Right now, he's living with his girlfriend of three years, Imitation of Christ designer Tara Subkoff. Apart from that, his life is mostly editing, with a little reading (The Power Broker, Robert Caro's 2,000-page biography of urban planner Robert Moses, which he inches through a few pages at a time; Nancy Mitford's biography of Madame de Pompadour; Thornton Wilder's plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth), plus movies and dinner with the equally busy Subkoff. ("I haven't been with someone with that much to do except me," he says, sounding a little surprised.) He's trying to mix it up a tad: "A friend of mine, Waris, who's in the movie, we're gonna start playing tennis once a week," he says iffily. "We're actually going to buy rackets today. The apartment I bought was a weird painting studio for 40 years. I don't know how to paint, but I'd like to learn."
He directed and wrote (with Owen Wilson) the quirky films Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Bottle Rocket. Also he's directing The Fantastic Mr Fox (based on Roald Dahl's book) in stop motion animation, coming out in 2006!! I love his films. And Richie's artwork in Royal Tenenbaums, I believe was done by his brother, Eric Chase Anderson.