What was the inspiration behind the filmIJ
Our country is invented and I think it combines Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. It mixes together many countries but Budapest does get special notice as the namesake of our hotel. I also think our movie is partly inspired by Hollywood movies, maybe from the 30s, that were set in places like Warsaw, Prague and Budapest.
Tell us something on the world you created for the film.
The experience of Eastern Europe that we tried to create comes from my own travel around that part of the world. But before that it comes from books and movies and my impression of them. That’s why when I say that there’s a Hollywood version of Eastern Europe, those are movies that were made by Eastern Europeans, by people from Berlin and Vienna who were working in Hollywood. We’re in that mixture of people inventing these places, who haven’t lived in them, and are taking inspiration from literature and films.
What was the era in which the film was setIJ
As you go through different aspects of this era and culture, it’s very rich in art. Stefan Zweig’s memoirs and description of Vienna before the first world war is almost entirely about poets, composers, playwrights and artists. He saw a sort of shift in the next generation towards sport, but for his contemporaries, artistes were the rock stars of Vienna. There’s so much to draw on and I would say even to steal from that world at that time. The film is about collecting these inspirations.
Why did you cast Ralph Fiennes as GustaveIJ
Monsieur Gustave is inspired by my old friend Hugo. When both of us started writing the script, I thought about Ralph with whom I have been wanting to work for sometime. In the end, I really didn’t know who else could play this, nor would I want to see anybody else play it. This movie has quite a large cast. There are many who I’ve worked with before but several others like Ralph, Murray, Jude law, Tom Wilkinson, Saoirse Ronan were new for me.
Tell us something about building the history of the hotel through its architecture
I drew on my travels, going to places like the Hotel Gellért in Budapest in particular, besides moving around in Czech Republic to Karlovy Vary and Prague. Communism is palpable when you visit these places; you see the old place and the newer place inside it, and then the newer period inside of that. All these layers still exist, so we changed our story a bit without really rewriting it. We sort of automatically started to build in something about the history through the architecture.The Grand Budapest Hotel premiers on August 15 only on Star Movies Select HD
