Wes Anderson film “The French Dispatch” releases its first trailer
On February 12th, the long awaited trailer for Wes Anderson’s new film, “The French Dispatch” was released. After months of anticipation and very little information, fans of the critically acclaimed director were finally able to get a glimpse of what’s to come.
This is Anderson’s tenth film, being his first live-action project since “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was released in 2017. “The French Dispatch” is centered around a 20th century newspaper staff tasked with releasing an edition of their three greatest stories. How fitting to write about it for a school newspaper.
“The French Dispatch” boasts a star studded cast, with many familiar names. If I were to list them all, you’d likely become bored; however, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton and Owen Wilson are just a handful of the members of this very talented cast.
Anderson is known for his unique stylistic choices of costumes, elegant set design and his usage of color. Judging by this trailer, there appears to be no shortage of these elements. Within the first-thirty seconds of the trailer, a series of cuts reveals a variety of set pieces: the office of an editor, a construction site, the streets of France, a heated chess match along with other assorted locations.
In addition to this, a section of the film appears to be color-graded in black and white, which is an element not often utilized by Anderson. With this in mind, I am excited to see what is planned for this film and what tricks Anderson may have up his sleeve.
Certain directors have a tendency to utilize the same actors in their movies, having developed close relationships with them. For example, Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro have filmed an astounding eight films as a pair. Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson have collaborated with each other six times and Paul Thomas Anderson and Phillip Seymour Hoffman share five collaborations.
Wes Anderson has been a leading example of this throughout his entire career, most notably with Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. “The French Dispatch,” will be the ninth and eighth collaborations with Anderson for Murray and Wilson respectively.
Judging by the trailer (and Anderson’s track record), “The French Dispatch” seems worth the wait. I’m interested in the plot and seeing the cast working together to portray the many depths of this story.