it can only be done by striking a deal with Bandy as it has to run through it. It is at this time when Daniel finds out that Henry is not really his half-brother but rather a friend of him. He had died and by reading his diary he had gathered information about him, and had decided to come to Daniel for company and a comfortable living. Enraged, Daniel shoots him in a drunken stupor and then buries his body.
             In the morning, Bandy confronts him and says that he will only sell Daniel his land if he joins the church and washes away his sins. This gives Eli a chance to take revenge for a previous fight between Daniel and him, and he humiliates him while washing him in the blood of the Christ, making him repeat that he is a sinner and has abandoned his child, a painful memory that stays with him forever. Still his oil work is soon well on the way, and H.W also returns with a sign-language specialist, Eli goes away for missionary work and all seems well.
             Then the story forwards to 1927 when H.W. marries his childhood sweetheart Mary, Eli's sister. He comes to Daniel, now a rich and powerful man, to say through his interpreter, that he is moving to Mexico with Mary to start a company of his own. Daniel flies off the handle at this, screaming at H.W. for various things- starting from the fact that he now becomes a competitor, to the interpreter being there, till he finally reveals to him that he was an orphan he adopted to make his appearance look better to clients. Angered, H.W. leaves. It is after that, when he is lying in his very wooden, very polished bowling room, drunk, that Eli return to him. At first he tells him that he has a radio show and is doing very well, and wants to sell the Bandi farm to him as he had died. In return, Daniel asks him to make two statements- "I am a false prophet. God is a superstition."
           Now despite having said the whole plot, I will not reveal the ending. Just know that there will be blood.

           After watching P.T. Anderson's Magnolia and hearing all about how brilliant his There Will Be Blood is, I had to see it too. So I did...and I agree with the common consensus...it is one fantastic, eerie, lovely film.

         The story is loosely based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! and was written for screen by Anderson himself. It is a story about greed, religious fanaticism, rise of capitalism...but in the end it is the story of one man- Daniel Plainview. I have written once before, give me a flawed hero and I'll give you a devoted Nikhat. And Daniel was flawed...so much so that to see any redeeming qualities was nearly impossible. But I don't think so... I see a man who raised another man's son with a lot of love, but because he hated others more, it was masked by it. I think he was an excellent businessman. He was so lonely that he chose to accept a stranger, Henry, in his life- remember he had earlier threatened Paul about investigating him if his information regarding the oil was false, and he didn't attempt to do so with Henry. But of course there were blaring flaws- this man is the modern man...a man of the 20th century, which brought with it progress and industry, but also environmental degradation, religious cynicism and an insatiable greed. A common saying that money is the root cause of all evil is truly explored in this film. Daniel becomes a sinner because of his avarice, and not the blood of Christ but rather from a source much more sinister proves to be his salvation- "I'm finished," he says in the end. The hatred that had grown in him, little by little, over so many years, seeing the worst in people- in his own words, so much that he thinks that every one else also sees him in the same way. Magnolia started with the song "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do" by Three Dog Night. Those people were lonely, but none as much as Daniel Plainview.

           To say that Daniel Day-Lewis is an outstanding actor is an understatement. Originally British, he adopted this American-western accent expertly. I've read in other reviews about how it's like John Huston's accent- I have never seen any of his films so I cannot say. For me it was very unique- gruff yet eloquent. The first time we hear it was 14 minutes after the title card gad been shown, and it stood out immediately. I had originally not wanted to see the film because Johnny Depp had lost the Oscar to him, and being the completely mad fan I was back then, I was very pissed off. I'm still a mad fan but I do know that Sweeney Todd wasn't the greatest of films or Depp's performances, and Day-Lewis was the rightful winner. The ambition, the wrath, the greed, the pain, the loneliness, and the hatred- everything is as clear as the day on his face. Yes Daniel Plainview was never a man to expose his feelings, but Daniel Day-Lewis is. It was glorious to see him on practically every shot of the film.

            The other person ofcourse is Paul Dano who played both Paul and Eli Sunday... and god he has such an interesting face. Ebert described it as pudding-faced, but I really don't know what that means. The first time we see him at work- in his little church, he looked to me like a total rockstar, "My dear Mrs. Hunter... dance with me... dance with me." But he is just so menacing. A debauched man, who uses the blind faith of others to get what he wants- attention, revenge, money. I think I would have found it harder to side with Daniel were it not for the absolutely unattractive character of Eli Sunday. And Dano did such a great job. He was vicious with such a smile on his face that The Joker would have felt scared. H.W. who was played by Dillon Freasier reminded me so much of Stanley from Magnolia. Both were these meek kids, used to amuse adults, who eventually stand up to their fathers. He was especially good after the explosion scene as we, along with him, understand the horror of what has happened to him. Kevin J. O'Connor, who played Henry, too was good, but I couldn't help keep remembering him as Beny Gabor from The Mummy. They were both liars, weren't they?

         Now I never knew that this was a film where visuals played any role. As said earlier about my anger towards it because of Depp, I had never so much as seen a trailer of it. I only knew vaguely about it. So you can understand what a surprise it was too see these stunning graphics. The wide deserted lands, the oil drills, the smoke from the train and obviously from the explosion filling the horizon. Robert Elswit won the Oscar for his cinematography and like Day-Lewis it was very well-deserved. Another thing was the music. It was odd, but so very apt, like I cannot fathom the film with any changes made in it. My favourite scene in the film is that of the explosion, and the run that Daniel makes with the traumatized H.W. The sound of the bursting oil slowly tones down, along with the screams of all the other men. Then comes this weird music which sounds like it is being made from all these different instruments and all these different surfaces and all these different sources and when H.W. reveals that he cannot hear his own voice, it shows that it's all these different things which he will never be able to hear again. The sound editing was very good too. There were always things being built and everything could be heard distinctly.

          I haven't really gotten my head around what I think of P.T. Anderson as a director. He is very good ofcourse, even a fool could say that. But Magnolia and There Will Be Blood were very different. Speaking of the latter alone, I really like the way that he used both the man and the surroundings. He got a breath-taking performance out of the already fabulous Day-Lewis, but also a creepy and intense performance out of the "silent" Paul Dano. The film is of a Western-ish genre, but so much more dramatic and believable. I really like the flow of it...there is a continuity, but the film only seems to grow from the beginning to the end. Throughout the film I felt that something greater is going to come next. It is suspenseful, but for what I am yet to fully grasp- maybe to see Daniel's final success, or to see what he does with himself, or to see where his greed took him, or if he let go of all the hatred, or maybe just to see whether there is blood, but I really was biting my nails (metaphorically) till the end. And what an ending... "I'm finished," he says.

        This film gave me a lot to think about...here are some random musings that resulted from there:

Random Observation which May or May Not have any Basis- Now I have heard a lot about how this film is alot like the great Citizen Kane; it is- in a grittier, less fashionable way. I had also personally thought that The Social Network was like Citizen Kane, Zuckerberg's Facebook being Kane's Xanadu. This ofcourse made me compare There Will Be Blood with The Social Network. They are similar, aren't they. Just character-wise- the lonely Daniel is like Mark, the betrayed H.W. is like Eduardo, hell both films have twins! And ofcourse the treacherous Henry is like Sean. There were barely any women in the former...someone failed the Bechdel Test bad (!), but I don't think it mattered all that much. And though The Social Network didn't end with any blood, it is Fincher and one can dream.

Random Dream regarding Paul Dano- Don't you just dream of a film where there can be actors like Paul Dano, Emile Hirsch, Patrick Gugit, Kieran Culkin etc. all together? Like a big under-appreciated kick-ass actors film with a lovely kooky story. And the director...not the Coen Brothers because I'm a little sick of them but maybe someone like Jim Jarmusch...and Bill Murray can be like the patriarch and we can throw in Steve Buscemi somewhere. Yes? No?

         
          Anyways, I will say again that There Will Be Blood is a cinematic jewel and Daniel Day-Lewis' performance is as good as they come. And as it was recommended to me, I must recommend it to anyone who loves good cinema and hasn't seen it yet.