Wes Anderson fans were surprised when the filmmaker revealed earlier this summer that his upcoming Netflix project “The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar” is only 37 minutes long. But there’s a good reason for its short length. Variety reports that, while at the Venice Film Festival for the “Henry Sugar” world premiere, Anderson announced that he has three other Roald Dahl story adaptations on the way, making a Netflix-exclusive anthology.
Anderson teased the upcoming short films at a press conference for “Henry Sugar” on the Lido, saying that “The Swan,” “Poison,” and “The Ratcatcher” are his other three Dahl adaptations. “There’s another one that’s in the “Henry Sugar” collection that’s called “The Swan,” we’ve done that with Rupert Friend,” Anderson said. “We did a very old one called “Poison,” which is one I always loved… And then we’ve also done a very, very strange one called “Ratcatcher,” which is from a book called “Claud’s Dog,” a kind of obscure Dahl book set in the Eastern part of England. It’s a really rural one, it’s a peculiar story. And they’re all strange. But I don’t really have any other ones in mind. I have some things brewing, but that might be it for Dahl for the moment.”
For what it’s worth, this isn’t entirely new news for Anderson fans. Friend talked a bit about his involvement in “The Swan” and “The Ratcatcher” earlier this year to Variety. “Wes took four of [Dahl’s stories] and put together a smaller troupe of actors: myself, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, and Richard Ayoade,” Friend said. “We each play in around two of the stories and kind of change roles. I think Ralph might be in all of them.”
So that makes four shorts total with that ensemble, and if the upcoming three are the same length as “Henry Sugar,” then that’s one single long Wes Anderson feature. The director is obviously in a creatively fecund period right now, as this comes on the heels of the release of “Asteroid City” earlier this year. Anderson also has his upcoming thirteenth film already written, a father/daughter espionage film with Benicio del Toro that the director says has a “darker tone.”
Anderson’s latest Dahl adaptations (he also adapted “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” into an animated feature in 2009) also come at a time when there’s a lot of controversy surrounding the late writer. New editions of Dahl’s work have been re-edited with offensive language removed, prompting a debate over the practice. Anderson chimed in at Venice with his thoughts on the matter. “I don’t want even the artist to modify their work,” Anderson said. “I understand the motivation for it, but I sort of am in the school where, when the piece of work is done and the audience participates in it, we know it — I sort of think what’s done is done. And certainly, no one besides the author should be modifying the work — he’s dead.”
“The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar” premieres on Netflix on September 27 after it hits limited theaters on September 20. Read The Playlist’s review of the short film here. As for Anderson’s thoughts on ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the filmmaker kept it brief: “An equitable deal has got to be reached for anybody to go forward. People are suffering.”
