Salesianum grad helps capture Wes Anderson's film worlds in real life

The website has spawned a bestselling book and an Instagram account with 1.8 million followers.
Wally Koval is a Salesianum School alum and his wife Amanda graduated from St. Elizabeth School.

Wally Koval distinctly remembers the first time he saw a movie by filmmaker Wes Anderson.

He was sitting beside his late father, Walt, in their Brandywine Hundred living room when they watched 1998’s “Rushmore,” an eccentric comedy starring Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.

Even though he was young, Koval found himself immersed in a fanciful world that would come to define Anderson’s films, including “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

“I was captivated by it,” says Koval, now 39. “It was interesting with this dry humor and odd and quirky visuals. There was an underlying semi-dark storyline with a comedic element to the whole thing.”

Little did he know that his love of Anderson’s work would eventually lead to a career ― and an Instagram page that counts Julia Roberts and Seth Rogen among followers.

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Wilmington natives Koval, a Salesianum School alum, and wife Amanda, who graduated from St. Elizabeth School, are the founders of Accidentally Wes Anderson (accidentallywesanderson.com), a popular website dedicated to the director with a community of fans worldwide online.

The two first met in 2007 … “where all love flourishes: Dewey Beach,” Koval jokes.

Their website, first launched in 2017, has a companion Instagram page that boasts 1.8 million followers and a book of the same name released in 2020. It has sold 500,000 copies and is available in seven languages. The book was finalized at Koval’s family summer home in Bethany Beach during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The site is not only a community-driven collage of real-world photos showing locations that look as though they could be found in Anderson’s distinctive film worlds, but also includes travel guides, postcards, trivia, a newsletter and more. A new jigsaw puzzle will hit store shelves in October.

Ahead of Friday’s release of Anderson’s newest star-studded film “Asteroid City” (Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Steve Carrell, Margot Robbie), we spoke with Koval from Brooklyn, where he splits his time when away from the First State.

We talked about the surprise success of Accidentally Wes Anderson; his thoughts on the new film; and his interactions with the man himself, who has been nominated for seven Academy Awards across his 27-year career.

Question: Did the website and Instagram page have a slow build in terms of audience or was there a breakthrough moment?

Answer: We maybe gained 1,000 followers at a time when someone who had a larger following, but we got an email from Vogue magazine once. [They] wrote an article and overnight our community went from maybe 2,000 to 26,000. And it continued to grow from there.

Wes Anderson stays busy and each film is a new world he has created. It’s not like he’s moved on to doing Spider-Man films. What’s it like for you and your site when he releases a new movie like this week with “Asteroid City”?

It’s an exciting time, for sure. In his films, everything is perfectly placed. When you look at the screen, you see this color palette and the symmetry and you take that and then look through that lens at the real world. The real world is not perfect; very much imperfect in many ways. It’s not so symmetrical and not always so great. But when you look at it through that lens, you start to unearth a new way of looking at things. And it brings to the forefront an intrigue and an inspiration to maybe dig a little deeper and discover some things about a place that you never really saw before. So anytime a new Wes movie is released, it’s a new filter for us to look through, if that makes sense.

When I look at the Delaware photos on your site, some are places I’ve seen 1,000 times, but when I look at them thinking about a Wes Anderson movie, it totally changes the way I see it.

In our book, we have 200 photos of locations from every continent from 180 photographers in 60 different countries. And there just so happens to be one from Delaware. Yes, it’s a nod to our hometown because it’s important to us, but it also shows you don’t need to live in a big city or a well-known area to find interesting places around you. If you go down your local Main Street, there’s a post office, a library, a courthouse ― interesting architecture. There are stories to be uncovered there. My favorite comments left by the community are like this one person who saw a photo in the book and said, “I’ve driven by there so many times and never thought to look at that place in this light, but now I’ve uncovered a whole new interest and never expected it.” It’s finding the beauty in the potentially mundane.

Have you seen “Asteroid City” yet?

We’ve seen it twice. And we have been very lucky to be able to provide different private showings for the Accidentally Wes Anderson community in Los Angeles, London and New York tomorrow, so we’re gearing up to see it for a third time.

How did you get to see it already and set up those screenings? Do you have a connection with Anderson now?

He wrote the foreword to our book and was very much involved in all of that. So for the past two movies, we’ve been very fortunate to see early screenings. We also got to go to the New York premiere of “Asteroid City” last week, where he was there with the whole cast.

I assume you’ve met him in person?

You know what? That hasn’t happened. We worked through the book in quarantine times and 99 percent of our interactions have been through e-mail.

Where does the new film rank or do you just see each one as a little gift?

I like that, actually. I’m always asked what my favorite film is and I semi-jokingly say, “It’s kind of a top three and not in any order.” It’s like a playlist that changes with the seasons. But “Rushmore” is always up there. “Life Aquatic” is typically up there. And honestly, this new movie has so many different layers to it. I’ve seen it twice and it was like I unearthed an entirely different side of it that I didn’t know existed the first time around. I’m honestly excited to see it a third time. It’s wild.

How many different photo submissions do you get to your site from fans?

We receive between 2,000 to 3,500 each month and we, but mostly Amanda, make sure that we look at every single one.

Do any of the Delaware photos jump out at you?

Let me take a look. Oh man, I forgot about Lightship Overfalls in Lewes. We have actually “adopted” a porthole on the ship so there’s a brick there with our name on it. And the Delaware Historical Society and Research Library in Wilmington is one of the coolest libraries and such a great organization.

You’re able to make a living off this whole project?

I’m able to pay our rent. That is true. Before this, I was working for an events and marketing company.

It seems like a dream job. Does it feel that way? I know that when something you love becomes your job it can lose a bit of the luster for some.

I recently framed and hung this thing above my desk. And I’m smiling reading it now, like I always do. It has the old saying, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” But the “you’ll never work a day in your life” part is crossed out and instead it says, “You’ll work super f—king hard all the time with no separation or any boundaries and also take everything extremely personally.” [Laughs.]

Well, that’s a perfect answer to my question. Do you have any famous followers?

Let me take a quick look. Julia Roberts, Pharrell, Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Mark Hoppus from Blink-182, Amy Schumer, Zooey Deschanel. Those are a few right off the top.

Looking back on the past six years, are you surprised by your success? It’s a pretty quirky idea for a niche audience.

I never expected any of this. If you told me back then that I would be doing this right now, I would have told you you’re crazy. I mean, we had a book on the New York Times bestsellers list. Amanda and I joke all the time that we’re not photographers, writers, architects, historians or even film buffs. We’re none of the things that embody what has been created here. We’re a couple of unlikely characters that just so happened to follow their gut a bit. We kind of know what we like and I guess other people like it, too.

Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and Twitter (@ryancormier).

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Salesianum grad helps capture Wes Anderson’s film worlds in real life

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