We’ve been hearing rumblings about Wes Anderson’s next film for a few weeks now. First, we heard that it might be filming in France, where Anderson has called home for quite a while now. Then came rumors of the film potentially being some sort of musical. But now, it appears that we can confirm all that information, and round it out with a better idea of what we might expect. Suffice to say, Anderson appears to be pushing the boundaries of his whimsical comfort zone.
According to the French outlet Charente Libre, Anderson has planted his flag in Angoulême for his next film, which is still untitled. The report says the film will be set in the 1950s and will be a musical comedy. However, even with filming in Angoulême, the project will take place in a fictional city in France, which the filmmaker has been known to do from time to time.
And while we anticipated the filming would begin in early 2019, it appears that the timeline has been moved up quite a bit, and is set to begin in November. The report says that production on the film is expected to last four to five months, with an extended break during the Christmas season and a local festival. The reported budget is between 15 and 20 million Euros, which is the equivalent to approximately $17.5 million and $23.5 million, which would be the largest production to film in Angoulême by a mile.
Perhaps most interesting, and mysterious, of all is the information that the film will feature a recent (within the last 5 years) Academy Award-winning actor/actress in a lead role. While that narrows the list down considerably, there are still plenty of fine choices, such as Eddie Redmayne, Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Frances McDormand, and Emma Stone. However, judging by Anderson’s filmography and style, we can confidently rule out Leonardo DiCaprio, Casey Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, and Jared Leto.
If we had to put money on it, we could easily see Cate Blanchett, who won a Best Actress Oscar in 2014 for “Blue Jasmine,” re-teaming with Anderson on another project. She previously starred in the filmmaker’s “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” and we know how Anderson loves working with familiar faces.
With filming set to begin in a couple months, it appears we’ll get our answer to the mystery actor question soon enough. Until then, Anderson fans can rejoice knowing that we’re getting a musical from the director sooner than we anticipated.
