Wes Anderson’s ‘Henry Sugar’ Was Shot on a Stage in 16mm: “It’s A Very Different Style”

It just seems to be a Wes Anderson kind of day.

Anderson’s been a busy man. His latest film, “Asteroid City,” premiered at Cannes last month and is set to be released a little less than two weeks from now. However, he’s already set his sights in releasing another film in 2023.

Now we have DP Robert Yeoman giving us details on “The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar,” which is based on four short stories penned by author Roald Dahl:

Three of them were shot on a stage. One of them is out in the jungle. So it was quite a challenge to create all this on a stage. And each one has a very distinct look to it. We shot 16mm for the whole thing, which when I saw the finished film, the first thing I wrote Wes was I just love the 16mm. It has such a distinct look to it. But again, he’s pushing the boundaries and it’s a very different style, in some ways, than what Wes usually does. When I saw the film––I saw it a couple of months ago, they were color timing––I loved it when we worked on it, but when I saw it on the screen, I was like, ‘This is really cool.’ It was really amazing. And I’ll be curious how everyone reacts to it. It’s a little bit different style than what Wes ordinarily does. I think a lot of it has to do with, when he did those animated movies, it changed how he approaches making a film now. And that one in particular, we knew there would be something that would be put on the screen up on top or something, because it was on a stage. Everything was forced perspective. And so it was a little tricky oftentimes. But, you know, it challenges you. And when you can pull it off, you get a great deal of satisfaction with that.

So, this upcoming film was literally shot on a stage in 16mm. There’s also stop motion animation. It does sound very different to previous Andersons. He might not be completely repeating his usual stylizations this time around.

Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘Henry Sugar,’ stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, will tackle four of Dahl’s short stories.

‘Henry Sugar’ deals with four of Dahl’s short stories, but the main one follows Henry Sugar, who is able to see through objects and predict the future with the help of a book he stole.

The film will be released via Netflix this fall. I have no idea which Festival could premiere this one — Venice? NYFF? London?