WESʼS MOVING CASTLE

Is there a pleasure quite like listening to the soothing and amiable voice of Wes Anderson as he turns his mind towards answering questions on his own carefully-calibrated terms? The focus of this conversation with the master director is Isle of Dogs, a language-obsessed, political conspiracy-themed, stop-motion adventure concerning dogs exiled to a trash island in a near-future Japan.

Midway through our chat, the line goes dead. Some painful moments pass. When we are back in touch, Wes reveals that he is on a train passing through Switzerland and just went through a tunnel. Unable to contain myself, I say, “Are you trying to act like a character in your film, it’s perfect?” He indulges me with a little laugh before explaining: “No I have to. I’m on my way to Berlin. We’re on our way to the film festival and I’m going from Paris so it’s just by chance.” This unassuming nature, spelling out his reason for heading to Berlin in case I may not be aware that Isle of Dogs is opening one of the world’s biggest film festivals, is in evidence throughout our conversation.

In addition, we also spoke to Anderson’s co-conspirators on the film, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman, who have chimed in with their own thoughts on what it’s like to work with this one-of-a-kind