Wes Anderson‘s second film of 2023 will be his second Roald Dahl movie.
Based on the short story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar stars Benedict Cumberbatch (a natural for the director’s aesthetic) as the titular character, alongside Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade.
Unlike Anderson’s previous titles, including Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Asteroid City, Wonderful Story isn’t a feature-length film; it’s his first short, coming in at 37 minutes. It’s also his first movie where someone says the word “flabbergasted,” as Patel does in the trailer above. I’m surprised, too.
Anderson explained to Vogue why The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is his second Dahl adaptation, after 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. “I think it probably just sort of happened. I wanted to do Fantastic Mr. Fox because I wanted to do a stop motion animated film, and it’s one I loved as a child and I just kind of mixed those two ideas together. Then I got to know the family. I had some conversations with them and I think Liccy [Felicity Dahl, Roald’s wife] probably said, ‘Is there another one you like?’ So Henry Sugar was set aside for me,” he said. “It’s not necessarily that I think Dahl is the most adaptable writer, although he might be one of the most adapted writers ever, maybe the most.”
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar premieres on Netflix on September 27th.