Kingdom Chums: Speaking with the Cast and Crew of "Moonrise Kingdom"

Note: the following is my feature story from Cannes on 'Moonrise Kingdom,' submitted to the San Francisco Examiner.

Kicking off this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Wes Anderson's seventh feature Moonrise Kingdom served up warmth and sweetness in an otherwise busy and chaotic place. Anderson, most of his ensemble cast and co-writer Roman Coppola were like one big happy family at the world premiere earlier this month in the south of France.

Jason Schwartzman, who landed his first acting job in Anderson's second film Rushmore, said the experience set a high bar for the rest of his career. In working with Anderson, who has become his best friend, Schwartzman said he learned that when he truly loved the material and the director, he would do anything in his power for the benefit of the movie.

"I have this whole separate relationship with Wes that has nothing to do with work," said Schwartzman. "There's a chance we could never work together again, but we'll always be friends."

Collaborating with Anderson for the first time, actor Bob Balaban had similar feelings about his director. "You're aware that it is different to be in a movie with a person who has a family and keeps using the family," Balaban said. "There's a different feeling, there's a different energy. And it transmits, in all sorts of subtle ways."

A bittersweet comedy, the 1960s-set Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of ’tween sweethearts, Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward), who run away, and the search -- among their parents (Bill Murray, Frances McDormand) and townspeople (Bruce Willis, Edward Norton) -- that ensues.

While Anderson's films sometimes are criticized for being overly designed and too precious, with not much room for life, Balaban strongly disagreed: "I think Wes is amazingly free, which is the irony of someone who so carefully constructs what he's doing. You might think that comes out of somebody who's afraid of emotion, or who wants to avoid any conflict. But the truth is he just sets you a better stage on which to feel free."

Edward Norton echoed Balaban: "What might look like a very managed environment is actually providing an actor with rich fodder."

At a news conference at Cannes, Anderson said he loves Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s movies, especially "The Red Shoes" and "Black Narcissus,” which have a powerful emotional draw and transport viewers to faraway places, even though they look artificial. "So much of the work is about making the visuals," Anderson says. "You feel that someone has made these things.”