“He couldn’t resist writing a story that has what most cinema has”: Wes Anderson on adapting Roald Dahl to the screen

It has certainly been an interesting year for Wes Anderson fanatics, with the director scheduling both Asteroid City and his upcoming The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for 2023. After the success of Asteroid City, fans are thrilled with the upcoming Netflix adaptation of Roald Dahl, which will also mark Anderson's first release on an OTT platform.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is not Wes Anderson's first adaptation of Roald Dahl, a writer he seems to appreciate and connect with. After the big success of his previous stop-motion animated adaptation, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson is all set to bring another Roald Dahl to the screens, this time in a live-action manner with some of the most talented actors on the market.

Speaking about Roald Dahl's appeal and the cinematic nature of story writing, Wes Anderson told Vogue:

"I remember thinking some of the children’s ones were pretty dark. He loves a villain who’s not just bad, but is nasty, awful, in every possible way. He loves to invent ways to make someone really deplorable and disgusting. But I think, maybe when I was [in high school], I came across one of his books for adults in a bookstore."

He added:

"I don’t want to say that; they’re not exactly for adults. They are for anybody, but they’re not limited to adults because they’re stories written with a real twist. He couldn’t resist writing a story that has what most cinema has, and that a lot of literature doesn’t have. You could compare Dahl to Henry James or Marcel Proust."

Anderson further expanded on how he came to give shape to Roald Dahl's work in his own style.

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Wes Anderson reveals how his Roald Dahl affinity "just sort of happened"

Many critics could see that Roald Dahl's stories would go perfectly with Wes Anderson's stylistic approaches, which have now become a global phenomenon. However, according to the director, it was not as well thought out as one would imagine.

When asked by Vogue about how Anderson came to visualize Roald Dahl's unique writing in his style, he revealed that he had not thought it through earlier and that he only wanted to make a stop-motion animated film at first. Anderson said:

"Well, I think it probably just sort of happened. I wanted to do Fantastic Mr Fox because I wanted to do a stop motion animated film, and it's one I loved as a child and I just kind of mixed those two ideas together. Then I got to know the family. I had some conversations with them and I think Liccy [Felicity Dahl, Roald’s wife] probably said, “Is there another one you like?”

He continued:

"So Henry Sugar was set aside for me. It’s not necessarily that I think Dahl is the most adaptable writer, although he might be one of the most adapted writers ever, maybe the most. I genuinely would rather take the inspiration of someone and combine it with something else that might be informed by what I’ve read that I can create my own version from."

So this perhaps formed one of the most formidable adaptation partnerships, which may go on to produce several other gems in the coming years.

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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival to a largely positive reception.