New Details on Wes Anderson's Adaptation of Roald Dahl's THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR
With Wes Anderson’s fun-looking film Asteroid City coming out next week, the filmmaker is already working on his next project, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. The film is set up at Netflix and it’s the second Roald Dahl adaptation that Anderson has worked on.
Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade are all set to star in the film. The original book consisted of several short stories and this movie will adapt four of them. We now have a few little details to share about the movie thanks to Friend. In a recent interview with Variety, he said:
“It could change, but when we made it, there were four stories drawn from a Roald Dahl [short story collection], which are his slightly darker, twisted ones that he wrote for adults. Wes took four of them and put together a smaller troupe of actors: myself, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, and Richard Ayoade. We each play in around two of the stories and kind of change roles. I think Ralph might be in all of them. My two are “The Ratcatcher” and “The Swan.” I grew up completely obsessed with Dahl. I actually had his obituary on my bedroom door. I was so saddened when he died [in 1990]. This film was a dream come true.”
That sounds like it’ll be interesting! Having the same actors play different characters is a new thing for Anderson. As for the two stories that Friend mentions, here is some information on them for those of you not familiar.
“The Ratcatcher,” tells the “sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a ratcatcher has a most unusual way of dealing with these pests....”
“The Swan” follows two boys, “Ernie and his friend Raymond, who like to bully Peter Watson. When Ernie receives a rifle for his fifteenth birthday, they both decide to go to the rabbit field, shooting birds on their way. There, they quarrel with Peter, and something entirely unexpected takes place.”
The brief description of the whole book reads, “Meet the boy who can talk to animals and the man who can see with his eyes closed. And find out about the treasure buried deep underground. A cleaver mix of fact and fiction, this collection also includes how master storyteller Roald Dahl became a writer. With Roald Dahl, you can never be sure where reality ends and fantasy begins.”
Netflix acquired the full Roald Dahl story catalog last year, and they are looking to bring those stories to life as films, shows, live-action, animation, immersive experiences, games, and more. Some of the other projects currently in development include Taika Waititi and Phil Johnston’s series based on the world of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and an adaptation of Matilda The Musical.
