With each new Wes Anderson film, audiences get not only a highly stylized world, but also a chance to wonder how he concocted it. Now The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is playing in New York and Los Angeles, is the object of such head cocking.

Set in Eastern Europe from the pre-war years through the Communist 60s, the film traces the decline of a legendary spa hotel. Of its fragrant and fastidious concierge Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), the narrator says, "His world had vanished long before he ever entered it, but he certainly sustained the illusion with a remarkable grace."

I tapped production designer Adam Stockhausen for some insidery revelations about sustaining illusions in The Grand Budapest Hotel. To read on, click below: 

http://www.thalo.com/articles/view/875/production_designer_adam_stockhausen_invites_you