The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) on Netflix
Royal Tenenbaum leaves his wife Etheline and their three gifted children. Twenty-two years later, evicted from his hotel, he claims stomach cancer to win back his family.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.6/10338,980 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes81%
Trailer
Plot summary
Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline separate while their three children are young. Chas is a math and business genius, Margot, who was adopted, writes plays, and Richie is a tennis prodigy. Twenty-two years on, Royal has been disbarred, has served time and is turned out of his hotel. Chas and his sons Ari and Uzi come back to the family house, and since Rachael, his wife, died in a plane crash, he guards the boys closely. Margot returns too; she has been married to Raleigh St. Clair, a neurologist, and has not finished a play in seven years. Henry Sherman, Etheline's accountant, asks her to marry him. Pagoda brings Royal the news, and Royal claims stomach cancer, hoping to win back his wife and children. Richie comes home and lets Royal move in.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- During young Margot's birthday scene in the opening scenes, Huston's hair caught fire from a birthday candle, and Anderson credited Kumar Pallana with extinguishing the blaze before Huston was seriously injured.
- Anderson and Huston had a tense relationship with Hackman, who was not always amiable on set; on the first day Huston had to slap him in a scene and did it for real: "I hit him a really good one. I saw the imprint of my hand on his cheek and I thought, he's going to kill me."
- The narration and the way the film follows each family member were reprised in Arrested Development; its creator Mitchell Hurwitz already had the idea and thought "Well, that's it, I can't do that anymore", while star Jason Bateman describes the show as "The Royal Tenenbaums shot like COPS".
SPOILER
In early test screenings the end of the movie, with the characters leaving the cemetery in slow motion, was scored with "I'm Looking Through You" by The Beatles, but after George Harrison's death the rights were not pursued; an Elliott Smith cover of "Hey Jude" for the introduction was also dropped and has never been released.- As shooting continued, the bird used for Mordecai was caught by a citizen of New Jersey, who demanded a price for its return, so it was replaced instead by one more white in color.
- Hackman was hesitant about accepting the role, citing his lack of understanding of, or commonalities with, Royal; while he delayed, Michael Caine was considered for the part, as was Gene Wilder according to rumor, until Hackman's agent persuaded him to take it.
- The owner of the house used as the Tenenbaum residence was planning to remodel it, but agreed to delay the project for six months so that principal photography could take place there.
