Brow Beat

Wes Anderson Just Announced the Voice Cast for His Animated Movie About Dogs, and It Is Insane

The Oscar-nominated director is returning to stop-motion for his next film, and he’s bringing everyone with him.

Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images

We finally know a little bit more about Wes Anderson’s mysterious stop-motion dog movie, Isle of Dogs, which has been in the works for more than a year now. The film, which has been described as “a Japanese story,” marks Anderson’s first return to animation after Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009. Anderson partnered with Crowdwise to officially announce the new project in a video on Wednesday, with a little help from Edward Norton.

Anderson continues to be stingy about the more tantalizing details we want to hear about, like the movie’s plot or a time frame for its release. Instead, we got details like: “It’s an animated movie. We’re shooting it in England.” Fortunately, things picked up when Anderson started rattling off the names of the cast, a dizzying list that includes the director’s regulars as well as some wild cards:

  • Bryan Cranston
  • Bill Murray
  • Jeff Goldblum
  • Scarlett Johansson (whose name is misspelled in the video)
  • F. Murray Abraham
  • Tilda Swinton
  • Kunichi Nomura
  • Harvey Keitel
  • Akira Ito
  • Akira Takayama
  • Koyu Rankin
  • Yoko Ono
  • Courtney B. Vance
  • Greta Gerwig
  • Frances McDormand
  • Bob Balaban
  • Liev Schreiber

Oh, and Norton is in it too, as a lead dog named Rex who we see in a sneak peek.

If you’re looking at this list and thinking, “Wow, the only name that’s missing from this list is my name,” then you’re in luck, because Anderson also announced that one fan can win a trip to visit the set in London and add his or her voice to the movie. Proceeds from the contest will support Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, dedicated to preserving and restoring films. Just don’t get too attached to your character—Anderson has a bad history with pooches.