One of the many wonders of Wes Anderson’s latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is the performance of Tony Revolori as Zero Moustafa, the young lobby boy who becomes the most trusted friend of concierge Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) at the elegant hotel in the mythical Eastern European country of Zubrowka. The 17-year-old actor shines in the pivotal role, and definitely holds his own among the impressive ensemble that includes Soirse Ronan, F. Murray Abraham, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Bill Murray and so many others, many of them returning members of Wes Anderson’s stock company. If you haven’t yet seen this film, you are in for a huge treat. I recently sat down with Tony Revolori to talk about his experience on this unique film.
Danny Miller: It must be pretty amazing for you to be part of this spectacular cast. Was the audition process for getting the part of Zero very grueling?
Tony Revolori: To be honest, it was all pretty calm! I went to an audition with my older brother, Mario. We got the script on-site, did the audition, and two weeks later got the call that it’s definitely down to the two of us. We had one more audition and then a few weeks later, Wes flew me to Paris. I talked with him, read the script, had dinner, and walked around Paris, then he flew me back! We kept in touch through email, and a few weeks later he offered me the role. That seemed very calm compared to some movies where you go to six or seven auditions!
Wes Anderson seems like the kind of director who knows exactly what he wants. I wonder what his process was like in choosing you.
Well, I found out later that he saw my brother’s audition first and thought it was really interesting. Then he saw mine and said, “We’re done, that’s Zero!” But my brother and I still got the call back together and I like to think that he’s very much a part of this project. Mario is very supportive.
Doesn’t that get a bit awkward when the two of you are up for the same role?
I mean, I probably would have been twinging if I’d been in his position, but that’s how it’s always been. We’ve been doing this for a long time and we know how to cope and what to say to each other when someone books something and the other doesn’t. I think we’d always rather one of us books it than someone else so he was really happy for that!
Were you aware during the audition process what an important part you were up for?
Not at all! We only read one scene during the first auditions and it wasn’t until I went to Paris and Wes gave me the whole script that I realized, “Oh my God, this character is pretty key!” Not THE role, but sort of like the guy in Amadeus, Salieri, who was played by F. Murray in that movie and who plays the older version of me in this! It kind of felt like that to me, where Mozart is main character but Salieri is the storyteller.
That’s cool that you get to see what your character is like when he grows up!
Absolutely. People keep asking me if I think I look like F. Murray and, of course, I don’t think I look like him at all, but we didn’t really worry about that!
The whole look of this film is just amazing, as are all of Wes Anderson’s films.
Yeah, Milena Canonero, our costume designer and Adam Stockhausen, our production designer, did such a fantastic job. They really created something amazing here, with, of course, Wes who was always on hand giving his ideas. You really believe these people exist in that world, and that Ralph Fiennes’ character could have existed in such a hotel in the 1930s.
You had such a great rapport with Fiennes throughout the movie. Did you feel that connection from the get-go or did it take a while?
It was instant! The first time I met him, I was a bit nervous because he’s done all these great, intense films. But when he saw me the very first time, he gave me this huge smile and hug and I immediately thought, “Oh, this is gonna be great!” All my fears washed away and it felt like Wes was more scared of him than I was at that point! Ralph mentored me — I learned so much just watching him. He’s a legend!
Did he ever give you specific advice on how to play a scene?
I remember one time I confided in him that I was really nervous about the kissing scene I had to do with Saoirse . What do I do? What do I say? He told me to go up to her before the scene and just say, “I’m sorry if I get aroused, and I’m sorry if I don’t!” That made me laugh so much and it took away all my nervousness.
It must have been fun getting to work with someone as talented as Saoirse Ronan.
Saoirse is an amazing person, I enjoyed every moment I spent with her. We constantly joked on set, we were “the young ones” on this film! She’s just an incredible actress and I hope I get to work with her again.
I loved all the little details in the film, even those weird pastries she was always making. I wanted one of those so bad!
I know! They were real, too — we had this baker on set from the little German town where we were shooting and she baked hundreds of those things! I so wanted to eat them but I couldn’t because they had chocolate in them and I’m allergic to chocolate.
It’s always so much fun seeing these incredible worlds that Wes Anderson creates in his movies. Do you think you had a full sense of his vision as you were making the film?
Yes, because it’s all there. All of these sets were really built, all of the props were there, there’s very little CGI in this film. You really feel like you’re inside Wes’s head!
We don’t know that much about Zero’s life before the film starts. Did you and Wes work out his back story at all?
No, not really, except for one little thing I added that I’m not sure people noticed. If you look closely, you’ll see that I’m wearing this string around my wrist with a ring on it. That’s a little nugget I thought up that’s a nod to Zero’s past — I thought it would be cool if he wore his mother’s wedding ring as a reminder of where he came from. But it’s never referred to in the film. It’s like when an actor wants to smell a certain way in a part even though no one in the audience will know that. It helps get him into character! But Zero’s back story is pretty elusive. I’d love to do a Grand Budapest prequel that shows me running away, that would be so cool! And maybe a prequel with Ralph and Tilda’s characters, I’d love to see more of that relationship!
Me, too, I’d definitely line up for both of those films! Tilda Swinton’s character was so strange and great!
She’s amazing — and it took her four hours every day to do that make-up, I felt so bad for her!
What’s next for you after this experience?
I just did a movie in India called Umrika, a kind of Bollywood film directed by Prashant Nair. It’s a great story and I had a great co-star — Suraj Sharma from Life of Pi. The whole film is in Hindi, though, which I don’t speak so that was pretty incredible. I had to learn my part phonetically and learn how to speak and move properly for that culture. It was really fun.
You’re certainly off to a fantastic start in your career at such a young age!
I just want to keep working, so if anyone’s reading this —I’m here, I’m ready, and I’m open!