Wes Anderson Announces His Next Animated Film, 'Isle of Dogs,' and Offers Fans a Chance to Voice a Character

Nick Schager
·Writer

While Wes Anderson’s illustrious career includes such live-action gems as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, there may be no more charming and amusing work in his oeuvre than 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion animated family drama (based on the book by Roald Dahl) featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, and Willem Dafoe. Thus, fans will be excited to hear that the director will return to animation for his next project — and in a video announcement (watch it above), he offers fans the chance to voice one of its canine characters.

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In the clip (via IndieWire), Anderson reveals that he’s about to begin production in London on Isle of Dogs. Its plot — aside from a hint in the clip that it will, as per its title, indeed involve dogs — remains shrouded in secrecy. Anderson revealed an impressive voice cast, including Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Bob Balaban, F. Murray Abraham, and Harvey Keitel. Oh, and it’ll also feature Edward Norton, who makes a cameo in Anderson’s announcement clip, while also remarking upon the clip’s very quick glimpse at test footage of his character, Rex, which we see long enough to confirm that he, in fact, looks like a dog.

Related: How ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ Was (Meticulously) Made

Meanwhile, all this news is in service of a good cause: Anderson has partnered with Crowdrise to solicit donations for The Film Foundation, the film preservation charity launched by Martin Scorsese in 1990; one of the promotion’s prizes is the opportunity to voice a character — likely a dog, per Anderson — in Isle of Dogs. So if you’ve always dreamed of having a speaking line in an Anderson film, now’s your chance to nab a part, while also doing your part for future generations to see great films.

Isle of Dogs currently has no release date.

Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’: Watch a trailer: