In the space of two days, I had the pleasure of attending two press conferences being held at the London Film Festival, for Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Men Who Stare At Goats. No doubt due to the international scope of the festival, and the world-conquering stardom of the lead actor of both films – George Clooney – these conferences were more like entertaining hyperactive, cheeky children. They were bizarre and, for the most part, wholly unenlightening – with some noted journos loudly proclaiming afterwards that they would never attend a press conference again. They might be over-reacting, because it is actually splendid, absurd entertainment (even if it is, in a way, a mockery of their profession). Luckily, both Clooney and Murray were on top form – with the latter especially flying off the handle at opportune moments. So let’s begin… George Clooney: …as a Fox? BH: …as a Fox? It’s a remarkable piece on work, in that it seems to be a George Clooney… BH: …performance… but without your face. GC: You know, listen, for me, this guy was such an optimist, and I thought he was just a fun character to play. I remember reading the script, and saying to Wes, ‘listen, I love it and I’m happy, thrilled and excited to do it’… So for me, it was just about the process of working with Wes, of working with these guys. I didn’t enjoy working with Bill. I think that that’s fair to say, right? Bill Murray: That’s accurate, George. GC: But I’ve let go of some of the anger since then, and we seem to get along just fine now. And that’s important.[Persistent Lady from Channel 5 News] : George, hey! I have to ask you, there are some lovely on screen moments between you and your son. Did it make you at all broody? GC: Okay, now, that’s a word that Americans don’t understand. GC: Broody? Broody means, you wanna have kids? I’m learning all these phrases this week. Do you know, just having Jason here next to me, I feel like a father. And he just got married, by the way, so I feel almost like a grandfather, in a way. So yes, I’m jumping right into it, then. [The List, Scotland]: Wes, returning to the stop motion, and the choices that you made for that. I’m wondering whether you intentionally evoked the cultural history of that form. And specifically Czech filmmakers like Jan Švankmajer, who used it for politically subversive ends, and I wondered whether it had any link with the anarchic spirit of Roald Dahl’s novels, as well. Wes Anderson: That kind of Eastern European animation was one of the inspirations for me. I hadn’t thought of the political links, but I do think that the movie – and Dahl – is anarchic. And the movie is a bit of a Robin Hood story, so it’s a bit Communist, I think. BM: Or English, okay, to be fair to you people! BM: Au contraire, au contraire! WA: …they used multiple scales of puppets, for big wide shots, that was something that we stole for our movie. GC: Stealing is good. WA: It’s a celebration of stealing. Eric Chase Anderson: Be true to your animal nature. GC: That’s the answer? Alright, let me try again, you ready? I think we just want to be true to our animal nature. [Newstalk, Ireland]: A question for George or Bill. I was talking to Felicity Dahl a few weeks ago, and she was talking about her relationship with Roald, and she said that he was a wonderful man to live with, until the last few weeks before any book was published, and then he got really grumpy and cantankerous, because he had this feeling, ‘what if this is the last book? what if this is the last thing I’m going to produce?’ I was wondering if for either actors, if they could relate to that feeling. BM: Well, I was just with Felicity Dahl yesterday, and she made me feel that way, too. [GC laughs] So, goodbye everybody. She brings out the real fear in you, no question about it. I guess, you always feel like this is the very end of it, but, the nice thing about this being animated is, they’re going to have a bit of difficulty picking me out, in an audio crowd. I don’t know what we’re talking about here. But he came through it time after time. But she’s a wonderful, wonderful woman, and if I were going to remarry, I’d take a chance with her. GC: I would as well. GC: Ah! Finally! RP: And it has nothing to do with the way you look. I was wondering, what other attributes do you think you share with Mr. Fox, other than foxiness? WA: Sometimes when I’ve been writing a script, I’ve had an actor in mind. With this one, we were just thinking of animals, until the script was done. So when the script was done we were wondering, who was going to play Mr. Fox. And we thought, well, I think Cary Grant would have been good. GC: Thanks for that! GC: Because he’s dead… WA: We were thinking about George Clooney. BM: My little animal secrets must remain my little animal secrets. How I do my nails, that is really my business. [holds up hands] I’ve got one of each. We’ve all got a little critter in us, a little critter. And, when cornered, we can fight ferociously. And sometimes we burrow deep, deep, deep, to get away from other people and be safe. None of that makes any sense, to you, right now. But, playing a badger, unless you’ve done it, we can’t even have a conversation. [Masterful Gossip-hound from RTL]: George, in the first production by Smokehouse Productions [Clooney’s production company] you played a character that needed to grow up and get responsibility, and in this film, you’re very believable, as Bill says, as a character who needs to find responsibility. Do you feel that’s why everybody keeps asking you, are you going to have kids, and are you going to get married? BM: Do you intend to adopt? GC: I am, I plan to adopt some of Brad Pitt’s kids. I owe him a few. Thank you for that question, and I will now have to consider the other jobs I was going to play – Peter Pan… That was a great question, though. I don’t have an answer, obviously! GC: That’s it! WA: [cautiously] Well, Noah Baumbach and I, we adapted the script together: we’re American. And I feel we’re better at writing American voices, so we decided to make all the animals Americans, and the humans would be British… WA: [facepalm] Thank you… [Live24/7]: Bill and George, how important would you say the London Film Festival is on the festival calendar, and to the film industry? BM: Well, you know, we kid about the British being the bad guys and everything, because… that revolution thing is still sticking with us, we’re still upset. But the reason the London Film Festival is important, I think – I mean, film festivals are fun, and you go with your movie to support your movie – but this film couldn’t have been made anywhere in the world other than London. Tune in tomorrow for Clooney Fest #2: Electric Boogaloo, where we report from The Men Who Stare At Goats press conference…
