‘The French Dispatch’ Trailer: Wes Anderson Directs Chalamet, Swinton, Murray, and More
Zack Sharf
Following yesterday’s batch of first look photos, Searchlight Pictures has dropped the first trailer for Wes Anderson’s highly anticipated 10th feature film, “The French Dispatch.” Anderson last directed the stop-motion adventure “Isle of Dogs,” making “French Dispatch” his first live-action effort since the release of “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Searchlight released “Grand Budapest” in March 2014 to nine Oscar nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director) and $172 million worldwide on a $25 million production budget. The studio is surely hoping to have similar success with “The French Dispatch” which, like “Grand Budapest,” boasts a star-studded ensemble cast.
Searchlight’s official synopsis for “The French Dispatch” reads: “The film is a love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th Century French city and brings to life a collection of stories published in ‘The French Dispatch’ magazine.” The ensemble cast includes Bill Murray, Timothee Chalamet, Frances McDormand, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Elisabeth Moss, Tilda Swinton, Lea Seydoux Owen Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Tony Revolori, and more. Anderson’s longtime cinematographer Robert Yeoman shot the film, while his frequent composer Alexandre Desplat and editor Andrew Weisblum also worked on the project.
Speaking to IndieWire last year, Moss said shooting the project was a “surreal experience,” explaining, “I went to France and did two days of shooting and it was like stepping into a Wes Anderson movie. Everyone looks like they’re in a Wes Anderson movie — and they usually are — and there’s Wes Anderson, and he looks like he’s in a Wes Anderson movie. It was like a weird dream. And everyone’s so nice. Somebody will be reading, and someone’s listening to music, and there’s people chatting and eating croissants. It’s the most civilized experience.”
Searchlight Pictures will release “The French Dispatch” in theaters on July 24. The release date hints the film could world premiere at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. Anderson hasn’t been to Cannes since “Moonrise Kingdom” opened the 2012 edition. Anderson’s last two films debuted at the Berlin Film Festival, but “French Dispatch” won’t be screening there.
Watch the first official trailer for Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” in the video below.
