The story of Dajili Company

Wes anderson, the director, once recorded the happiness and misfortune brought by the change of love and affection in the aristocratic school environment through a film Youth. There is also a large family with special functions in the Trenbaum family. Of course, it is also indispensable to explore the underwater life in the cabin world. Now, in Crossing Darjeeling, Anderson focuses on the reunion of three estranged brothers, and also chooses the most attractive background, a train crossing the Rajasthan desert ... Anderson said: "I have always wanted to make a movie about trains, because it can move forward with the development of the story. Of course, I have already filmed this moving background film, which is the previous "Life in the Water". "

From the early days of film history, the train has been inspiring filmmakers: 1985, the Lumiere brothers, the founders of the film industry, produced a 50-second-long film "The Train Arrived", which shocked all the audience because they had never seen such a picture that they could run before their eyes; 1903, Edwin S. Porter made his first film "great train robbery" ... Since then, from sophistry "Murder on the Orient Express" to chaos "One Night Carnival", the train has become the driving force behind all characters and various forms of travel.

But when it comes to trains, wes anderson thinks of not only moving machines, but also a country with trains as its main means of transportation, a rapidly developing country, and jumps into Anderson's imagination-India. In fact, Anderson had never been to India before he conceived and produced Crossing Darjeeling, but he was fascinated by it from some favorite movies, especially the Great River directed by jean renoir, which happened on the banks of the Ganges River in northern India ... Coupled with a series of emotional works dedicated by Indian director satyajit ray, Anderson was able to imagine the geomorphological features of India, so he decided to show his appreciation for this country through himself.

When the elements needed to make a film are the same, wes anderson decides to use three American brothers who are looking for answers to life in India as the main story. He said: "India+train+three brothers, I have all the movie materials I like, so I went to ask my friends jason schwartzman and roman coppola if they would like to write this script with me ... Finally, we went to India ourselves."

Before going to India, wes anderson, jason schwartzman and roman coppola started writing in a temporary residence in Paris. Schwarczman recalled: "I know it may sound a little unique and incredible, but we did finish most of the story of the script in a small French cafe, and then Anderson said to us,' We are going to India anyway, otherwise our script is a pile of shit.' In March 2006, we packed our bags and traveled to India together. "

Indeed, much of the inspiration for the characters in the script comes from the brotherhood and travel experiences of the three screenwriters. Roman coppola said: "We have incorporated the feelings of this trip into the script. After arriving in India, many interesting ideas emerged one after another. If you haven't really been there, you may never think of it-those beautiful moments are really worth capturing in one way or another. The train here and India become two characters in the film, and their interaction is very interesting. For example, India at the beginning of the film can only be regarded as a vague background, because although the three protagonists have all gone abroad, they still live in their own world ... When they are finally forced to face where they are, they are away from the trip they have been looking forward to. It is getting closer and closer. "

Shoot on the train

Before going to India, wes anderson decided to shoot Crossing Darjeeling on a real train. Although the idea is not feasible in logic, it is very creative. Lydia Dean Pilcher, the producer, said, "I believe everyone knows that under normal circumstances, if someone wants to make a movie that takes place on a train, they usually go to the studio to shoot the scene inside the train. But crossing Darjeeling finally broke this unwritten rule, because Anderson was too stubborn and no one could convince him ... but I know how many obstacles need to be overcome, because I just finished filming the same name in India and finished filming on the train one day, so I know this is not an easy task. "

However, since wes anderson has made up his mind, this shooting method is not completely impossible. Lydia Dean Pilcher continued: "We went to an area under the jurisdiction of the Northwest Railway, found the person in charge there and told us what we thought. As a result, they were all scared silly, saying that no one had ever asked them for a 10 carriage and a motorcycle, and it would take three months to borrow it ... but we finally persuaded them that although we wanted to design the style of the train carriage ourselves, we wanted to have a truly complete train that could run on the rails, at least on the railway line surrounded by mountains. On several occasions, I felt that our ideas were too whimsical and promising.

While the filmmakers were still worried about the train, the artist Mark Friedberg began to design the interior style of the train on the drawings. His task is to recreate the most classic parts of Indian trains and help the film complete this great journey ... Friedberg once collaborated with wes anderson in "Life in Water". In addition, you will be in this year's "Vertical and Horizontal Universe" directed by Julie Timo.

Mark Freiberg and Wes wes anderson decided to start by studying the history of Indian railways, and then make the process of trains crossing the Rajasthan desert as truly as possible. They learned that in the19th century, India's railways changed greatly for the first time because the terrain there was so vast ... Now, India's railway system is the busiest in the world, carrying more than150,000 passengers every day.

As he became more and more familiar with Indian railways, Mark Freburg turned his attention back to the film itself. After watching the descriptions of trains in more than N movies, Freburg said, "I decided to let the trains in the movies combine the design features of the East and the West. In addition, I also mixed Rajasthan-style patterns, including the main colors used in Indian railways, and added some modern fashions ... The most important thing is that all the decorations in the train are handmade.