For an example of Wes Anderson’s insane attention to detail, you don’t have to look any further than his 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel. Now though, the director has shared a stripped back version of the film, in the form of an animated storyboard.
The original animatic is shared by the Criterion Collection, which has just released a special edition of The Grand Budapest Hotel (although Anderson was already a pretty big fan, according to his recommendations for lockdown viewing).
Besides the unusual experience of seeing the finished film’s pastel palette traded in for simple drawings, the storyboard gives an insight into the planning process behind the opening scenes, featuring sketches of the landscape and hotel interior. Previous behind-the-scenes footage has focused on how the Oscar-winning production team made this a reality.
Wes Anderson himself provides the voiceover, covering the first five minutes of the narrative, although 25 minutes appear in the actual special edition release.
Watch the storyboard for The Grand Budapest Hotel below. If nothing else, it’s a way to fill the time until October, when Wes Anderson’s new – delayed – film, The French Dispatch, makes its debut.