The long wait for Wes Anderson’s eighth live-action feature is almost over, with critics who viewed The French Dispatch at the Cannes Films Festival in July declaring it as the most Wes Anderson movie that Wes Anderson has ever made – joyous words for some; a warning to others.
Originally scheduled to open Cannes in May 2020 and hit UK cinemas that July, Anderson’s comedy-drama suffered delays due to the pandemic. It is finally making its bow in October, meaning cinemagoers will finally get to see Anderson’s most ambitious film to date, and his starriest cast, with many of the writer-director's repertory players – Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Anjelica Huston – joined by newbies such as Timothée Chalamet, Benicio Del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, Elisabeth Moss, and Christoph Waltz.
Below is an exclusive image of Brody and Del Toro, taken from the upcoming issue of Total Film:
Inspired by The New Yorker, The French Dispatch is a dazzling tribute to journalists of a bygone era, as the titular supplement is published in the fictional French town of Ennui-sur-Blasé, sometime in the mid-20th century. Its articles take in art, politics, cuisine and more, and Anderson’s movie is an anthology of stories lifted from the magazine.
One of Anderson’s many returning actors is Adrien Brody, who first collaborated with the director on 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited, then reunited with him on 2009 animation Fantastic Mr. Fox and 2014 comedy adventure The Grand Budapest Hotel. The French Dispatch sees Brody plays art dealer Julian Cadazio, and he has fond memories of the 2018 shoot in Angoulême, in southwest France.