Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ is a go

Long before making hay with the announcement of The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson’s other project, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, was an on-again, off-again, proposition. Finally news comes that (20th Century) Fox Animation has picked up the ball, and the full-length, animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl children’s classic is back on track. Anderson and Noah Baumbach, who’ve worked together on The Life Aquatic, wrote the screenplay for Fox, which will primarily use stop-motion, among other animation styles.

Originally purchased by Revolution Studios in 2004, Fox Animation picked up the project after Revolution went under.

According to Variety, Wes Anderson will kick-off pre-production and design for The Fantastic Mr. Fox during shooting for Darjeeling Limited. Much of Darjeeling, featuring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman, will be filmed in India starting this December, but Anderson plans to shoot some of the film, along with the entirety of Fantastic Mr. Fox, in England. Variety also speculates that the release date for Fox would be mid-2008, at the earliest.

Also, further proving that Mr. Anderson prefers a select casting pool, the current IMDB listing for Fox lists Schwartzman and Anjelica Huston (The Royal Tenenbaums) as “in talks” for voice-over work in the film.

Previously: Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited

tedzee | Permalink | October 25 2006 | Comments (View)