While streaming services are the medium dominating television and film consumption, some directors prefer their films to premiere on the silver screen. Wes Anderson is one of these directors, who recently launched his latest film Asteroid City that premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. However, he is succumbing to the nature of the industry and producing his next project for Netflix.
What is this project, you might ask? An adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar — Anderson’s second Dahl adaptation — that is a whopping 37 minutes long.
In an interview with IndieWire, Anderson, who previously wrote and directed the 2009 stop-motion film version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, said that he has a relationship with Dahl’s estate. He told the outlet that Dahl “had this [story] waiting for (him).” However, by the time that Anderson was prepared to take on the film, Netflix had already purchased the rights to it.
Anderson further justified the film’s streaming platform placement by saying that “because it’s a 37-minute movie, it was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie.”
“While I had only a good experience with Netflix, [I’m] very happy to be putting Asteroid City in cinemas,” Anderson revealed to IndieWire. “Focus and Universal are doing it the real cinema way. That’s the way I really want my movies to be shown.”
Dahl’s story which the film is based on is one of seven short stories featured in the collection entitled The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. Unlike Dahl’s other tales such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, which have both been adapted for the big screen by other directors, this story and the collection it belongs to are seen as being intended for a slightly older audience.
The shorter film is set to star Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, with appearances by Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, Richard Ayoade, and Rupert Friend.
If this read made you eager to see more of Anderson’s work, check out his previous Roald Dahl collab, Fantastic Mr. Fox, streaming on Max and Prime Video, and stay tuned for where you can eventually stream Asteroid City when it hits streaming platforms.
