Back in 2009, Wes Anderson released Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion animation adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic book—a “children’s movie,” by definition, yet one that was arguably the purest distillation to date of Mr. Anderson’s distinctive style. The reason is simple: by working with miniatures and manipulation, Anderson was quite literally constructing the entire world of his film, going even further than he can with his customarily detailed production design, costumes, and the like. It’s painstaking, time-consuming work, but Anderson apparently didn’t mind; according to The Playlist, his next feature will mark a return to stop-motion animation, this time with canines as stars.
“Deeper details are being kept under wraps for now,” the Playlist reports, “but sources confirmed the animated project is Anderson’s next picture and that pre-production work has begun.” Dogs have been a recurring leitmotif in the work of Mr. Anderson, though a grisly one; his films to date have included enough canine casualties to warrant an investigation by The New Yorker. (To be fair, felines usually don’t fare much better.) Presumably, the dog body count will be considerably lower in the new film—though we won’t jump to any hasty conclusions. You never know with this guy.