The Royal Tenenbaums was written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson and released in 2001 to great acclaim. His third film, The Royal Tenenbaums, follows the development of the three gifted but troubled Tenenbaum children, and their reunion with their absentee father, Royal, on the event of his allegedly imminent death.
Anderson took inspiration from various sources when developing the script for the film. The concept of three preternaturally gifted children growing up in New York was largely inspired by the work of J.D. Salinger, particularly his stories about the Glass children in Franny and Zooey. Other inspirations for the film include Murmur of the Heart and The Fire Within, both films by Louis Malle, The Magnificent Ambersons, an Orson Welles film, and the Jean-Pierre Melville film, Les Enfants Terribles. The result was a singular film that is unmistakably linked to Wes Anderson's aesthetic and perspective.
The film did well with critics and audiences alike, and was Anderson's most financially successful film until The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Gene Hackman, in spite of not wanting to appear in the film, won a Golden Globe for his work.
