Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch’ to Premiere at Cannes

It’s now official: Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch will have its world premiere at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, after being slated to premiere last year, but that edition of the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Leos Carax’s Annette and Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, the 2021 lineup of the Palme D’Or at Cannes’ official competition is starting to shape up and more news on its unveiling is sure to come. The 2021 edition of the Cannes International Film Festival is set to take place from July 6th to 17th, fully in-person. 

The French Dispatch is Wes Anderson’s 10th film and stars a slew of high-profile actors including Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Christoph Waltz, Elizabeth Moss, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan and known Anderson veterans Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzmann. The film was initially set to release on July 24, 2020, but was delayed indefinitely due to the pandemic, but now it looks like Disney will announce a release date very soon, after its Cannes release, as the movie is gearing up to be a potential Oscar contender come Awards season. 

When the first trailer premiered in February of 2020, there was lots of chatter on the film’s potential Oscar gains, but those discussions were quickly halted when the pandemic came and the film was delayed to TBA 2021. With its Cannes release, the film is definitely looking to pick up a fairly good amount of buzz to lead into Awards season and, who knows, maybe win the Palme D’Or in the process. Hey, after David Lynch’s Wild At Heart won in 1990, anything is possible. 

Source: Variety