“I read the script and found it was this amazing story of these three brothers who had gone off in their ways after their father died and never resolved things between themselves – and now suddenly they’ve been brought together in India.”
Producer LYDIA DEAN PILCHER
“Francis is the type of person who thinks if you’re going to have a spiritual experience, you have to really put in the effort. It’s comical, of course, because you can’t really approach the spiritual with that kind of methodical determination, but in spite of Francis, they do each kind of have a spiritual experience.”
OWEN WILSON
Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be. Their “spiritual quest”, however, veers rapidly offcourse (due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray), and they eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert with eleven suitcases, a printer, and a laminating machine. At this moment, a new, unplanned journey suddenly begins. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman star in this film about their adventure and their friendship. “Much of the initial inspiration for the characters came from Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola’s own personal relationships and travel experiences. “We each ended up sharing personal experiences and germinating some of the ideas that factor into the story,” Roman explains. Thus were born the three Whitman brothers who have been summoned to India one year after they buried their father together, seemingly never to speak to one another again. It is Francis, the eldest, who reunites the disparate siblings after a near-death motorcycle wreck that has left him swathed in a mummy-like mask of bandages and headgear. Claiming his brothers was the first thing on his mind when he came back to life after his accident, Francis has pre-arranged a minute-byminute, carefully controlled itinerary designed to bring the brothers in this ancient land of enlightenment, to a unified spiritual epiphany – or at least maybe bring them a little closer.
Meanwhile, Peter, the middle child, arrives steeped in his own anxiety as a man about to have a child with the woman he always thought he would divorce; and little Jack, the baby of the family and a writer who bases his “fictional” characters on everything that happens to him, comes to India still so obsessed with the ex-girlfriend he left behind in Paris, he can’t stop eavesdropping on her answering machine, for which he still has the code.
Wes Anderson (Director/Co-Writer/Producer) was born in Houston, Texas and attended college at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the director and co-writer of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. His next film will be The Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl book.