Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray charm in Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ trailer

One of the ridiculous things about making lists of what you’re most anticipating before the start of a calendar year is that you haven’t really seen much yet. Chances are by the time a film’s actual publicity campaign kicks in, I’ve seen more than you have, but even so, many of those “what’s coming in 2012” pieces you see at the end of the year are speculation, betting on interesting combinations of things you recognize, hoping for the best.

When you talk about a film that looks good in the hypothetical, “Moonrise Kingdom” sounds like someone sat in a room with someone else and said, “How can we get Drew to pay attention?”

“Well, we could cast it with people like Bill Murray and Bruce Willis and Edward Norton and Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman.”

“Nice.  Good.  He loves those actors.”

“Exactly.  And we should get the script to be a collaboration, try to appeal to two different points of interest for him.  Take someone like Roman Coppola, whose movie ‘CQ’ is one of those underseen, under-appreciated gems that Drew totally loves, and have him collaborate with someone whose taste would make an interesting match…”

“Wes Anderson?”

“Oh.  Slam Dunk.  Ticket sold.  Drew’s in.”

Yep.  I am.  And the trailer is sort of awesome, in my opinion.  A boy and a girl run away from camp in the summer of 1965, and as a storm comes rolling in, the small island community goes wackadoo trying to find the kids.  Bruce Willis as a sheriff… Bill Murray shirtless with an axe… Edward Norton as a hyper-earnest Scout leader.  The trailer is so overstuffed with good that I feel like I don’t want to watch it too many times.  I don’t want to wear off the shine.  I just want to watch it once or twice, then wait for the film.

You really should go check the trailer out in full glorious HD, though, over at Apple.com, and then tell us what you thought of the trailer.  I think it’s very distinctly Wes Anderson, but that’s exactly what I want from him.  The young leads look great, and that opening slays me.

“No.  What kind of bird… are you?”

Bring it on.

“Moonrise Kingdom” opens May 25, 2012.  Just in time for my birthday.  Thanks, Wes.

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