47 Fun Facts About Fantastic Mr Fox

From which city did Wes Anderson oversee much of the production of Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Paris: rather than stand on set, Anderson micromanaged the animators from his apartment there, by phone and by hundreds of e-mails a day.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, which animal does Mr. Fox admit he has a phobia of?

Wolves: yet when a lone wolf appears near the end, Mr. Fox raises a fist in salute, and the wolf raises one back before running off.

In Roald Dahl's book, why does Mrs Fox stay behind when Mr Fox leads the Small Foxes off tunnelling?

Too weak to dig: after days without food she stays behind, and once the first raid works, Mr Fox sends a Small Fox back to her with stolen hens.

In Fantastic Mr Fox, what does Farmer Bunce stuff with mashed goose livers?

Doughnuts: in Dahl's book, this disgusting diet gives Bunce a tummy-ache and a beastly temper.

When the farmers ambush Mr Fox outside his hole, what do they manage to shoot off?

His tail: in the film, Farmer Bean wears it as a necktie, and Mr Fox later tells him he won't leave without it.

After spades fail, what do the farmers use to dig up the Foxes' hill?

Excavators: the Foxes still escape by burrowing deeper, and the huge crater draws villagers who come to mock the farmers.

Wes Anderson treated Dahl's short book as which part of his Fantastic Mr. Fox film?

The second act: to stretch the book into a feature, Anderson wrote a new opening and ending around it, adding a backstory and a final battle.

Which animal friend joins Mr Fox on his tunneling mission in Roald Dahl's book?

Badger: when he asks whether their stealing is wrong, Mr Fox points out that the farmers are trying to kill them, and Badger is won over.

In Fantastic Mr Fox, which birds does Farmer Bean raise?

Turkeys: Bean is also the cleverest of the three farmers, and the ambush at the Foxes' hole is his plan.

In Roald Dahl's book, what does Mr Fox propose to the animals at the celebratory banquet?

A secret underground neighbourhood: Mr Fox will hunt on everyone's behalf, so none of them need risk going outside to be caught or shot.

Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox ends with the narrator saying the farmers are, as far as he knows, still doing what?

Waiting: Boggis, Bunce and Bean sit by the hole all day, sure the foxes must be starving, unaware that the animals below are feasting on their food.

In 2012, Roald Dahl's Mr Fox appeared on what?

A Royal Mail stamp: Dahl wrote thousands of letters home, and his daughter Ophelia said he never dreamed one of his characters would grace a stamp.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what does Mr. Fox say when his wife asks why he lied?

Because I'm a wild animal: in Dahl's book Mrs. Fox accepts his stealing, but here she had made him promise to give it up.

A 2019 Boston Modern Orchestra Project release of the Picker adaptation won what?

Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera made the recording. Opera Holland Park had staged a new version outdoors in 2010.

Instead of a sound studio, where did Wes Anderson record much of the voice cast of Fantastic Mr. Fox?

On a farm: the actors acted out their characters' running, digging and climbing, recording outdoor scenes in the fields and indoor ones in the farmhouse.

Which publisher drew a backlash in 2023 for rewriting passages of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox and other books?

Puffin: after the outcry, it also brought back Dahl's unedited texts as The Roald Dahl Classic Collection, while still selling the revised ones.

Which novelist called the 2023 rewrites of Roald Dahl's books, including Fantastic Mr Fox, "absurd censorship"?

Salman Rushdie: while granting that Dahl "was no angel," he said the publisher and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.

Who voices Mrs. Fox in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Meryl Streep: Mrs. Fox tells Ash that they're all different, but that there's something kind of fantastic about that.

Who co-wrote the screenplay of Fantastic Mr. Fox with director Wes Anderson?

Noah Baumbach: the project began at Revolution Studios, and when Revolution dropped out, their adaptation moved to 20th Century Fox.

What animation technique is Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox primarily made in?

Stop motion: Anderson called Le Roman de Renard, an old French stop-motion film about a fox, a great influence.

Who voices Mr. Fox in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

George Clooney: his Mr. Fox goes back to stealing, asking how a fox can ever be happy without a chicken in its teeth.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, which martial art is Kristofferson skilled in?

Karate: the gifted nephew also proves a natural chicken thief, and Mr. Fox recruits him for his raids.

Who voices Ash, Mr. Fox's small and insecure son, in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Jason Schwartzman: in the end, little Ash is the one who frees his captured cousin from the farmers.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Kristofferson comes to stay with the Foxes because his father is being treated for what?

Double pneumonia: the gifted cousin's arrival leaves Ash feeling threatened and jealous.

Who voices Clive, Mr. Fox's lawyer, in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Bill Murray: the lawyer warns that the Foxes' new home is within shooting distance of three farms, but Mr. Fox moves in anyway.

Which actor voices farmer Bean in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Michael Gambon: when Petey sings a song praising Mr. Fox, Bean snaps that he wrote a bad song and storms off.

Who voices Rat, Bean's violent security guard, in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Willem Dafoe: Rat dies after a fight with Mr. Fox, who grants him some redemption but calls him just another dead rat.

Owen Wilson voices which character in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Coach Skip: he coaches Ash and Kristofferson, and rattles off the convoluted rules of whack-bat.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what kind of animal is Kylie, Mr. Fox's sidekick?

An opossum: when Kylie zones out, his eyes turn into dazed bull's-eyes, and Mr. Fox can't tell whether he's getting anything.

Which Britpop singer voices Petey in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Jarvis Cocker: Anderson based Petey on the singer, so the character even looks like him.

Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox opens with Mr. Fox and his wife caught in a trap while raiding what?

Berk's Squab Farm: caged in the trap, Mrs. Fox reveals to her husband that she is pregnant.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what job does Mr. Fox take after giving up stealing?

Newspaper columnist: restless in the tame job, Mr. Fox slides into a midlife crisis.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, how do the farmers drive the animals out of their tunnels?

Flooding them with cider: washed out into the sewers, the animals then settle into new homes down there.

Where do the farmers hold Kristofferson captive in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

An attic in Bean Annex: once he learns this, Mr. Fox cancels his suicide mission for a go-for-broke rescue mission.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what animal does Ash release to hold off the farmers during the rescue?

A rabid beagle: by braving the farmers' gunfire to free it, Ash finally wins his father's respect.

Where do the animals celebrate in the final scene of Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

A supermarket: it belongs to the three farmers, so their stock now feeds the animals from below.

Which animator left the project in February 2006 to direct Coraline?

Selick had worked with Anderson on The Life Aquatic. Mark Gustafson replaced him as animation director.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what does Mrs. Fox keep painting?

Thunderstorms: later she paints a huge mural of the valley, and Mr. Fox has her paint an X to mark where they are.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what signature sound does Mr. Fox make after a clever move?

A whistle and clicks: at the end, Kylie shows off a trademark of his own, and Mr. Fox says he gets it.

Which English village, where Roald Dahl lived, inspired the look of Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Great Missenden: Anderson stayed in Dahl's house there and wrote part of the screenplay in it.

Who composed the score of Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Alexandre Desplat: he proposed dropping the big orchestra usual in animated films for a mini one of tiny instruments, because the film's characters were so little.

Which film beat Fantastic Mr. Fox to both of its Academy Award nominations?

Up: the result went the other way with the New York and Los Angeles film critics' groups, which each chose Fantastic Mr. Fox, not the Pixar hit, as the year's best animated film.

At which festival did Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox have its world premiere, as the 2009 opening film?

BFI London Film Festival: Anderson welcomed the slot for what he called a British film, animated at a studio in London.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what does Mr. Fox shout after each animal's name while planning a rescue?

A Latin name: he asks each animal for a skill, and Mole offers that he can see in the dark.

Which boutique label released Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox on Blu-ray and DVD in February 2014?

The Criterion Collection: its extras include the animated victory speech the filmmakers made in case the film won the Best Animated Feature Oscar, which it never did.

After Fantastic Mr. Fox, which Roald Dahl tale did Wes Anderson adapt into an Oscar-winning short?

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: first reported as a feature film, it became one of four Dahl shorts Anderson made for Netflix.

In Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, what does Mr. Fox use to open a locked door on a raid?

A credit card: it's Kylie's titanium card, and asked how he qualified for it, Kylie says he's always had good credit.