Wes Anderson says Netflix was the perfect place for his new short as “it’s not really a movie”
Wes Anderson has stated that Netflix was the perfect place for his new short film, because “it’s not really a movie”.
The director, whose new film Asteroid City will arrive in cinemas later this month, has directed a Roald Dahl adaptation for the streaming service, which is set to be released later this year.
Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is based on Dahl’s short story collection from 1977, stars Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ben Kingsley.
In a new interview with IndieWire, the director revealed that his new film will be just 37 minutes long. He said that he had wanted to adapt the short story collection for 20 years, but “by the time I was ready to do it”, the rights to Dahl’s works had been sold to Netflix.
“Suddenly, in essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it,” Anderson said, suggesting he only worked with Netflix because he had no choice.
The director then added: “But beyond it, because it’s a 37-minute movie, [Netflix] was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie.”
Anderson said that he “had only a good experience with Netflix”, but added: “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.”
While the director seemingly didn’t intend to criticise Netflix, many social media users have taken his comments as a subtle jibe at the streaming service.
“You can just tell Wes Anderson was sickened by the fact that he had to make Henry Sugar for Netflix,” tweeted one person, while another wrote: “Do you think Wes knows how much he just insulted Netflix?”
the way you can just feel Wes Anderson being sickened by the fact that he had to make Henry Sugar for Netflix https://t.co/pe2UsTsRXF pic.twitter.com/rH8DT5NSJ0
— Corey Atad (@CoreyAtad) June 15, 2023
In a four-star review of Asteroid City, NME wrote: “The Anderson faithful will certainly be rewarded by a lush-looking film and a cast so big, there hasn’t even been time to mention Margot Robbie, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum.
“Suffice to say, Anderson has swelled the ranks of his rep company even more. Best of all, Jason Schwartzman – now on his seventh Anderson movie – gets a juicy role for his favourite director. Seeing the two of them together again feels like perfect harmony.”
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Chris Edwards
NME
