Poster for Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch lands online, trailer tomorrow

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

I think the highest compliment you can give any filmmaker is to see a film and know immediately that it is his or her movie. Stanley Kubrick was one such, Alfred Hitchcock another. The same can also categorically be said for director Wes Anderson. From BOTTLE ROCKET to ISLE OF DOGS, every Wes Anderson picture possesses a unique flair to it. There's a quirkiness and otherworldliness to his pictures that is almost impossible to quantify. Undoubtedly, this will also be the case for his next film, THE FRENCH DISPATCH, due out this July. In anticipation of tomorrow's trailer, Searchlight Pictures unveiled a brand new poster for your viewing pleasure. Check it out:

Well if this isn't signature Wes Anderson I don't know what is. Owen Wilson on a bicycle? Check. Tilda Swinton (presumably) reciting poetry? Check. Adrien Brody looking like Gil from The Simpsons? Check again. Oh and there's Timothee Chalamet taking a bath. I'm sure that last will delight some fans and horrify others. Regardless, this poster screams Wes Anderson and I've no doubt the trailer will be a reflection of this poster,

As to the plot of THE FRENCH DISPATCH very little is known other than it is a love letter to journalists set at an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city centering on three storylines. Even the director himself Wes Anderson had problems quantifying the film. Speaking to French paper Charente Libre last April Anderson stated:

“The story is not easy to explain, [It’s about an] American journalist based in France [who] 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.”

Personally I like going into Wes Anderson films cold because to do otherwise spoils the surprise. I'm always happy to inhabit his quirky and distinct universe. I think not knowing what the film is about before you see it is part of the charm of a Wes Anderson flick. You always know you're in for something unique when the lights dim and a Wes Anderson movie begins.

THE FRENCH DISPATCH starring Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Lea Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothee Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Lois Smith, Saoirse Ronan, Christoph Waltz, Cecile De France, Guillaume Gallienne, Jason Schwartzman, Tony Revolori, Rupert Friend, Henry Winkler, Bob Balaban, Hippolyte Girardot, and Anjelica Huston delivers itself into theaters July 24, 2020.