The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)

[Hoke Moseley]

#WesAnderson directs another @roald_dahl tale of the unexpected following his 2009 animated adaptation of Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Dir will film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for @NetflixFilm with #BenedictCumberbatch as Sugar. Shoots in London v soon.

https://twitter.com/BazBam/status/1479214802673311751

[HipsterTrash]

Damn. Stoked on another Wes film but annoyed that it's on Netflix. Makes sense since I believe they nabbed rights to all of Dahl's work.

[Cremildo]

Dev Patel, Ralph Fiennes & Ben Kingsley will star with Benedict Cumberbatch

[Cremildo]

This was filmed entirely in 16mm.

[captveg]

Very cool.

Additionally, those articles reveal there are four stories in this film. At least two from the namesake anthology novel by Dahl (Henry Sugar, The Swan), and at least one other from the shorts collection Someone Like You (The Ratcatcher). The fourth story is yet to be revealed, though it sounds like they may be considering the India sections of Henry Sugar (aka, The Man Who Sees Without Using His Eyes) as a separate story entry. That would make some sense, as the narrative of the main Henry Sugar story does shift completely to the account of the Yogi for a long period.

We also know that several of the actors will be playing different roles in the different stories.

Really looking forward to this. I've always had Henry Sugar up near the top of my list fof favorite Dahl stories, and Anderson is an ideal match for the material.

We're even likely to get a physical media release from Criterion in a couple years.

[Hedrox]

I'm skeptical of it coming out this year, as we've seen no marketing for it what so ever. Surely Netflix could've at least mentioned it in that "Save the dates" video from a few months back.

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Hedrox

I'm skeptical of it coming out this year, as we've seen no marketing for it what so ever. Surely Netflix could've at least mentioned it in that "Save the dates" video from a few months back.

Netflix will release it at the end of the year as it'll be one of their main awards contender.

[Cremildo]

This is a 37-minute short film.

Edit: Wes Anderson clarifies that he made multiple Roald Dahl short films for Netflix, the longest being 37 minutes.

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

This is a 37-minute short film.

Sounds like an interesting experiment for Wes. Similar to what PTA did with Anima. Try out some different styles and crew to make something fun.

[BluBonnet]

Wes Anderson’s New Netflix Film Is a ’37-Minute Movie,’ Director Says: ‘I Really Want My Movies to Be Shown’ in Theaters Over Streaming

Wes Anderson announced in an interview with IndieWire that his upcoming Netflix movie “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” based on Roald Dahl’s 1977 short story collection, will only be 37 minutes long. The film is Anderson’s second Dahl adaptation after “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley. Notably, “Henry Sugar” marks Anderson’s first Netflix original. He told IndieWire that collaborating with the streamer was more out of necessity than personal preference.

“In my case it’s a little bit of a weird thing,” Anderson said about partnering with Netflix. “I knew Roald Dahl since before we made ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox.’ I met Lindsay Dahl, his widow, when we were shooting ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ like 20 years ago. For years I wanted to do ‘Henry Sugar.’ They set this story aside for me because I was friends with them. Lindsay kind of handed the torch to Luke, Dahl’s grandson. So I had this waiting for me. But I really couldn’t figure out the approach. I knew what I liked in the story was the writing of it, Dahl’s words. I couldn’t find the answer, and then suddenly I did. It’s not a feature film. It’s like 37 minutes or something. But by the time I was ready to do it, the Dahl family no longer had the rights at all. They had sold the whole deal to Netflix.”

“Suddenly, in essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it,” Anderson continued. “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. You know they used to do these BBC things called ‘Play for Today’ directed by people like Steven Frears and John Schlesinger and Alan Clarke. They were one hour programs or even less. I kind of envisioned something like that.”

It appears “Henry Sugar” will be more akin to Anderson’s 2007 short film “Hotel Chevelier,” a 13-minute prologue to his feature film “The Darjeeling Limited” that starred Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman.

“It’s not quite the choice between a full-fledged cinema release and a streaming release because you would never distribute a short film like that and distribute it in cinemas,” Anderson said about his “Henry Sugar” adaptation. “They’d have to sell cheaper tickets or do a double feature… I had only a good experience with Netflix, but 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.”

First published in 1977, Dahl’s “Henry Sugar” is a collection of seven short stories. Cumberbatch is playing Henry Sugar, the protagonist of the titular story, which poses the question: “If you could see with your eyes closed… would you use your power for good or for personal gain?” Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company in September 2021.

“Asteroid City” is Anderson’s latest directorial effort and opens exclusively in theaters June 16. “Henry Sugar” is expected to arrive on Netflix in the fall.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

This is a 37-minute short film.

Wes Anderson clarifies that he made multiple Roald Dahl short films for Netflix, the longest being 37 minutes.

[-JKR-]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Wes Anderson clarifies that he made multiple Roald Dahl short films for Netflix, the longest being 37 minutes.

HA!

Well played, Mr. Anderson, well played.

[captveg]

So, probably an anthology film like we expected, but being Netflix they may release them as short films instead.

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by captveg

So, probably an anthology film like we expected, but being Netflix they may release them as short films instead.

They also likely have a higher chance at the Oscars if they submit them as shorts, rather than an Anthology movie.

[Cremildo]

[Gacivory]

Richard Ayoade!!!!!

[Cremildo]

[Cremildo]

Metacritic

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Metacritic

Glad to read how much it sticks to Dahl's story.

[captveg]

The four shorts (the other 3 are The Swan, The Ratcatcher, and Poison, each 17 minutes) will be released on subsequent days on Netflix - 9/27, 9/28, 9/29 and 9/30.