Wally Koval vividly remembers the first time he saw a movie through filmmaker Wes Anderson.
He sat next to his late father, Walt, in the living room of the Brandywine Hundred when they watched “Rushmore,” a quirky 1998 comedy starring Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.
Although young, Koval found himself immersed in a fantasy world that would shape Anderson’s films, adding “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel. “. “
“I was captivated,” said Koval, now 39. It’s engaging with this dry humor and weird, quirky visuals. There’s an underlying semi-dark story with comic detail overall. “
Little did he know that his love for Anderson’s paintings would lead to a career and an Instagram page that counts Julia Roberts and Seth Rogen among his followers.
WES Dogfish Head mixes with stars from Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ ahead of New York premiere
Originally from Wilmington, Koval, an alumnus of Salesianum School, and his wife Amanda, a graduate of St. Lawrence. Elizabeth, are the founders of Accidentally Wes Anderson (accidentallywesanderson. com), a popular engaged director with a worldwide fan network.
The two first met in 2007. . . ” where all love blossoms: Dewey Beach,” jokes Koval.
Its website, first introduced in 2017, has a related Instagram page that has 1. 8 million fans and an e-book of the same call launched in 2020. It has sold 500,000 copies and is available in seven languages. The e-book was finalized in Koval’s circle. of the summer home of relatives in Bethany Beach the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The site is not only a networked collage of real-world images that appear and seem to be discovered in Anderson’s unique cinematic worlds, but also includes guidebooks, postcards, anecdotes, a newsletter and more. A new puzzle will hit stores in October.
Ahead of Anderson’s star-studded new film “Asteroid City” (Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Steve Carrell, Margot Robbie), we speak with Koval from Brooklyn, where he splits his time when he’s away from the First State.
We talked about the wonderful good fortune of Accidentally Wes Anderson; his mind on the new film; and her interactions with the boy himself, who has been nominated for seven Oscars in his 27-year career.
Question: Have the online page and Instagram page grown slowly in terms of audience or is there a tipping point?
Answer: We might have gained 1000 subscribers at a time when we had more subscribers, but once we got an email from Vogue magazine. [They] wrote an article and overnight our network grew from possibly 2000 to 26,000. And it kept growing from there.
Wes Anderson is still busy and the film is a new world he has created. It’s not like I’ve gone on to make Spider-Man movies. What happens to you and your site when you release a new movie like this week with “Asteroid City”?
It’s an exciting time, that’s for sure. In his films, everything is perfectly positioned. When you look at the screen, you see this color palette and symmetry and you take that and then you look through that lens at the genuine global. The genuine global is not perfect; Very imperfect in many ways. It’s not as symmetrical or as good. But when you look at it through that lens, you start to notice a new way of hunting things. And it foregrounds the intrigue and inspiration to perhaps dig a little deeper and observe things about a position you’ve never noticed before. So every time a new Wes movie comes out, it’s a new outlet to go through, if that makes sense.
When I look at the images of Delaware on their site, some are posts that I’ve noticed 1,000 times, but when I look at them thinking of a Wes Anderson movie, it completely fits what I see.
In our e-book, we have two hundred images of destinations from all continents taken by 180 photographers in 60 other countries. And it just so happens that it’s one from Delaware. Yes, it’s a nod to our hometown because it’s vital to us, however, it also shows that you don’t want to live in a big city or a known network to locate attractive places around you. If you walk down the local main street, there is a post office, a library, a courthouse: an architecture are stories to notice there. My favorite comments left through the net are like this user who saw an image in the e-book and said, “I’ve been there so many times and never had any idea of this position from this angle, but now I discovered a whole new interest and I didn’t expect it. It is finding good appearance in what is potentially mundane.
Have you ever noticed “Asteroid City”?
We saw it twice. And we’ve been very fortunate to be able to offer other personal screenings to the Accidentally Wes Anderson network tomorrow in Los Angeles, London and New York, so we’re in a position to see it for the third time.
How have you been to see it and organize those screenings?Do you have a connection with Anderson now?
He wrote the foreword to our e-book and is very concerned about all this. So for the last two films, we were lucky enough to see the first screenings. We were also able to attend the New York premiere of “Asteroid City” last week. where he there with the whole cast.
Did you meet him in person?
You know that? That didn’t happen. We went through ebook quarantine and 99% of our interactions were via email.
Where is the new movie ranked or do you see one as a small gift?
I like it, actually. They ask me what my favorite movie is and I jokingly say, “It’s kind of a sensible 3 and not in any order. “It’s like a playlist that fits with the seasons. Life Aquatic” appears regularly up there. And honestly, this new movie has a lot of other layers. I saw it twice and it was as if I had discovered a completely different facet that I didn’t know existed the first time. Honestly, I’m excited to see it for the third time. It’s wild.
How many other photo slideshows do you receive from your fans?
We get between 2,000 and 3,500 in both and both months and we, but especially Amanda, make sure to check them out.
Do any of the images of Delaware catch your attention?
Let me see. Oh man, I forgot Lightship Overfalls in Lewes. ” We adopt” a porthole on the boat, so there is a brick with our call. And the Delaware Historical Society and Research Library in Wilmington is one of the best libraries and such a wonderful organization.
Can you make a living from this project?
I can pay our rent. It’s true. Before that, I worked for a marketing company.
It sounds like a dream job. I know that when love becomes your job, it can lose some of its luster for some.
I recently framed and hung this thing on my desk. And I smile as I read it now, as I do. There’s the old adage, “Do what you love and you’ll never paint a day in your life. “”You will never paint a day in your life” is crossed out and instead says: “You will paint very hard all the time, without separations or limits, and you will take everything very personally. “[Laughter. ]
Well, that’s the best answer to my question. Do you have any prominent followers?
Let me see. Julia Roberts, Pharrell, Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, Amy Schumer, Zooey Deschanel. Here are a few from the start.
Looking back over the past six years, have you surpassed your success?It’s a pretty original concept for a niche audience.
I didn’t expect all this. If you had told me then that I would do this now, I would have told you that you are crazy. I mean, we had an eBook on the New York Times bestseller list. Amanda and I joke all the time that we’re not photographers. , writers, architects, historians or even cinephiles. We are none of the things that include what has been created here. We’re some unlikely characters who just got a little attached to their instincts. We know what we like and I guess other people like it too.
Do you have one for the story? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline. com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and Twitter (@ryancormier).