Mark Friedberg, the set designer of THE DARJEELING LIMITED, recently posted a blog entry on the entertainment channel of one of my favorite Web sites, the Huffington Post. (Huff Post contributor Karin Badt posted Mr. Friedberg's words.)

Mr. Friedberg gives a fascinating and even moving account of his experience working on the film in India (his second film project in the country after Mira Nair's KARMA SUTRA). I would recommend checking out what he has to say -- it's a quick read, rest assured!

Click here to read Mark Friedberg's "Personal Experience: Set Designing THE DARJEELING LIMITED."

One of the most striking parts of the essay (for this reader) concerned the train that would serve as the setting for much of THE DARJEELING LIMITED:

"I will never forget the evening that the train finally arrived. We had been struggling to come to terms with the Indian Railways. They are one of the world's largest bureaucracies with over 10 million full time employees, and had never had a film ask for the kind of access we needed. Similarly in a typically post colonial and more typically bureaucratic manner, they were loath to establish precedent of any kind. No manager or minister wanted to call any attention to themselves. Wes had refused the traditional approach of building an interior set on a stage and the fate of the film was in the balance. Having intimate insight into the process I can safely say that the film almost didn't happen. Many sleepless nights in the bed of the designer and the producer were had leading up to the beginning of our shooting schedule. On the night the train arrived the entire crew showed up at the shop and cheered. Lydia and I shared a hug that was second only to the ones after my children were born. I can still feel the loving squeezing arms around mine."

The Huffington Post also provides video documenting a portion of DARJEELING's production entitled, "Production Day 8: Walking Tour of the Train - Interior" -- and it features none other than Mr. Mark Friedberg. Below are screen captures which will link you to each of our two videos of Mark displaying his craft on set.

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While you're on The Huffington Post also be sure to check out this interview with director Wes Anderson. Wes explains to HP his interpretation is of what the end of the Whitman brothers' journey really means, and also -- perhaps most interesting of all -- he talks about how he conceived the short film HOTEL CHEVALIER, and why. See his answer below!

"I made the short separately, and only later did I see how the two went together. We started incorporating things from the short into the movie. Not everything was well-conceived. The way the movie itself starts with Bill Murray was meant to be like that from the beginning. I found Bill in the West Village and said, hey would you like to play not a cameo role, but a symbol. He said: 'Playing a symbol, I like that.' The ideal thing is to see the short one day, and the movie the next."

Again, you can click here for the Huffington Post's complete interview with Wes.