Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs:
Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs: the director gathers together a fantastic cast, including Bill Murray, Greta Gerwig, Bryan Cranston and Jeff Goldblum
Wes Anderson, along with his trademark dream-team cast, talks to Jonathan Dean about his new animation
If you say Isle of Dogs really quickly, it ends up sounding not like the jut of land in the Thames, but, rather, “I love dogs”. And if you do, Wes Anderson’s new film is your cinematic Crufts, a constantly charming story of canines in trouble and the humans who team up to help them.
The animation is set in Japan, but not as we know it. Yes, they prepare and eat sushi, as shown in a scene likely to be the year’s most horrific for vegans, but if things are bad for Japanese fish, they’re no better for their dogs. Following a disease outbreak, all breeds are banished to Trash Island, where rats eat chewed-off dog ears and food packages largely consist of maggots and rot.
The dogs are voiced by an all-star cast, who chuck great lines from pooch to pooch, such as, “Stop licking your wounds!”, while the Japanese roles are either subtitled or translated by Frances McDormand. Greta Gerwig voices the American exchange student leading the fight against dog cruelty, wearing a must-have fashion accessory: a “PRO-DOG” headband.
If that sounds confusing, the result isn’t. Anderson leads audiences through his films, and this is a blend of his Fantastic Mr Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel— it’s cute but political, and darker than a rottweiler.
But the voice cast... What fun. Too many icons to fit into one room, so, when I met them in Berlin, there was no Scarlett Johansson or Edward Norton, but I did get Bryan Cranston (Chief), Jeff Goldblum (Duke), Bill Murray (Boss), Liev Schreiber (Spots) and Bob Balaban (King), plus Gerwig, co-writers Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola, and Anderson himself. Finally, seated in the middle, was the young Japanese-Canadian actor Koyu Rankin, who plays Atari — a boy who goes to Trash Island to try to rescue his dog.
Whenever Balaban is mentioned, the cast erupt in a chorus of “Bob-bob-bob-bob Balaban” to the tune of Barbara Ann, which is definitely funny once, and they are such a baying pack together, with barely any paws for thoughts, that it’s stunning such a fiddly film got made...
How on earth did this Japanese dog animation come about?
Wes Anderson “There’s a quote. I think it was Tom Stoppard, or maybe it was Mike Nichols quoting Tom Stoppard, but, anyway, it’s Stoppard saying that when he starts a play, he not only has an idea for a play, but two different ideas that he mixes together. They crash into each other, then he has something to work with. And that’s what I tend to do. Jason, Roman and I started this with the idea of doing a story about dogs abandoned on a garbage dump. But we had also talked about doing something in Japan, related to our shared love of Japanese cinema, especially Kurosawa. Is that right? Did I say that right?”
Jason Schwartzman “Sounds about right. You said it perfectly.”
Wes Anderson “There’s a quote. I think it was Tom Stoppard, or maybe it was Mike Nichols quoting Tom Stoppard, but, anyway, it’s Stoppard saying that when he starts a play, he not only has an idea for a play, but two different ideas that he mixes together. They crash into each other, then he has something to work with. And that’s what I tend to do. Jason, Roman and I started this with the idea of doing a story about dogs abandoned on a garbage dump. But we had also talked about doing something in Japan, related to our shared love of Japanese cinema, especially Kurosawa. Is that right? Did I say that right?”
Jason Schwartzman “Sounds about right. You said it perfectly.”
Is it difficult assembling so many big names for mere voice parts?
WA “Most of the actors here are people I have worked with or loved for years, and one thing about an animated movie is that you can’t really say, ‘I’m not available.’ We can do it any time. We can do it at your house. There is no excuse.”
Greta Gerwig “I think I did everything I did for this character in one afternoon, over two years ago.”
Bill Murray “Well, I’m all cranked up on chocolate and a little bit of champagne right now, but I’m going to say that being a voice with this group is like being in the We Are the World video. These are some of the great voices of cinema, and I’m happy to be singing, even if I only get one verse.”
WA “Most of the actors here are people I have worked with or loved for years, and one thing about an animated movie is that you can’t really say, ‘I’m not available.’ We can do it any time. We can do it at your house. There is no excuse.”
Greta Gerwig “I think I did everything I did for this character in one afternoon, over two years ago.”
Bill Murray “Well, I’m all cranked up on chocolate and a little bit of champagne right now, but I’m going to say that being a voice with this group is like being in the We Are the World video. These are some of the great voices of cinema, and I’m happy to be singing, even if I only get one verse.”
In the film, dogs are made scapegoats by a fascist-leaning government and essentially sent to an internment camp. Wes, is this your most political film?
WA “We’ve been working on this a long time and the world began to feed into the movie. So there were places along the way where we were getting new inspiration from real life. But it was a story we felt could happen anywhere and at any time. In fact, our original version of the movie was a futuristic setting, but a voiceover said, ‘The year is 2007...’ As the future... And the idea was that the movie had been made in the early 1960s and... Well, you can see why we decided not to do it that way.”
WA “We’ve been working on this a long time and the world began to feed into the movie. So there were places along the way where we were getting new inspiration from real life. But it was a story we felt could happen anywhere and at any time. In fact, our original version of the movie was a futuristic setting, but a voiceover said, ‘The year is 2007...’ As the future... And the idea was that the movie had been made in the early 1960s and... Well, you can see why we decided not to do it that way.”
If this is a mirror to our times, why dogs? Did it have to be dogs?
WA “Well, we didn’t start with the mirror. We started with the dogs. So it was more, how do we take this dog story that we want to tell and find where it’s going to take us? What do the dogs want to do? The mirror comes as it’s assembled together. That’s not my greatest description of the storytelling process.”
WA “Well, we didn’t start with the mirror. We started with the dogs. So it was more, how do we take this dog story that we want to tell and find where it’s going to take us? What do the dogs want to do? The mirror comes as it’s assembled together. That’s not my greatest description of the storytelling process.”
What dogs do you all have at home?
JS “I have a French bulldog. He’s 14½. He’s old for a French bulldog. He’s at my mum’s house right now.”
Roman Coppola “I have a cat.”
BM “I have a half terrier, half Jack Russell, who survived an attack by coyotes.”
WA “Wow. Attacked by coyotes? Did you witness it?”
BM “I stood by and did nothing.”
GG “I have no dog, but I would like a dog. I stop and pet all the dogs in New York, where I live, so 2018 is my year of the dog.”
Bryan Cranston “I always have rescue dogs. I love dogs. But our last one just passed away, so we will adopt soon. Maybe an Irish setter named Bill Murray.”
Liev Schreiber “I’ve been raising a pack of coyotes since 1998...”
WA “Right now we don’t have a dog, but we do have a pygmy goat.”
Jeff Goldblum “We have a red-haired standard poodle named Woody, who is four years old. He broke his leg a couple of months ago. He jumped off a table and the table fell on top of him. He’s been recovering.”
BM “But will he be able to play football again?”
JG “He wouldn’t play football. Why would he play football?”
JS “I have a French bulldog. He’s 14½. He’s old for a French bulldog. He’s at my mum’s house right now.”
Roman Coppola “I have a cat.”
BM “I have a half terrier, half Jack Russell, who survived an attack by coyotes.”
WA “Wow. Attacked by coyotes? Did you witness it?”
BM “I stood by and did nothing.”
GG “I have no dog, but I would like a dog. I stop and pet all the dogs in New York, where I live, so 2018 is my year of the dog.”
Bryan Cranston “I always have rescue dogs. I love dogs. But our last one just passed away, so we will adopt soon. Maybe an Irish setter named Bill Murray.”
Liev Schreiber “I’ve been raising a pack of coyotes since 1998...”
WA “Right now we don’t have a dog, but we do have a pygmy goat.”
Jeff Goldblum “We have a red-haired standard poodle named Woody, who is four years old. He broke his leg a couple of months ago. He jumped off a table and the table fell on top of him. He’s been recovering.”
BM “But will he be able to play football again?”
JG “He wouldn’t play football. Why would he play football?”
Koyu, dogs aside, your Atari is the lead. What has this experience been like for an 11-year-old?
Koyu Rankin “Well, I haven’t seen the movie yet. But I’ve seen The Grand Budapest Hotel and Fantastic Mr Fox, and they’re both really great movies. And I think this is going to be better.”
Koyu Rankin “Well, I haven’t seen the movie yet. But I’ve seen The Grand Budapest Hotel and Fantastic Mr Fox, and they’re both really great movies. And I think this is going to be better.”
Compared with traditional American animation, there is a lot of silence in Isle of Dogs, with Bryan’s dog, Chief, fond of quiet brooding. What is it like to act silently, as a puppet?
BC [The actor explains this at length, using facial gesticulation, in total silence.]
BC [The actor explains this at length, using facial gesticulation, in total silence.]
Were there any dog movies from the past that inspired you?
WA “There’s a movie called The Plague Dogs, which I’m reluctant to mention, as it’s very, very bleak. It’s the same author as Watership Down — Richard Adams. It was Noah Baumbach who told me about it. He remembered it from his childhood and used to talk about it. Also, I have a little daughter, and this movie has been going on longer than she has. She’s seen me sitting at my computer for 16 hours a day and knows this movie better than everybody. We watched a bit of 101 Dalmatians... It’s one of my favourites of the Disney ones right now.”
WA “There’s a movie called The Plague Dogs, which I’m reluctant to mention, as it’s very, very bleak. It’s the same author as Watership Down — Richard Adams. It was Noah Baumbach who told me about it. He remembered it from his childhood and used to talk about it. Also, I have a little daughter, and this movie has been going on longer than she has. She’s seen me sitting at my computer for 16 hours a day and knows this movie better than everybody. We watched a bit of 101 Dalmatians... It’s one of my favourites of the Disney ones right now.”
Bryan, you were in Seinfeld, which has always seemed outlandish. What was more so — that or an Anderson cartoon about outlaw dogs?
BC “I don’t know, but I was kept in a cage during Seinfeld, so that was similar... But you just go where the great stories are being told, and to be able to do something with Wes was an easy decision for me.”
BC “I don’t know, but I was kept in a cage during Seinfeld, so that was similar... But you just go where the great stories are being told, and to be able to do something with Wes was an easy decision for me.”
Did you have the Japanese audience in mind when making the film? Will it still work there, when humans and dogs all speak the same language?
WA “It’s a good question, and complicated, because a significant part of the movie is spent translating. The Japanese actors who speak Japanese, they will stay Japanese in every country. The English-speaking cast? Most of them are revoiced in France, Italy... But I always knew we were making our own concoction, and the three of us writers are not Japanese, but we had Kunichi Nomura [who helped Sofia Coppola on Lost in Translation] join us early on in the process. He was not just helping us with the story, translating and casting. We wanted to get certain things right about Japan, which he helped us do.”
WA “It’s a good question, and complicated, because a significant part of the movie is spent translating. The Japanese actors who speak Japanese, they will stay Japanese in every country. The English-speaking cast? Most of them are revoiced in France, Italy... But I always knew we were making our own concoction, and the three of us writers are not Japanese, but we had Kunichi Nomura [who helped Sofia Coppola on Lost in Translation] join us early on in the process. He was not just helping us with the story, translating and casting. We wanted to get certain things right about Japan, which he helped us do.”
Finally, Jeff, it was interesting to see you as a voice, given how physical you are as an actor.
JG “It was great. I’ve done a couple of things before when I’ve just been a voice. I like doing it, because oftentimes when I show up and have to do it live, the director, after a long period of shooting, can get disappointed, because they find out I can’t smile. Whereas with the voice I have... It’s not a big range, more in the pastel colours, but at least I can disguise my limitations.”
JG “It was great. I’ve done a couple of things before when I’ve just been a voice. I like doing it, because oftentimes when I show up and have to do it live, the director, after a long period of shooting, can get disappointed, because they find out I can’t smile. Whereas with the voice I have... It’s not a big range, more in the pastel colours, but at least I can disguise my limitations.”
Isle of Dogs is in cinemas on March 30
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