Make no mistake, pre-production has irrefutably kicked off on Wes Anderson‘s next project, and while his return to stop-motion animation still lacks an official title, we learnt more about the film’s canine nature only a few days ago. Wasting no time, the eclectic director has now turned to his regular posse of actors in order to fill some of the leading roles, with Nerdist revealing that Edward Norton, Bob Balaban and Jeff Goldblum have all signed on for the “Japanese-inspired” feature.
They’ll star opposite Breaking Bad and Trumbo alum Bryan Cranston, marking the actor’s first collaboration with the esteemed director. As a stop-motion animation, Anderson will be returning to a genre he excelled in with 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, though the filmmaker is playing is cards particularly close to his chest for this one.
All we know for sure is that the new creative venture will revolve around dogs, indicating that the movie will at least bear semblance to Mr. Fox in terms of visual style. The jury’s still out on anything story-related, however, with Goldblum refusing to divulge any further details at a recent jazz show where his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, featured.
One thing worth keeping in mind is that this Wes Anderson project is separate from the one teased by the director during last year’s Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival. Divided into a series of narrative vignettes, the filmmaker will take influence from Italian director Vittorio De Sica, but it would appear that the aforementioned stop-motion animation has taken precedent.
What’s old is new again now that Edward Norton, Bob Balaban and Jeff Goldblum have boarded Wes Anderson‘s latest picture – still no word on whether Bill Murray will appear, though.