Wes Anderson has confirmed that his Roald Dahl “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” anthology will eventually include three more short films of the author’s stories: “The Swan,” “Poison” and “The Ratcatcher.”
During the Venice Film Festival press conference for the 37-minute “Henry Sugar” on Friday, Anderson teased the forthcoming “very, very strange” short films.
“There’s another one that’s in the ‘Henry Sugar’ collection that’s called ‘The Swan,’ we’ve done that with Rupert Friend,” Anderson said. “We did a very old one called ‘Poison,’ which is one I always loved… And then we’ve also done a very, very strange one called ‘Ratcatcher,’ which is from a book called ‘Claud’s Dog,’ a kind of obscure Dahl book set in the Eastern part of England. It’s a really rural one, it’s a peculiar story. And they’re all strange. But I don’t really have any other ones in mind. I have some things brewing, but that might be it for Dahl for the moment.”
Friend previously revealed to PvNew in May that he is set to star in “The Swan” and “Ratcatcher.”
“Wes took four of [Dahl’s stories] and put together a smaller troupe of actors: myself, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel and Richard Ayoade,” Friend said. “We each play in around two of the stories and kind of change roles. I think Ralph might be in all of them.”
During the press conference, Anderson also addressed the recent controversy of Dahl’s works being edited to eliminate offensive language. “I don’t want even the artist to modify their work,” Anderson said. “I understand the motivation for it, but I sort of am in the school where, when the piece of work is done and the audience participates in it, we know it — I sort of think what’s done is done. And certainly, no one besides the author should be modifying the work — he’s dead.”
As for the ongoing writers and actors strikes, Anderson kept his message simple and to the point: “An equitable deal has got to be reached for anybody to go forward. People are suffering.”
Anderson previously adapted a Dahl work with “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which was nominated for an Oscar for best animated feature and original score.
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is set to release in theaters on Sept. 20 and on Netflix Sept. 27.
