I’ve been reading Jacques Cousteau’s Diving for Sunken Treasure, a book that is featured directly in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, while Cousteau is the main inspiration for Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I’m a huge Wes Anderson fan, so of course I knew this going into reading the book. But it’s funny how easily I can imagine the director reading this book and finding inspiration and writing material within.
Take this quote from p 105:
Wednesday, July 24. Didi Dumas arrived at San Juan on schedule, at four o’clock this morning. And there was no one to meet him. He was furious; and he was perfectly justified. Our agent, who was supposed to meet him and bring him to the Calypso, did not show up, for some reason.
This is so obviously the inspiration for the introduction of Cate Blanchett’s character in The Life Aquatic
We tend to think of creators and artists, especially those we revere, as blessed with some divine gift. Like they’re just filled with boundless creative energy just waiting to be used. That they somehow can see and create something that eludes the rest of us. Yet when I can see the process so plainly on paper, I think it adds some much needed humanity to the people we idolize. The reality of Wes Anderson, or anyone creative, is they get inspiration and ideas from everyday experiences, just like the rest of us. That anyone is capable of applying that knowledge in novel ways, so long as we take notice of the opportunities, and are willing to act on them.
That last bit that is worth emphasizing, for often the act of doing is the only thing that separates us from the creators we admire.