With the Venice Film Festival 2023’s programme announced on Tuesday, fans were delighted to learn that not only would be playing – but it’s also one starring .
Only a matter of weeks after , hit cinemas after premiering at Cannes, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar will be showing off its wares out of competition.
The film, which is billed as an adventure comedy and will run at 39 minutes, is based on author Roald Dahl’s short story collection of the same name, published in 1977.
It marks Anderson’s first team-up with and his second Dahl adaptation after the triumph of 2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox.
There’s also a star cast to boot, led by Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel and Sir Ben Kingsley – but none of these are the things most exciting fans.
That would be, instead, the fact that is making his debut forin a currently undisclosed role.
‘Richard Ayoade in a Wes Anderson film? Give it to me immediately,’ demanded one excited fan, while another commented: ‘Genuinely can’t think of a better fit for Richard Ayoade then Wes Anderson.’
One person declared that Ayoade was ‘born for Wes Anderson’, while another crowed: ‘Benedict, Ralph Fiennes, and Richard Ayoade in the same movie together? By Wes Anderson? Target audience IS ME.’
‘RICHARD AYOADE IN A WES ANDERSON FILM I NEVER THOUGHT ID SEE THE DAYYY [sic],’ was another fan’s delighted post.
‘RICHARD AYOADE? WITH RALPH FIENNES? WES DOING THE MOST ONCE AGAIN,’ shared someone else excitedly, while a separate fan simply asked: ‘Why has it taken this long?’
Anderson revealed in an interview in June that he had wanted to adapt and direct The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for the screen for 20 years, but ‘by the time I was ready to do it’, the rights had been sold to Netflix.
‘Suddenly, in essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it. But beyond it, because it’s a 37-minute movie, it was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie,’ he told .
The 54-year-old Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom director said he ‘had only a good experience with Netflix’, but made it clear he is pro-cinema release over streaming still.
‘I’m very happy to be putting Asteroid City in cinemas. Focus and Universal are doing it the real cinema way. That’s the way I really want my movies to be shown.’
The film will chronicle four stories, known as Dahl’s darker tales, 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.
Other films set to feature at Venice Film Festival include , Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Ferrari with Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz and directed by Michael Mann, as well as Poor Things from Yorgos Lanthimos and Ava DuVernay’s Origin.
Roman Polanski has been invited back again with his latest, The Palace, while Woody Allen’s film, the French-language Coup de Chance, is also showing.
Original headliner Challengers, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, was pulled from the festival’s opening slot and had its release pushed back until April 2024 due to US actors’ union.
The 80th Venice Film Festival runs from August 30 – September 9.
