Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom followup, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is a movie that’s shrouded in a (relatively thin) veil of secrecy. Sure, we know that it’s going to be about a hotel, and we know that it’s going to feature an ensemble cast, but as far as specifics regarding who exactly will be in the cast and what specifically the story is about go, Anderson is keeping his lips sealed. Despite his unwillingness to spill any of the precious beans, however, a couple names have been confirmed over the past few days.
Back in July Deadline reported that, instead of relying on one of his old standbys, Anderson was branching out a bit and working with someone new by casting Johnny Depp as the lead of this new film. Well, turns out that was wrong, wrong, wrong, but The Wrap has word that another big name who’s unfamiliar with working with Anderson is still going to take the role. Lord Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes, is the actor, and the character he will be playing is reportedly the concierge of the hotel, a man named M. Gustave.
The list of other names who are thought to be, but not confirmed to be part of Anderson’s cast includes Bill Murray, Angela Lansbury, Owen Wilson, and Jude Law. And now, thanks to a conversation that Movies.com had with the actor, you can add Anderson mainstay Jason Schwartzman’s name to the guest list as well. When they asked Schwartzman about the movie, he replied, “I’m going to be in it. Yes, I’m going to be in it,” and went on to add, “ … I’m excited about it. I’m very excited about it. It’s a beautiful movie.” So there’s yet another secret that Anderson wasn’t able to keep: we now know that this is going to be a beautiful movie. Looks like somebody’s got some leaks to fix on his ship. At this rate we’ll know everything about the movie before it even get released.