Wes Anderson’s Alleged New Project: A Roald Dahl Adaptation Starring Benedict Cumberbatch

In the most recent phase of his career, Wes Anderson has grown accustomed to a fast pace of work. Shortly after premiering (several months late) The French Dispatch at the Cannes Film Festival, the Texan filmmaker immediately got on with Asteroid City, a film that required him to work with his regular team last summer (plus the additions of Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson) in Madrid. Beyond the title, details of his largest project have not been made public, and once filming was done, Anderson soon started working on his next movie.

The man behind Isle of Dogs has already traveled to England to shoot his next film there, as Baz Bamigboye has learned. The information of this Daily Mail journalist matches, moreover, recent statements by director of photography Robert Yeoman, Anderson’s regular collaborator, who confirmed his feature presence in English lands to shoot an untitled film. Bamigboye, however, has learned that this film is a new Roald Dahl adaptation, who had already been present in his filmography via Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Anderson’s first animated film paid homage to the British author, and the same will happen in his next film to adapt The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. This seven-story anthology was compiled by Dahl in the late 70s and considered at the time as one of the works with the greatest disinterest in matching young readers’ taste. The main story that gave the book its title, moreover, was inspired by the life of Pakistani mystic Kuda Bux.

The journalist also revealed that Benedict Cumberbatch is involved on the film (in his first collaboration with the director) and that it will be released by Netflix. After what was seen in The French Dispatch, it should not be ruled out that Anderson adapts the book in its entirety as seven stories conjoined, but Henry Sugar would inevitably have a leading role.

And who is Henry Sugar? Well, a wealthy man with a fondness for gambling who one fine day learns of the existence of a man in India capable of working miracles. Unspectacular but very promising miracles: he is able to keep seeing with his eyes sewn up, being a gift that Sugar will want to take advantage of financially. The journalist does not make it clear if Henry Sugar would be an animated film like Fantastic Mr. Fox, but considering that Yeoman is involved (who in all of Anderson’s filmography has only skipped the aforementioned Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs; that is, the animated ones) it will most likely be a live action, with Cumberbatch playing the title role.