The French Dispatch: Alexandre Desplat Teases Incredible & Bigger Film From Wes Anderson

May 22, 2020

Grammy and Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat has confirmed that he has already seen a “finished version” of Wes Anderson’s forthcoming comedy romance drama The French Dispatch which he immediately praised Anderson for. Speaking with IndieWire, the French composer teases the star-studded film’s epic scope by revealing that it might be “even bigger than critically-acclaimed The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

“I saw the finished version of ‘The French Dispatch’ quite a while ago, and it’s just amazing,” Desplat said. “It’s so incredibly strong and different… the way that Wes is expanding his talents to another dimension with each film is just wow. This one is incredible. It’s beautiful. It’s fun, it’s mad, it’s everything… More stories, different locations, and so many ideas in every shot. So many! Wes’ brain is going so fast.”

In addition, he also commented on the ensemble cast’s performance, teasing that the audience should also look out for the individual acts by some of the cast members. “The performances in a Wes Anderson movie are always more like an ensemble,” he said. “We have that again, but here there are also really great solos and duets. Adrien Brody, Benicio del Toro, Léa Seydoux alone or with Benicio… there are such great moments.”

The French Dispatch will mark Desplat and Anderson’s fifth collaboration as they previously worked together on 2010’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom, 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and 2018’s Isle of Dogs with the The Grand Budapest Hotel giving Desplat his first Oscar win for Best Original Score.

The French Dispatch is described as a love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city centering on three storylines that bring to life a collection of stories published in “The French Dispatch” magazine.

The A-List ensemble includes Oscar winners Benicio Del Toro (Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Traffic), Adrien Brody (The Pianist), and Tilda Swinton (Suspiria, Michael Clayton) along with Oscar nominees Timothée Chalamet (Beautiful Boy, Call Me by Your Name), Bill Murray (Lost in Translation), and Owen Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums).

Léa Seydoux (Spectre), Lyna Khoudri (The Blessed), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), Mathieu Amalric (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Stephen Park (Fargo) are also starring in the film along with Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Lois Smith, Saoirse Ronan, Christoph Waltz, Anjelica Huston, Jason Schwartzman, Henry Winkler, and more.

The French Dispatch is written and directed by Anderson from a story by Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Hugo Guinness. The movie is independently financed by billionaire Steve Rales of Indian Paintbrush, who regularly backs Anderson’s projects.

Originally set to debut on July 24, 2020, the film is now scheduled to hit theaters on October 16, 2020.