'Grand Budapest' Stars Talk Pajama Parties & Sing-Alongs
"The Grand Budapest Hotel," the latest film from quirkmeister Wes Anderson, is a colorful caper centered around charismatic concierge Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) in a majestic Eastern European hotel in the 1930s.
The star-studded cast — featuring many Anderson regulars, including Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray and, yes, Owen Wilson — experienced a small taste of that hotel life after they wrapped each day. The director took over an entire hotel in Görlitz, Germany, for the actors to live in together while filming, making for an intimate experience and a lot of togetherness.
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Think: Murray walking around the hotel in his robe and slippers; Ralph Fiennes arriving at hair and makeup, which was off the lobby, wearing his pajamas; Jeff Goldblum entertaining the group — also including Jude Law, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, and Tilda Swinton — by playing jazz tunes on a piano; and cast dinners each night in the hotel restaurant with an Italian chef Anderson flew in.
"It was a great group of people," Fiennes, who shows his comedic side in the film, tells Yahoo Movies. "I can’t pretend we had tensions or difficult times or fallouts — it was a great sense of camaraderie, mutual respect, and admiration. I know it sounds like a bit of a love-in, but I guess that’s the atmosphere Wes generates."
Staying together in the hotel, “The line between private time and work time got a little blurred,” admits Dafoe, who plays a skull-ring wearing hitman in the flick. “It would be wild because at breakfast you’d see some people already made up in costume, some in their pajamas, and others going right from breakfast to hair and makeup, which was next door to the breakfast room.”
"I sang incessantly all day long," Goldblum, who plays a feline-loving lawyer, recalls. Dafoe, who was in the room next to his, "was very gracious. There was no pounding on the walls."
Murray — who plays M. Ivan, the head of a mysterious organization called the Society of the Crossed Keys — has worked with Anderson several times in films including “Rushmore” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” and brought an extra element of fun to the group, which was largely holed up inside the hotel because of freezing temperatures and snow outside.
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"He’s amazing," says Dafoe, who has now worked with Murray in three Anderson flicks. "He has such a beautiful sense of humor and he’s such a kind and generous-hearted person. Perverse definitely, but nobody gets hurt — at least not in our crowd."
It was Fiennes’s first time working on an Anderson film, but he said no special handshake was required when he showed up to film.
"People think the idea that there’s some kind of Freemason’s club called Wes Anderson Actors and they’re opening the door cautiously to see who might be arriving," smiles the actor, whose character sleeps with many of the hotel’s geriatric guests and eventually gets accused of murdering one of them. "It wasn’t like that at all … When actors are not put into their separate trailers and treated in this hermetically sealed way when they arrive on set, everyone is welcome. Everyone was respecting and admiring each other’s work and what they’ve done."
Newcomer Tony Revolori, who plays Gustave’s young protégé, lobby boy Zero, echoed that, saying he was embraced by the well-known cast.
"They were amazing people to learn from," says the 18-year-old. "They all helped me — and everyone — feel comfortable."
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Saoirse Ronan, who played Revolori’s love interest — and pastry queen! — Agatha, was also new to the Anderson fold, enjoyed seeing the bond between the actors and the director.
"When you see the likes of Bill and Owen, [who is] one of Wes’s best friends, they have so much love for this man and what he does," says the Irish actress. "It’s really great to see that at after four, five, six films — or however many they’ve done with him — they’re so excited to come back and work with him."
This Anderson flick, which features a little bit for everything — a murder mystery, art heist, prison break, shoot out, love story, and the most amazing array of mustaches — is classic Anderson. And Ronan says the vibe on the set feels just as quirky as Anderson’s finished products turn out to be.
"It’s a slightly altered reality," she says. "Everything is a little bit brighter. Everything is slightly over the top in a great way. Everything is kind of spectacular. It’s all very grand.”
"Grand Budapest Hotel" is now in limited release.
