Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson's protagonists are dreamers and control freaks who try to force the world into the shape they want. The self-satisfied oceanographer of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Royal the ageing swindler of The Royal Tenenbaums and Gustave H the elegant concierge of The Grand Budapest Hotel all come of one stock. The marks of his style had settled by his second film, Rushmore: slow motion, symmetrical framing, references to the French new wave and a soundtrack of sixties British music, from the Kinks to the Stones and the Faces. His first film, Bottle Rocket, had a lo-fi charm of its own that ambled along, but it was the work of someone starting out. He wrote the screenplay of The Royal Tenenbaums with Owen Wilson.