"On 'The Royal Tenenbaums' there were days when I had to adjust and figure out a new way to do my own thing. Usually what that meant was that I would simply step back and allow myself to be surprised by someone s brilliant take, someone's spontaneity."
Slowly during production the sense of ensemble took shape among the cast.
"For most of the film, scenes were shot that contain only two or three characters in a scene. Only every once in a while was there a scene with most of the cast being shot, so the feeling of ensemble grew up more off the set than during actual filming," Anderson points out. "There was a room in the house that functioned as a kind of green room. And whenever people weren't working they'd gather in that room. People weren't off by th emselves in their trailers, so dynamics began to develop. Things happened that affected people's 'take' on one another, and different relationships developed, almost contributed to the ensemble atmosphere."
"I enjoyed working with this ensemble cast," Hackman says. "Any time you're supported by really good people, you're going to be better. You can stretch, you can take chances, you have something to pick up and give back. Plus you have more time off," he laughs.
"Sometimes, when I get a bad script, I know that if I do the movie, we'll end up improvising a lot," says Bill Murray. "That doesn't happen with Wes - the whole movie is so well-written that it doesn't require the actors to do improvisation. He doesn't need us to fix it. That's a good thing. He has a very strong vision, and knows what he wants to do, down to the clothes the characters are wearing and just how odd the colors should be."
"Wes is a wonderful director, who knows exactly what he wants and how to get it, and he's also a wonderful human being," says Danny Glover. "Those qualities don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. But Wes is really a gentleman."
Owen Wilson felt a family atmosphere on the set. "It's been great having my brothers and Wes around. It gives you a good feeling to be around people like Wes, who you trust implicitly and has your best interests at heart and supports you, especially on a movie about family. That feeling seeps in and finds its way into the movie. It's nice that I've been able to work with Wes so closely - he's like a brother to me.
"On this movie, the only word to describe Wes is 'controlling.' He's really putting me through the paces on this one," laughs longtime friend Luke Wil son.
But Paltrow says, "Wes is so specific, things are so well set up, all the foundations laid, that I find it frees me in a way because I don't have to worry about all that."
For his part, Luke Wilson was excited to be working so closely with Gene Hackman.
"Just watching him on set couldn't be more exciting. I always love watching him in movies but when you get up close to him in a scene you find yourself thinking, they're not even getting on film how really great he is. It's like watching basketball close up seeing how big and fast the guys are in a way you can't see on TV."
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