Brow Beat

Wes Anderson’s Next Project Is a Stop-Motion Movie About Dogs

Director Wes Anderson attends the Rome Film Festival on November 13, 2013.

Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

Given the commercial success of The Grand Budapest Hotel, it’s fair to say that Wes Anderson finally has the attention of a mainstream audience. Still, few know that the director moonlights as cinema’s only serial dog abuser. A brief recap of his crimes: In The Royal Tenenbaums, a beagle gets run over; in Fantastic Mr. Fox, another beagle chomps on drug-laced blueberries; in Moonrise Kingdom, an arrow impales a fox terrier; and in The Life Aquatic, a three-legged pooch is unceremoniously whacked by Jeff Goldblum.

Presumably to atone for this canine debasement, Anderson’s next project will be a movie entirely about dogs. Details are scarce, but The Playlist reports that the film is already in pre-production, and will be made using stop-motion animation, which the director has praised for its textural richness and handmade aesthetic. It’s worth noting that this will not be the Vittorio de Sica-inspired anthology film to which Anderson has also been attached, so any hopes you had for a vignette-based, Italian neorealist take on man’s best friend should be put to bed.