Rhys Southan Daily Texan Staff

UT's Radio-Television-Film department loves to take credit for any successful filmmaker that passes through their doors, no matter how briefly, but it has no claim on writer/director Wes Anderson.

Anderson graduated from UT with a degree in philosophy before venturing into cinema with Bottle Rocket, his quirky film debut that put him on the map. Three years later, Anderson's sophomore effort, Rushmore, is picking up rave reviews by the truckload.

To promote his new film, Anderson and Jason Schwartzman, who stars as high school phenom Max Fischer, have taken to the road in a gigantic yellow bus with the movie's title and release date emblazoned on the side. Last Friday, the Rushmore bus pulled into Austin, its second-to-last stop on a grueling months-long cross-country tour.

While Bottle Rocket is what got Hollywood's attention, Anderson had more fun making Rushmore.

"With Bottle Rocket," Anderson said, "there was too much weird pressure and I was very strained. It was fun for large stretches, but it was overall kind of a harsh experience. For Rushmore, the cast was just the way I wanted it, we shot it and cut it how I wanted, and had every star in it that I wanted."

Rushmore's main character is Max, a student at Rushmore Academy who has more ambition than talent.

"The character is revolutionary in some ways," Anderson said. "He's trying to take over the school, because he's running every possible organization that he can get his hands on. He's got a definite style and he's original."

Rushmore's plot concerns what happens when Max falls in love with Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), a first grade teacher at his private academy. He also befriends a much older steel tycoon named Mr. Blume (Bill Murray).

"That was something we wanted to do with this movie, explore the relationship between people of different ages," Wes said. "These are more like cross-generational friendships. Especially the relationship with Max and Mr. Blume, in that they are sort of equals even though there's such a big difference in their ages. Also, Mr. Blume sort of sees himself in Max."

There's talk of an Oscar nomination for Murray's performance, which is rife with his own personality quirks.

"Most of it was scripted," said Anderson, "but there were gestures and things that Bill brings to it. Like after the play about Vietnam, he stands up with his hand in a fist instead of clapping. There are lots of things like that throughout the movie that come from Bill."

Working with Murray was initially intimidating for Schwartzman, but the veteran actor was easy to work with.

"It was incredible," Schwartzman said. "The first few days were really weird, but then we had a great time. He makes himself very accessible."

Although there are no intentional homages in Rushmore to other movies, Anderson admits that "Lots of the ideas come from somewhere. More than homage, it's like stealing things from other movies. It's not paying your respect, but more like getting something you can use."

Anderson believes that his lack of formal film training worked out to his advantage.

"I don't think film school is the greatest," Anderson said. "I just think that if I had gone, it would have cost me a couple of years. We made our movie without going to film school, but any way that you can get some work done is good."

"It's how you see things," Schwartzman added.

If Anderson ever gets big enough, perhaps the University might name a building after him.

"I would want it to be Benedict Hall," he said. "Those are great old buildings. Well, not great to go to."

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