Wes Anderson's obsessively detailed framing is back in his 10th movie “The French Dispatch.” However, what will, most likely, distinguish this film from his nine others is the fact that he’s decided to make it a potpourri of short stories. That’s right, “The French Dispatch” is an anthology film composed of four short stories, some of which are told in black and white, a first for Anderson. All these beautiful images will be soaked up in Anderson’s usual aspect ratios of 1.37:1 and 2.39:1.
Anderson’s film is set in a fictional French town (Ennui-sur-Blasé) and the magazine within it is called The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun. The film will use the death of that magazine’s editor (Bill Murray) as a catalyst for the journalists to look back and share stories about his life. Could the film also be seen as a tribute to Bill Murray?
Anderson has decided to explore several different time periods with the help of a cast that includes, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Benicio Del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Adrien Brody, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Mathieu Amalric, Lyna Khoudri, Stephen Park, Elisabeth Moss, Saoirse Ronan, Owen Wilson, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jason Schwartzman, Henry Winkler, Bill Murray and many more.
Speaking in April 2019, Anderson said, “The story is not easy to explain, [It’s about an] American journalist based in France” — Bill Murray‘s Arthur Howitzer Jr., the editor of The French Dispatch, based on Harold Ross, the co-founder of The New Yorker — “who creates his magazine. It is more a portrait of this man, of this journalist who fights to write what he wants to write. It’s not a movie about freedom of the press, but when you talk about reporters you also talk about what’s going on in the real world.”
“The French Dispatch” is set for release on July 24th, 2020, but we will all likely, although still rumored, get the first glimpse of it at the Cannes Film Festival in May.