'Cult' Wes Anderson film prop goes on display

The "cult status" painting central to the plot of Wes Anderson's most successful film to date is currently on display.

Artist Michael Taylor from Dorchester, Dorset, said the original Boy with Apple from the 2014 The Grand Budapest Hotel was at the Design Museum in London behind bulletproof glass.

In the film, the painting is a priceless portrait by Renaissance master Johannes Van Hoytl, bequeathed to the hotel concierge Monsieur Gustave H, played by Ralph Fiennes.

Taylor said to have "a one-off prop like that become so culty" was "a stroke of luck for me".

In 2015, the film won four Oscars, including Best Original Score and Best Costume Design. It also swept the Baftas with five awards, including Production Design.

But Taylor said his involvement had come about "by accident" when one of the producers contacted him, asking if he would be interested in making a prop.

"He didn't say who it was or what the film was - I assumed it was just a film student.

"Then it gradually dawned on me as Wes Anderson called me up and started discussing it."

Taylor said to his "shame", he had not heard of the director, so he just "went along with it".

Taylor requested a model, so that the painting was made "as a real portrait".

Young actor Ed Munro ended up sitting for him at the Jacobean style Hanford School in Child Okeford during the summer holidays.

Munro, who is now a dancer, posted about his experience on Instagram and called the painting going on display a "surreal full-circle moment".

Taylor said he had seen it "all over the place" - on iPhone cases, clocks, tote bags and even tattoos.

"Of course, I'm not allowed to market it at all because I had to sign a Hollywood contract that virtually forbade me from doing anything."

The artist said he considered the fame of his creation "a stroke of luck".

"It's the only film prop I've ever done," he said.

"It's reached cult status apparently - the film is very culty, I think in the Wes Anderson universe this is considered one of the special ones."

Taylor said it was "very flattering" that Anderson kept the painting in his home.

"He came along to my exhibition recently at the Portland [Gallery] in London, so he's obviously found something in my work that rings a bell."

The artist called the Design Museum exhibition "a fascinating insight into how it works".

"There's thousands of props, he's kept them all over the years, and he commissions all these different people," he added.

"I don't know why he settled on me for this but as he said at the opening of the exhibition, 'This is all people that have come together through what I wanted to do'."