Wes Anderson‘s last movie, the wistful and wondrous The Grand Budapest Hotel, was the most financially and critically successful film of the idiosyncratic director’s career, and all eyes are on the helmer as he plots his follow-up.
And according to sources, Anderson is planning to leap back into the world of stop-motion animation he explored to such entertaining results in Fantastic Mr. Fox – but in an interesting twist, the helmer’s new venture will center around dogs.
Anderson’s relationship with all things canine has been a point of discussion among cinephiles – it’s hard to think of another director who has managed to express his distaste for man’s best friend so vividly. In The Royal Tenenbaums, he ran one over; in Moonrise Kingdom, a sharp arrow downed another; and even The Life Aquatic featured a mangy three-legged pup.
As such, it should be pretty amusing to watch Anderson devote an entire feature to the species, especially in a fascinating stop-motion format. It’s been confirmed that the movie will be Anderson’s next feature film, and pre-production is already under way.
What that means for another rumored project for the filmmaker, comprised of a series of vignettes, is still unclear. Apparently, that idea, which he discussed at the Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival lat year, is still just percolating and remains a while off from actually happening, if it ever comes together.
For more on Anderson’s contentious, calamitous relationship with canines, there’s a New Yorker piece from 2012 entirely devoted to the subject, titled, “Does Wes Anderson Hate Dogs?” And as part of the magazine’s on-going love affair with the helmer, there was a follow-up in the wake of The Grand Budapest Hotel (and its feline fatality) titled, “Does Wes Anderson Hate Cats?” But in lieu of any more thinkpieces, perhaps it’s time to just accept that Anderson is really just more of an exotic bird person.
