The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (known simply as The French Dispatch) is an upcoming American comedy-drama film written and directed by Wes Anderson from a story written by Anderson, Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman. The film will focus as one of three different storylines on the French foreign bureau of a fictional Kansas newspaper.
The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. The film’s supporting cast features several of Anderson’s recurring collaborators, including Liev Schreiber, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, and Anjelica Huston, among others.
Premise and background
The film has been described as “a love letter to journalists set at an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city”, centering on three storylines. It brings to life a collection of tales published in the eponymous The French Dispatch, based in the fictional French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé. The film is inspired by Anderson’s love of The New Yorker, and some characters and events in the film are based on real-life equivalents from the magazine. One of the three storylines centers on the May 68 student occupation protests, inspired by Mavis Gallant’s two-part article “The Events in May: A Paris Notebook”. Another storyline, featuring Adrien Brody’s character of Julien Cadazio, is based on “The Days of Duveen”, a six-part feature in The New Yorker on art dealer Lord Duveen.
When speaking to French publication Charente Libre in April 2019, Anderson said: “The story is not easy to explain, American journalist based in France creates his magazine. It is more a portrait of this man, of this journalist who fights to write what he wants to write. It’s not a movie about freedom of the press, but when you talk about reporters you also talk about what’s going on in the real world.”
Cast
- Benicio del Toro as Moses Rosenthaler, an incarcerated artist.
- Adrien Brody as Julien Cadazio, an art dealer, based on Lord Duveen.
- Tilda Swinton as J. K. L. Berensen, a writer and a staff-member of the French Dispatch.
- Léa Seydoux as Simone, a prison guard and Rosenthaler’s muse.
- Frances McDormand as Lucinda Krementz, a journalist profiling the student revolutionaries.
- Timothée Chalamet as Zeffirelli, a student revolutionary; boyfriend of Juliette.
- Lyna Khoudri as Juliette, a student revolutionary; girlfriend of Zeffirelli.
- Jeffrey Wright as Roebuck Wright, a food journalist based on an amalgamation of writer James Baldwin and journalist A. J. Liebling.
- Alex Lawther as Morisot
- Mathieu Amalric as a policeman with a kidnapped son
- Stephen Park as Lieutenant Nescafier, a chef and police officer who solves a kidnapping
- Bill Murray as Arthur Howitzer Jr., the editor of the French Dispatch, based on Harold Ross, the co-founder of The New Yorker.
- Owen Wilson as Herbsaint Sazerac, a writer and staff-member of the French Dispatch, based on Joseph Mitchell, a writer for The New Yorker.
- Liev Schreiber
- Elisabeth Moss as a member of the French Dispatch staff
- Edward Norton as a kidnapper
- Willem Dafoe as a prisoner
- Lois Smith as Upshur Clampette, an art collector.
- Saoirse Ronan as a mysterious woman
- Christoph Waltz as Boris Schommers
- Cécile de France
- Guillaume Gallienne
- Jason Schwartzman as Hermes Jones, a member of the French Dispatch staff
- Tony Revolori
- Rupert Friend
- Henry Winkler as one of Cadazio’s “business-partner uncles”.
- Bob Balaban as one of Cadazio’s “business-partner uncles”.
- Hippolyte Girardot
- Anjelica Huston
Fisher Stevens, Griffin Dunne and Wally Wolodarsky are set to play members of The French Dispatch staff, while Mohamed Belhadjine will portray Mitch Mitch, a student revolutionary. Additionally, Denis Ménochet, Benjamin Lavernhe, Vincent Macaigne, Félix Moati and Anjelica Bette Fellini have been cast in undisclosed roles.
Production
Development
In August 2018, it was reported Wes Anderson would write and direct an untitled musical film set in France, post World War II. In November 2018, it was announced Jeremy Dawson would produce the film, with Tilda Swinton and Mathieu Amalric starring in the film. Dawson also confirmed the film is not a musical. Additionally, Natalie Portman, Brad Pitt, and Léa Seydoux were rumored for roles in the film. In December 2018, it was announced Anderson would write and direct the film, with Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Timothée Chalamet, Benicio del Toro, and Jeffrey Wright; Seydoux was confirmed to star in the film alongside Swinton and Amalric, with Steven Rales producing under his Indian Paintbrush banner and Fox Searchlight Pictures distributing.
Later that month, Lois Smith and Saoirse Ronan joined the cast. In January 2019, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Henry Winkler, Willem Dafoe, Bob Balaban, Steve Park, Denis Ménochet, Lyna Khoudri, Alex Lawther, Vincent Macaigne, Vincent Lacoste, Félix Moati, Benjamin Lavernhe, Guillaume Gallienne, and Cécile de France joined the cast of the film. Robert Yeoman will serve as the film’s cinematographer. In February 2019, it was announced Wally Wolodarsky, Fisher Stevens, Griffin Dunne, and Jason Schwartzman had joined the cast of the film. In April 2019, Christoph Waltz, Rupert Friend, and Elisabeth Moss joined the cast of the film.
Kate Winslet was initially cast but exited the project in order to have more prep time for her next role in Ammonite.
Filming
Principal photography began in November 2018, in the city of Angoulême (South-West France) and wrapped in March 2019. Murray and Ronan, who have small roles in the film, recorded their scenes over the course of two days.
Release
In September 2019, Searchlight Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film. It was set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12, 2020, and get a wide release on July 24, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was cancelled and the film was pulled from the schedule on April 3, 2020. The film was rescheduled for release on October 16, 2020, before being pulled from the schedule again on July 23, 2020. It is currently planned for a 2021 release, with reports that it could debut at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.