Wes Anderson took a break from alphabetizing his collection of fine pocket squares this weekend to attend the Lisbon and Esteril Film Festival in Portugal, where he revealed that his next film may be a return to stop-motion animation, a technique he used in the Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Anderson revealed during a Q&A that he may return to the world of stop-motion for his next picture. Even more, he said that the story would be divided into episodes, not unlike Vittorio De Sica’s “The Gold Of Naples.” That film presents six vignettes, with the only connecting thread that they’re all tales set in Naples (you can see two un-embeddable excerpts here). [ThePlaylist]
Oh sure, Vittorio De Sica. I celebrate his entire catalog. In fact I used to have a big Vittorio De Sica poster up in my dorm room, right between Truckasaurus and Carmen Electra. I kid, I am a Philistine, with a mere 7-8 years of liberal arts instruction. Thought it sounds a lot like the 1955 Italian version of New York, I Love You or Paris, Je T’aime, a series of vignette’s connected by geography. The vignettes are also the most Italian-sounding stories imaginable.
…this is a collection of 6 Neapolitan episodes: a clown exploited by a hoodlum; an inconsistent pizza seller (Loren) losing her husband’s ring; the funeral of a child; the impoverished inveterate gambler Count Prospero B. being reduced to force his concierge’s preteen kid to play cards with him (and regularly being defeated); the unexpected and unusual wedding of Teresa, a prostitute; the exploits of “professor” Ersilio Micci, a “wisdom seller” who “solves problems”. [Wiki]
Mama mia! Why you-a no guana tella to them about a-Guiseppe? Guiseppe slip onna grape-a anna spill a plate-a meat-a-ball!
Anyway, it sounds like it would be at least a slight departure for Wes Anderson, which is nice, because he hasn’t had one of those since… well, since Fantastic Mr. Fox. The big question following his highest-grossing movie, Grand Budapest Hotel, is whether he’ll try to stretch, artistically, like he did before Moonrise, or continue to refine what he already does and give people exactly what they expect from him (which tends to be the most lucrative). No word yet on whether this will be his next project.
As for The Gold of Naples, aka L’oro Di Napoli, you can watch a clip below. For me, the big takeaway was “HOLY CRAP, LOOK AT SOPHIA LOREN’S BOOBS!” I’m very cultured, you see.