The frame is centered and the picture has a vintage tinge – it must be time for another Wes Anderson film! Whispers of the quirky, Oscar-nominated director’s next project have been floating around, and now some official details have now been revealed. Anderson’s next film will be called The French Dispatch and feature an impressive cast of actors – including frequent collaborators Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Tilda Swinton.
The French Dispatch will be a love letter to journalists and be set in a fictional French city at an American newspaper outpost. The collection of stories published in the titular “French Dispatch” magazine will be brought to life through Wes Anderson’s vision. Fox Searchlight officially announced its acquired rights, along with a 2020 release date.
Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand, Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux and Timothée Chalamet have each been cast in roles in The French Dispatch. Additionally, French actors Mathieu Amalric (also in Grand Budapest Hotel) and Lyna Khoudri have joined, along with newcomer Stephen Park.
The movie is currently in production and will follow Wes Anderson’s second stop-motion film, Isle of Dogs, released in 2018. Fans of the filmmaker will be excited to hear Bill Murray will continue his streak and once again grace an Anderson film. It’s also no surprise Tilda Swinton and Owen Wilson are amongst the cast. The latter started out as his writing partner and star in his first movie, Bottle Rocket, and has appeared in many of Anderson's movies since then.
The upcoming release certainly marks tons of talented actors in first-time roles with the established filmmaker as well. Benicio Del Toro has yet to work with Wes Anderson between his work Paul Thomas Anderson, Denis Villenueve and so forth. It should be fun to see how Del Toro translates into Anderson’s aesthetic along with The Goldfinch’s Jeffrey Wright and 23-year-old Timothée Chalamet, who will soon be seen in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women and Villenueve’s Dune.
Fans of the filmmaker certainly can expect a certain tone and whimsy going into a Wes Anderson flick. The writer/director is an expert at bringing together ensemble casts and giving them sharp dialogue to work with. The French Dispatch looks like no exception.
The movie will be produced by Wes Anderson, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, a team who previously worked on Isle of Dogs, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Darjeeling Limited.
Other big names such as Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jason Schwartzman and Willem Dafoe have been attached to the cast, but are not among those who have been confirmed by Fox Searchlight.
The studio behind The French Dispatch has an Anderson-esque release coming soon in the form of Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, which is getting Oscar buzz ahead of its release on October 18.
