Wes Anderson is one of the more polarizing directors working today. It seems that you either enjoy his quirky, stylized vision of the world and the people in it, or you don’t. The public does seem to be enjoying him right now, though. With the critical success of The Grand Budapest Hotel, many of us (myself included) are waiting to see what Anderson will choose to develop next. Now we might have some answers, and they are not quite what you’d expect.
According to details that Anderson made public at the Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival (via The Film Stage), the director’s next port of call will be back in the world of stop-motion animation. Now, this might come as no surprise. After Fantastic Mr. Fox, it was only a matter of time before Anderson returned to that world. What is a surprise is Anderson’s inspiration and guide for his next endeavor: he’s planning a multi-episode anthology film based on Italian auteur Vittorio De Sica’s 1954 film The Gold of Naples.
The combination of Wes Anderson and Vittorio De Sica is intriguing. Anthology films are not that uncommon, but to refer to such an esoteric film as the source of inspiration is both very in keeping with Anderson’s sensibilities and just a trifle baffling. The Gold of Naples all takes place in Naples, one of De Sica’s earliest homes, and acts as a tribute to the city. Perhaps Anderson’s film will have a similar love of location (wherever that might be). Still, what kind of inspiration a stop-motion anthology film will draw from the neorealist De Sica remains to be seen. Anderson had earlier teased that he was at work on something with Roman Coppola that is “vaguely avant-garde,” though whether this refers to the same film is not yet clear.
What is clear is that whatever Wes Anderson comes up with next, we are bound to either be confused or elated…or perhaps a little bit of both. I, for one, cannot wait to see the results.
