Wes Anderson shares his first and current on-screen crush
Often, our earliest crushes stem from the screen. Whether it’s a Disney prince or princess, a heroic blockbuster lead, or a nerdy superhero, we’ve all swooned over a certain character or actor, blushing as brightly as the cinema seats whenever they come on screen. It’s an almost universal human experience, and cult director and auteur Wes Anderson is no exception.
Since making his feature film debut in the mid-1990s with Bottle Rocket, Anderson has carved out a place for himself as one of the most idiosyncratic directors in modern cinema. His style is notably visual, always maintaining a focus on symmetry and considered colour palettes, utilising both to enhance the depth of his characters and story. Thematically, he often focuses on tales of families and the ways that they function.
The director’s style is so distinctive that it has become easy to identify an Anderson film from just one shot. As a result, his work has been parodied and copied endlessly, becoming as easily replicated as it is to define, but few have been able to capture the magic and warmth that seems to drive Anderson’s work when he gets behind a camera.
The auteur has contributed some of the most gorgeous offerings in modern cinema, from the beloved Fantastic Mr. Fox to the impossibly pretty and endlessly entertaining The Grand Budapest Hotel. Along the way, he’s also provided audiences with some solid cinematic crushes, from Timothée Chalamet to a slew of Jeff Goldblum appearances.
Anderson may be providing modern viewers with newfound celebrity crushes, but who was the director’s own first on-screen love? The filmmaker revealed his answer during a conversation with Time Out, acknowledging the iconic Farrah Fawcett as his cinematic crush when he was a kid. “She connected with me and my friends,” he explained, “We had a poster of her in a bathing suit.”
Fawcett kicked off her acting career in the late 1960s, finding particular success with her role in the original Charlie’s Angels television series. She also embarked upon a lucrative film career. Along the way, she won over awards and hearts aplenty, including a young Anderson’s. But Fawcett isn’t Anderson’s only cinematic love.
Since experiencing his first crush with the Charlie’s Angels star, Anderson has amassed a number of more recent crushes from throughout film history. He acknowledged his more recent interest in old movies from the 1920s and 1930s and picked out Joan Blondell as his “real central” crush from that time period. “She’s the best,” he enthused.
Blondell starred in a slew of movies throughout the 1930s, amassing a truly mammoth filmography. In 1931 alone, she appeared in 10 feature films. Her love for her craft never wavered, as she kept acting for five more decades until her death in 1979. She didn’t forsake quality for quantity, either, earning an Academy Award nomination for her 1951 film The Blue Veil.
It makes sense that Anderson’s on-screen crushes stem from old movies. This is in line with the vintage feel of his own films, which often feel like stepping through a portal and going back in time. As he continues to collate star-studded casts and create truly beautiful films, he seems set to provide viewers with even more cinematic crushes to gush over on the big screen.
