UPDATE: While we can be pretty certain, since they said it themselves, that Bill Murray, Jude Law and Angela Lansbury are in The Grand Budapest Hotel, it turns out that Johnny Depp isn't after all, despite being widely reported as first aboard.
"You know," laughed Anderson, speaking with The Huffington Post, "the Internet has a way of announcing things on its own. I'm very aware of the cast that has been announced on its own devices, [but] you'll never find me saying who's in the movie. We have a great cast, but I haven't announced it. I really don't know where it all comes from. Johnny is somebody who I would love to work with at some point, but he's not going to be in this movie."
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It's so entirely unsurprising that it barely registers as news, but at this point it feels like a Wes Anderson film wouldn't be a Wes Anderson film without the presence of a certain Mr Bill Murray. That happy arrangement isn't set to change at any time in the near future. With the casting starting to come together, Murray has confirmed that he will be a part of Anderson's next project, **The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Various reports about the film are cropping up from various sources. We knew a while ago that Anderson newbie Johnny Depp would be taking the lead role, and Jude Law told MTV that he'd be joining him at the start of this month. "I've been a huge fan of Wes," Law said. "I pestered him with emails for years, saying, 'I want to live in one of your films and I'd like to be in one of your films'. I think my role is fleeting, but I'm very excited to be a part of that Wes Anderson family."
Murray's involvement was just revealed in a fun article in New York Magazine. It's classic Murray; read it now, even if the only actual Budapest Hotel info is, "I'm about to shoot a movie with Wes Anderson in Germany."
And Angela Lansbury, rumoured for a while to be in Anderson's sights, hastold The Gentlewoman that she has indeed signed up, although, like Law, it sounds like she's not in it for long. "“I’m playing a woman of mystery", she says, "but it’s a minuscule role. I’m on the screen probably for less than five minutes.”
So that's the Grand Budapest Hotel casting roundup so far (although Law also mentions "the usual team", so expect at least one Wilson and a Schwartzman before long). What's still not very clear is what the film's actually about. Anderson has called it "a European story" that draws on his experiences since being domiciled in France, and says that the main character "is a bit crazy, and has a personal mind-reader with a teenage assistant".
Business as usual then, if "usual" is quite the word. Shooting, it seems, gets underway shortly.