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Known for his quirky independent movies, writer/director Wes Anderson can now be called mainstream but Anderson is no sellout.

Although targeting a much broader audience with his new film Fantasic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion animation film based on Roald Dahl's (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach) children classic, Wes Anderson stayed faithful to his unconventional style.                            VIDEO: Watch the movie trailer

After breaking through with Bottle Rocket, Wes Anderson went on to write and direct Rushmore (Bill Murray), The Royal Tenebaums (Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow), and most recently The Darjeeling Limited (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody).  Anderson is now venturing into new territory with the animated tale featuring furry critters led by the mischievous father fox, Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) who gets his family and animal community into trouble when he reverts back to his old chicken thieving ways.     Interview: Jason Schwartzman Is Fox

Wes Anderson fans will be surprised to see that FANTASTIC MR. FOX bears a lot of similarities to his previous work from the witty dialogue, raw humor, and the father/son theme that dominates most of his work.  His unconventional approach to filmmaking was also applied behind the scenes although he won't take credit for bringing a Wes Anderson touch to the film. 

"I don't think I made any effort to make it like my other movies or to make it even mine.  My only effort was to make it seem like Roald Dahl and then to make it fun and energetic and interesting as it could be.  I don't think I ever make choices trying to bring it closer to me.  I just make it better but it ends up being my version of what I think is better.

CineMovie Reviews Fantastic Mr. Fox

Written with Noah Baumbach, his co-writer in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Anderson says they didn't set out targeting children but wanted to keep it in the spirit of Dahl's children's classic that Anderson loved as a child.  Anderson went to great lengths to adhere to Dahl's vision -- even visiting Dahl's farm in England. 

"I visited his farm in England to see his hand at work."  

At Dahl's farm, he was inspired by Dahl's house, landscape and the odd things Dahl collected throughout the years including a gypsy cart in the backyard that inspired the teen's bunk beds in FANTASTIC MR. FOX. 

The kitchen, Mr. Fox's study, and one of the farmers home in the movie were all inspired by Dahl's farm in Great Missenden.  Lucy Dahl, Roald Dahl's daughter recalls shedding tears while watching  the movie because it reminded her of her home and father.  Users Review Fantastic Mr. Fox

While staying true to the book, Anderson did veer from the Hollywood path with his choice in animating Dahl's story.  Ten years in the making, Anderson first decided he would use an older stop-motion technique instead of subscribing to the latest technology in stop-motion animation like the one used in Henry Selick's Coraline.  His childhood influences also played into his decision.

"I always wanted to do stop-motion with puppets that have fur for whatever reason that is.  I've always liked that.  I like the Harryhausen movies, the holiday specials on television by Rankin/Bass  company -- those are primitive stop-motion.  I also love the Brother Quay films where the subject matter is the stop-motion."

Wes Anderson also went about voicing the creatures in a primitive way. George Clooney, Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox), Jason Schwartzman (Ash), Owen Wilson (Coach Skip), and Bill Murray (Badger) did not go alone into studio booths for hours to voice their characters as with most animation movies.  Instead, the director took the actors out to a farm in the United States and placed the actors together in whatever location the scene called for and captured their voices with a boom microphone as if there were shooting a live action according to Anderson's frequent collaborator Jason Schwartzman who plays the teen fox Ash.

"If a scene took place outside, we'd go outside.  And if a scene needed us to be digging, we would just start digging in the ground.  If a scene had George Clooney eating, he would be eating a bunch of toast or something.  So most of the sounds you're hearing, are the real life sounds from those recordings-- not added in later like in a foley booth.  I'm sure some were but for the majority it was the actors performing it."

According to Lucy Dahl, Roald Dahl was not very happy with any of his book's adaptations including Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder in 1971 but she believes her father would give Wes Anderson his stamp of approval for his unconventional approach to FANTASTIC MR. FOX.

While the name Wes Anderson and children's film don't sound like they belong together in the same sentence, Wes Anderson has managed to bring to life FANTASTIC MR. FOX to fantastic results to entertain children and adults alike.  While it bears his trademark vision, Wes Anderson has definitely reached a new level for himself.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX opens November 13, 2009. 

More About FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Mr. and Mrs. Fox (Clooney and Streep) live an idyllic home life with their son Ash (Schwartzman) and visiting young nephew Kristofferson (Eric Anderson). But after twelve years of quiet domesticity, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr. Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground without enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers - Boggis, Bunce and Bean - who are determined to capture the audacious, FANTASTIC MR. FOX at any cost. In the end, he uses his natural instincts to save his family and friends.