Last week, Fox Searchlight presented the “Isle of Dogs” New York Special Screening & Reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The film is now playing.
The film co-written and directed by Wes Anderson tells the story of ATARI KOBAYASHI, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies to Trash Island in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.
The film features the voices of F. Murray Abraham, Bob Balaban, Bryan Cranston, Greta Gerwig, Jeff Goldblum, Akira Ito, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Mari Natsuki, Yojiro Noda, Kunichi Nomura, Edward Norton, Yoko Ono, Koyu Rankin, Liev Schreiber, Fisher Stevens, Tilda Swinton, Akira Takayama, Courtney B. Vance and Frank Wood. Many members of the cast were in attendance at the New York Special screening and walked the red carpet.
The Knockturnal: I loved the movie!
Jeff Goldblum: I love the movie too. Isn’t it a knockout? Isn’t it beautiful and moving, and laugh out loud funny? Unique. You’ve never seen anything like this, even from Wes Anderson. It’s got his signature on it but it’s beyond everything. I just think it’s so wonderful.
The Knockturnal: Speak about your collaboration with Wes on this.
Jeff Goldblum: Well, I just did a little bit. They made my part through their artistry when I’m not speaking into something more and interesting in every scene, but me, I just provided the sounds that I make, and we only worked for a few hours in a sound recording studio in Los Angeles. He was on the phone in fact. Yeah, I couldn’t make it to the group session that they had in New York with Bill Murray, and Bob Balaban, and Liev Schreiber and Bryan Cranston, and Ed Norton, so I just did it myself. But he and I got a chance to play, and he’s very brilliant and brilliant in directing actors. He’s an actor’s director, and it was really fun playing with him. And it was fun thinking about this dog. You know the theme of the movie is the dogs are so beautifully devoted and sweet and infinitely loving, and especially with a little boy at 12 years old, and it’s a model for all of us. And of course, it’s anti-bigotry, the movie. I love it.
The Knockturnal: You’re a big animal lover. When did you have your first pet? Or your first dog?
Jeff Goldblum: My first dog was a poodle, a brown chocolate poodle named Ginger, and that’s when I was a kid. And so when it came time, four or five years ago when my wife and I said, “Let’s get a dog.” I said, “Kate, can we get a poodle?” And we did. We picked out a little puppy that had just been born and called it Woody. It’s a red-haired standard poodle, so it’s big, and he’s just great. I have two little boys, a two and a half-year-old Charlie and an 11-month-old River Joe, and he’s great. They love him, and he’s great with them.
The Knockturnal: The movie is beautiful. Tell me a little bit about your collaborative process with Wes, and how you came about to produce the designs.
Paul Harrod: Well, I actually shared design credit with Adam Stockhausen, who’s Wes’ live-action production designer. But a lot of this just came out of a mutual love of Japanese art, Japanese cinema, and Japanese culture, and we drew a lot of inspiration from a combination of the films of Kurosawa, and Miyazaki, and Ozu, and 19th-century Japanese screens and woodblocks. We translated those elements into this world which is all its own. It’s not really necessarily meant to be an accurate representation of Japan, it is a fantasy world. Fortunately, it was a dream project for me, because I’ve always had this incredible love for those aspects of Japanese culture. And then on top of that, to figure out ways of making trash beautiful was really fun.
The Knockturnal: How long did you work on the film?
Paul Harrod: I was there for two years. The whole film in total probably was a three-year project. Adam was on the film for about five or six months of pre-production, and I was on, and he sort of passed the baton on to me, and I was on for another five months of pre-production, and then in London continuing to design as we built the sets and created that world over about an 18 month period.
The Knockturnal: So is there a combination of real sets, the puppets, and then also CGI in there? How does that work?
Paul Harrod: There is very little CGI. Wes was very intent on doing everything as practically as possible. If it couldn’t be done in camera, at least the elements that created the image would be actual practical elements. Yeah, you might have a shot that has as many as 20 different elements, and to the credit of the VFX team and the compositors, they did a beautiful job of combining those things. But we built pretty much everything you see in the film.
The Knockturnal: And how did you get your start in this?
Paul Harrod: Oh, I’ve been working in stop-frame animation for 35 years. Pretty much as soon as I graduated from college back in the 80’s. I was the senior art director at Will Vinton Studios, and I’ve also been a director of animated content, both television and commercials.
The Knockturnal: Tell me a little bit about how you got involved.
Kunichi Nomura: Wes just sent me an email, said he’s going to make a movie about Japan so I need your help. I said okay … I never thought I would do voice, you know? He asked me to record all the Japanese main characters just to preach the lines to figure it out. So I did all Atari’s voice and Major-Domo, other characters, Professor Watanabe. So at the end, he just said, “Kuni, your voice is just like an evil bad mayor, so we’re going to keep you.” So I’m like oh, okay.
The Knockturnal: Have you worked in the Japanese cinema industry for a long time?
Kunichi Nomura: Not really, only for friends. I did Lost In Translation with Sofia. That’s how I met Wes. Sofia always wrote me emails, like, “Hey, my friend is coming to Tokyo, can you look after?” And she just send me random friends. You never know who’s who. So one of the emails [said], “My friend is coming to Tokyo for the first time. Can you look after him?” Then he sent me an email, just short, like, “Hi, can I meet you?” And that was Wes.
The Knockturnal: And what’s next for you?
Kunichi Nomura: I don’t know. I do interior design, I’m a writer, editor, I do fashion branding.
The Knockturnal: So tell me, how excited were you when you heard you got the role?
Koyu Rankin: Well, to be in a film with all these famous actors is just amazing, and I met most of them in Berlin when the film opened at the film festival. They’re all really nice, and to be in a film with this famous director is just incredible.
The Knockturnal: And what did you love about your character?
Koyu Rankin: I think my character is very determined to find his dog Spots. And I’d say I’m very determined as well sometimes. But I think he’s very generous, Atari.
The Knockturnal: What was the audition process like for you?
Koyu Rankin: Well, I got a request to do some recording in New York, that’s when I first met Wes Anderson. And we did about five or six hours of recording there. But he was very relaxed, he was very nice. And then about a year after that I got an email saying I’ve got the part for it. That was when it was just amazing, it was just incredible.
The Knockturnal: And what was your favorite scene to do the voice for?
Koyu Rankin: There was a bunch of scenes because I did a recording three years ago now. I think my favorite scene was … I don’t know, maybe when Atari becomes mayor. That’s like the end of the movie. I think it’s a very happy ending.
The Knockturnal: And this is not your first time collaborating with Wes. And so what was the process like? Did he just call you and say, “I want you to be involved.”
Bob Balaban: That was exactly the process, and I don’t know how or why, but it’s sort of like Chris Guest. I think some of these people make these movies where they often use some of the same people. I think it’s a multiple combination, they must think you fit into their material somewhat, they probably think you’re not obnoxious and wouldn’t be too impossible to be around. I think it’s a whole package.
The Knockturnal: Have you done a lot of other voice work before?
Bob Balaban: I’ve done some voice work. I’m the voice of a character in a movie called A Monster In Paris, which was very expensive. It probably came here eventually. I had a good time. And I produced an animated series I did called Hopeless Pictures, and I was the stupid nephew, which comes way too easily for me.
The Knockturnal: Have you seen the final product yet?
Bob Balaban: I have seen the final product twice. It exceeded my very high expectations in ways that I just had no idea how beautiful it would be. I knew it would be compelling, I knew it would be original … and I was thinking today, he really should just paint paintings along with everything else.
The Knockturnal: Tell me what attracted you to be involved. Was it just Wes?
Tilda Swinton: It’s always Wes. I mean he could ask me to do anything and I would do it. I love him, he’s a friend of mine, and this film is beyond. You know, we all recorded our voices years ago, and now we get to see the film. I’ve actually seen it several times, I’m seeing it again tonight because I still can’t believe what he held in his head for all that time. It’s phenomenal.
The Knockturnal: Also, this film really digs deeper, it has political messages and social messages. Can you speak a little bit about why those projects are important?
Tilda Swinton: Well, the really interesting thing is that you start a film like this six or seven years ago, and at that point, it felt like a complete figment of Wes’ imagination. And as the years have rolled by we’ve been noticing this is becoming more and more on point, more and more political, and now we’ve ended up with something which ostensibly was about dogs, but has become about humans, and that’s not a bad place for it to land.
The Knockturnal: Tell me a little bit about what that first meeting was like with Wes.
Courtney B. Vance: You know, we had met back in ’93 at the Sundance Film, and so most of it was just, “Hey, how you doing. Okay, now about this project. We need to get this voice of this narration.” Because it was very specific, he wanted something very, very specific.
The Knockturnal: Was it fun to be the narrator of this movie?
Courtney B. Vance: Oh yeah. I just wanted to be with Wes and I love him. I didn’t know what the vision was but I knew it was going to be something special.
The Knockturnal: Have you seen it?
Courtney B. Vance: Oh yes, it’s something beyond what I ever thought it would be. But I’m not surprised because it’s Wes he’s iconic, and his vision is distinctive. So, very proud.
The Knockturnal: Are you a big animal lover? Do you have any pets?
Courtney B. Vance: I am a big dog lover and animal. I had a shepherd/lab 25-30 years ago, he was like my son, but he passed away so I said, “I’m not going to get another pet until my children are able to.” So we just got a little yellow lab, 10 weeks old two weeks ago. Her name is Piper. Hi Piper.
