A new Wes Anderson film starring Richard Ayoade will be shown at the Venice Film Festival later this year — and the announcement has sparked excitement online.
The auteur director only last month premiered Asteroid City but is set to show his short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar at the competition in the late summer.
The 37-minute picture is an adaptation of one of Roald Dahl’s short stories, in what has been billed as an adventure comedy, and will be a collaboration with Netflix.
British actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, and Sir Ben Kingsley all star in the film as well as Ayoade — who has been called a “perfect fit” for Anderson’s style.
It is another coup for the Venice Film Festival, which will also feature Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, and Ferrari — directed by Michael Mann and starring an aged Adam Driver.
Anderson has said that, although he has had a good experience with Netflix, he is pro-cinema and that is where he sees his films being shown in the future.
“I’m very happy to be putting Asteroid City in cinemas,” he told IndieWire.
“Focus and Universal are doing it the real cinema way. That’s the way I really want my movies to be shown.”
#BiennaleCinema2023 #Venezia80 #FuoriConcorso #OutOfCompetition pic.twitter.com/i7QeSqb5ir
— La Biennale di Venezia (@la_Biennale) July 25, 2023
However, the short running time of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, combined with the fact that Netflix owns the rights to all Roald Dahl’s works after buying the licensing company, means that a conventional release was unlikely.
“In essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it,” he said. “But beyond it, because it’s a 37-minute movie, it was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie.”
Whatever the format, fans will always be excited for a Wes Anderson film and Ayoade’s inclusion seems to have particularly set pulses racing.
“Richard Ayoade in a Wes Anderson film? Give it to me immediately,” said one fan on Twitter.
Another commented: “Genuinely can’t think of a better fit for Richard Ayoade than Wes Anderson.”
