At first it seems odd to call Houston-born auteur Wes Anderson a Texas filmmaker. He’s a citizen of the world, shooting most of his movies abroad—Greece, Italy, London, India, Germany, Spain. But his Lone Star roots are deep. He graduated from St. John’s School in his hometown in 1987, then attended the University of Texas at Austin. There he met Dallasite Owen Wilson, who became a close friend, occasional screenwriting partner, and regular in his troupe of actors. His first movie, co-written with Wilson and co-starring him and his brother Luke, was the short film Bottle Rocket. Anderson shot it in Dallas on 16 mm black-and-white after graduation while he and Wilson were living in an apartment on Throckmorton Street. The movie caught the eye of writer and director James L. Brooks, who convinced Columbia Pictures to produce a feature film version.
Anderson has gone on to enjoy one of the most consistently original and surprising careers in American cinema. He’s moved from the instant classic Rushmore—a Houston production—to the New York fantasy The Royal Tenenbaums, and on through a series of globe- trotting comedic dramas including The Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The French Dispatch. He’s also done two stop-motion animated features, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, and four hybrid live-action animated shorts for Netflix based on Roald Dahl’s short story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. The title story earned Anderson his first Oscar, for Best Live Action Short Film, after eight nominations.
Anderson’s filmography has returned to the U.S. only twice since Tenenbaums, for Moonrise Kingdom (shot in Rhode Island) and last year’s Asteroid City (set in Arizona but filmed in Spain). And yet, despite living in Paris, Anderson has maintained his ties to Texas—particularly Houston, which he visits regularly to see family and old friends.
Enjoying this article?TEXAS HIGHWAYS: Cars have played important roles in your films, whether it’s the Austin-Healey 3000 Eli Cash uses to literally crash the wedding in Tenenbaums or the fleet of vehicles in the chase scene at the end of The French Dispatch. What was the first car you ever drove?
WES ANDERSON: That would be a Volvo. My father was half-Swedish, and he loved Volvos. He taught me to drive. He would let us steer sitting in his lap, which is not safe anymore. We shifted for him from the passenger seat.
TH: What were the first cars you drove that felt like they were your cars?
WA: I drove a Scirocco Volkswagen in high school, and I had a 1985 Mercedes station wagon in Los Angeles—a diesel.
TH: You spent a lot of time on the roads of Austin and Dallas with Owen Wilson. What’s he like in the driver’s seat?
WA: Owen is a good driver, but what I like the most is his freedom with the rules of the road. He keeps it fun and lively when he is behind the wheel.
TH: What memories do you have of your first road trip through Texas?
WA: It is a long, long way from Houston to El Paso. I have done that one many times on the way to and from California. Those might be some of the straightest stretches of highway on the planet.
TH: What’s your favorite way to travel?
WA: By train. You don’t have to do the driving, so you can really look out at the scenery. Or read a book. You can wander around on a train.
TH: Was Houston a good film town for you growing up? What theaters did you like to go to?
WA: We’ve got the River Oaks—a great cinema. They used to do repertory programs. Then it was a great art house for a period of time. It’s had an evolution. [River Oaks closed in 2021 but has since been purchased by Sugar Land-based Star Cinema Grill and is set to reopen this year.] Also, the Museum of Fine Arts. Marian Luntzi is the director of the film program. The Rice Media Center was always a special place. Rick Linklater, I think it was his film school.
TH: You shot a lot of Rushmore at St. John’s Preparatory School in Houston—your alma mater. Did any teachers or staff members end up in the movie?
WA: My classmate Mike Maggart was a math teacher at St. John’s when we shot the movie. He became our liaison with the school—and also an additional local casting director. And he’s in it, too, as a hotel concierge.
TH: What do you remember about the shuttered Cosmic Cafe in Dallas, where you met the owner, Kumar Pallana, and his son Dipak, both of whom ended up acting in multiple films?
WA: I have some strong sense memories of this place. A metal glass with a blueberry smoothie. Dipak’s samosas. Breathing exercises upstairs with Kumar. We lived in the neighborhood.
TH: Bottle Rocket used a lot of deep-cut locations in Dallas, such as Greenway Parks and the John Gillin Residence. Why didn’t you throw widely recognized spots into the mix?
WA: I think when you make a movie, you’re looking for places that help you tell your story. You’re not looking to showcase the location.
TH: What was your first movie camera?
WA: My father gave me a Yashica Super-8. You could record sound directly on the film cartridge. It was stolen out of my Volkswagen in the parking garage of the Driskill Hotel [in Austin].
TH: You still try to shoot on actual celluloid whenever you can.
WA: Yes, I prefer to shoot on film. I don’t think it is a rare thing, though. Lots of us still do it this way. Film is better.
TH: Robert Yeoman, your regular cinematographer since Bottle Rocket, told me the same thing.
WA: Bob and I have worked as a team for close to 30 years. Luke [Wilson] used to refer to special beautiful Texas evening hours this way: “It’s a Yeoman sky.”
TH: What Texas filmmakers have you learned the most from?
WA: I’ve always loved Robert Benton from Waxahachie. I like his unexpected connection to the Nouvelle Vague, too—they wrote Bonnie and Clyde for Truffaut, I think. And Rick Linklater. Owen and I were in Austin while Rick was making Slacker [1990]. We saw him filming it, but we didn’t know what it was. He was the head of the Austin Film Society right above Quackenbush.
TH: If you had to pick one movie to explain Texas to somebody who’d never been there, what would it be?WA: A triple feature. I’d start with The Last Picture Show, then we go on to Slacker, and then maybe we end with Hud. That’s two McMurtrys? Maybe we go to Giant at the end instead.
TH: Is there a Texas story, either preexisting or germinating in your imagination, that you would like to tell at some point?
WA: Yes. That’s all I will say.
TH: Is there a restaurant or Texas dish you sometimes crave?
WA: Houston has the Goode Company restaurants. The taquería, the two barbecue spots, and the seafood one. Sometimes I go to Houston and never eat anywhere except the Goode Company restaurants.
TH: What’s your favorite thing to drink on a hot Texas summer day?
WA: Iced tea. Unsweetened.
