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Wes Anderson (born May 1, 1969, in Houston, TexasWes Anderson is an American writer, producer, and director of films and commercials. He attended St. John's School, a private school in Houston, which was later used as a filming location for . Anderson then studied philosophy at the University of Texas, where he met future collaborator Owen Wilson.

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Anderson cites his influences as including in particular French New Wave directors such as François Truffaut and Louis Malle, with whom his films share vivid characterization and a tragicomic sensibility: Anderson's works are considered comedies, though many critics find that they appeal to a particular, acquired sense of humor.

Common among all of Anderson's films is the absence of major villains: his characters may be misguided and might cause others pain, but are always without malice. The lack of traditional antagonists prompts Anderson's characters to interact with each other in a more intimate fashion, locating their problems within themselves and their beloved friends or family rather than in enemies to be defeated.

Anderson's more recent films, notably (2004), have a pageant-like feel. The camera remains stationary in many instances in order to bring greater focus upon the settings, which are often vibrantly-colored and detailed. Anderson increasingly incorporates elements of theater into his films, such as the plays and scene cues in . Anderson's pictures are complemented by the work of composer (and Devo singer) Mark Mothersbaugh, who wrote instrumental tracks for with live acoustic renditions of David Bowie songs in Portuguese.

In part because Anderson's movies focus on interpersonal struggles and lack traditional antagonists, they tend to feature the themes of grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. No one—not even a washout like Herman Blume or Steve Zissou (Bill Murray in )—is beyond redemption. Anderson's characters are separated by a variety of barriers, but the barriers are gradually overcome as individuals recognize the flaws and true desires in themselves and others. Typically, an Anderson film ends with several different narrative threads being resolved, relationships being restored, and things both trivial and significant being brought back to their rightful places.

Each Anderson film involves some characters in uniforms or jumpsuits, such as Ben Stiller's character Chas and his two sons in Each film features an underwater shot, and the number of characters underwater increases with each film. For example, in Bottle Rocket, Luke Wilson's character swims in a motel pool and is shown swimming alone through the water. In his second film, , Gene Hackman and the two sons of Ben Stiller's character are shown underwater in a swimming pool. In his fourth film, , Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and two Zissou crew members are shown underwater, investigating a rogue tracking signal.Anderson also has a fondness for the font "Futura" [1], which is used in virtually all of his films.Anderson is a fan of French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue and has referenced him in his films. A shot in is based on one of Lartigue's photographs, and the photographer's likeness was the basis for the portrait of Lord Mandrake in . It should also be noted that Lartigue's older brother (the subject of the photograph referenced in

Anderson has created each of his films with many of the same actors and other crew. Actor Owen Wilson co-wrote Wes Anderson's first three films and has appeared in major roles in three of Anderson's films (he briefly appears twice in : first as a go-kart driver, and later as "Edward Appleby" in a framed picture). Actors Bill Murray, Kumar Pallana, his son Dipak Pallana, Stephen Dignan, Andrew Wilson (the "third" Wilson brother, after Luke and Owen), Luke Wilson, Brian Tenenbaum, Eric Chase Anderson (Wes' brother), and Seymour Cassel have each appeared in three. Anjelica Huston has appeared in two. Jason Schwartzman has appeared in only one Anderson film, though he was rumored to have been the first choice for a role in as the announcer of a tennis match, though Anderson reveals in the film's commentary that it's his own voice.) Schwartzman is also rumored to have a role in the upcoming adaptation of Roald Dahl's book, .

The Pallanas, Seymour Cassel, Brian Tenenbaum, Stephen Dignan, Eric Anderson, and Andrew Wilson often have smaller yet still important roles. Mark Mothersbaugh (as mentioned above) has been involved in the scoring of most Anderson films, and Eric Anderson has been involved in set design for several of the films. Writer Noah Bambauch has also been involved with the creative process for many of the films.

Cinematographer Robert Yeoman, A.S.C., has photographed each of Wes Anderson's feature films as well as several Anderson commericals, lending to the continuity of and "feel" among these works. In particular, Anderson and Yeoman employ a technique sometimes referred to as "compression of space" (popularized by Roman Polanski): whereas a typical feature film production will use several different types (i.e. lengths) of lenses within a particular scene, Yeoman uses one type marked Anderson's first use of serious special effects, as the creatures of the underwater locales featured in the movie were created through stop-motion animation. His interest in stop-motion animation will emerge as a full-length project, his next film: a stop-motion animation adaptation of the Roald Dahl book,

Anderson is unique among filmmakers in that his are the only films guaranteed a spot on the prestigious Criterion Collection DVD label. Both the discs were in preparation as the films themselves were in production; usually, it is only after a film has been released that it may be selected as meriting the Criterion spine label.

Critical reviews of Anderson's work, however, have been decidedly mixed. Especially after , some critics have found the filmmaker's idiosyncratic tastes for acting and visual presentation to be overwrought, pretentious, and ultimately devoid of emotional substance. A common theme among reviews of Anderson's work is that he has a which the viewer either buys into and loves, or does not accept and instead finds annoying and overly precious.

In an article titled "The Next Scorsese" [2] for the March 2000 edition of , director Martin Scorsese himself nominated Wes Anderson [3] as "The Next Scorsese", and has elsewhere pinned Anderson as his favorite new director of the 1990s.