60. Coach Skip (Owen Wilson in “Fantastic Mr Fox”)
Coach Skip may be mostly memorable for being an albino otter who explains the arcane rules of Whackbat. But that does include lines like “The twig runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls hotbox.”
59. Serge X (Mathieu Amalric in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”)
He never meant to betray M. Gustav, but “those fuckers” who killed his club-footed sister were threatening his life and… what is essentially an expository character is crammed with whimsical detail and offbeat backstory that, as ever, conceals the thinness of Anderson’s plotting.
58. Jack’s Girlfriend (Natalie Portman in “Hotel Chevalier” short)
The short that accompanies “The Darjeeling Limited” is probably a better film than the undisciplined main feature, not least because of this unusually sexy and explicit turn from Portman as Jack’s (Schwartzman) mysteriously bruised, enigmatic but soulful on/off girlfriend.
57. Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave in “Bottle Rocket”)
A risk-taker growing an entire marijuana crop in his backyard, the industrious, well meaning but dumb Mapplethorpe is the third wheel in the “Bottle Rocket” gang: he’s only there because he has a car and a wealthy family. Plus he doesn’t like Dignan and is weirdly loyal to an older brother who treats him like garbage.
56. Chas Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller in “The Royal Tenenbaums”)
It’s quite something that math/business genius Chas, played by Stiller, dressed permanently in striped red tracksuit, tailed by his overprotected mini-me sons and harboring deep resentment at his thieving father, should place so low. But that’s the overstuffed ensemble of ‘Tenenbaums’ for you.
55. Agatha (Saoirse Ronan in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”)
Played with quiet conviction, it’s a shame that Ronan’s Agatha wasn’t a bit more central to the real action of ‘Grand Budapest’, but the sweet baker girl with the facial birthmark is still a lovely addition to Anderson’s underpopulated gallery of female characters.
54. Cousin Ben (Jason Schwartzman in “Moonrise Kingdom”)
An unusually in-betweeny character for Schwartzman in an Anderson film, slick Cousin Ben, the perma-sunglassed dude who works at the rival Scout Camp and performs a non-legally binding wedding ceremony for the star crossed couple, is nonetheless a hoot despite his truncated screen time.
53. Dr. Nelson Guggenheim (Brian Cox in “Rushmore”)
Anderson’s take on the irascible, crusty-old-dean headmaster character in “Rushmore” doesn’t stray too far from the formula on paper, but gets a boost due to Cox’s lovely air of baffled resignation when confronted with Max’s (Schwartzman) more egregious follies.
52. Inez (Lumi Cavazos in “Bottle Rocket”)
The Paraguayan housekeeper and object of Anthony’s high school-like affections, Inez (played by the luminous lead from “Like Water For Chocolate,” a rare hispanic W.A. character) may seem underwritten, but idealist though she is, she’s self-assured enough to slam on the brakes when romantic intoxication turns to chaos.
51. Felicity Fox (Meryl Streep in “Fantastic Mr Fox”)
We’re not sure why Streep hasn’t had a live-action role for Anderson yet, but until that inevitability, her beautifully understated voice work as the gracious, unswervingly sensible Mrs. Fox will have to do. Surprisingly, Streep was a replacement after Cate Blanchett dropped out.