Calling all Wes Anderson fans (in Futura typeface, with symmetrical dollhouse framing and dry, mannered dialogue) – The French Dispatch is coming. The filmmaker, whose singular style remains one of cinema’s greatest treats, has been hard at work at his next live-action feature, and ahead of its debut trailer we’ve been offered a first poster. It’s as gorgeous and meticulous as you’d expect from the man behind The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom and all the rest, with plenty to pore over.
First up, there’s that full title: The French Dispatch Of The Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (take that, Birds Of Prey). And as we’ve heard, the film revolves around American journalists in a fictional French town producing a publication of their work – hence the magazine-cover design of the poster. It’s also a welcome reminder that Anderson has, once again, assembled a truly ridiculous cast here – working once again with Bill Murray, Owen Wilson (in a beret), Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Adrien Brody, and bringing in Benicio Del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, Timothée Chalamet, and more.
And that’s just the headline cast – look closer at the list at the bottom of the poster, and you also get Elisabeth Moss, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Christophe Waltz, Jason Schwartzman, Henry Winkler, Anjelica Huston, Bob Balaban, and The Grand Budapest Hotel’s Tony Revolori, among others. It is, frankly, ludicrous how many great people are in this film. Stay tuned for the trailer dropping tomorrow – and catch it in UK cinemas from 24 July.