Wes Anderson and the Case of the Movie Directed Over E-Mail

As Where the Wild Things Are continues to breeze past box-office expectations, anticipation for Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox has heated up. So, naturally, has the long-rumored griping between Anderson and his crew on the movie.

The Los Angeles Times published an article last week on the amusingly passive-aggressive row between the marquee indie director and some members of the new movie’s crew, who claim that Anderson left for Paris early in the production and barely returned to London, where animators worked on the film.

Instead of visiting the set, Anderson e-mailed short films of himself acting out scenes for the animators to create back in the studio.

The L.A. Times article’s author gamely suggests that Anderson “never intended to become an in-box auteur,” before heading into this from one of the movie’s chief animators: “Honestly? Yeah. He has made our lives miserable.”

“I probably shouldn’t say that,” he added.

Probably not, but willing ears continue to perk up online, where Anderson has said he was taken aback by the public statements and the studio has worked to squash the spectacle. Luckily, the movie has an ingenious trailer and stellar buzz on its side, so the hope is that everyone forgets about the spat on or around Nov. 25, when the movie is set to open.

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