We have learned that Michael Cera and Jeff Goldblum are currently in early talks to join the cast of Wes Anderson’s next film, set to begin filming in late-Spring.
Per our sources, these talks are fairly early so there is a chance that neither actor will sign up, especially given the ongoing delays in film productions due to COVID-19, and both actors have rather busy schedules that could conflict with moving production dates.
If talks succeed and Michael Cera signs on, this would be the actor’s first collaboration with Wes Anderson, something that fans have been clamoring for years. Cera is best known for his roles in Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and Juno. His upcoming projects include voice acting roles in the Sundance 2021 award-winner Cryptozoo and Chris Bailey’s Blazing Samurai. His next live-action role is currently set to be in Jonty for A24, which follows a coddled kid who takes off for NYC and joins forces with an old friend to produce a terrible Broadway play.
Jeff Goldblum is a regular collaborator in the Wes Anderson family, having worked on The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs. Though he is noticeably absent from Anderson’s next film, The French Dispatch. Goldblum also has a stack of upcoming projects including the highly anticipated Jurassic World: Dominion, which recently wrapped filming, as well as voice acting roles in Marvel’s What If…? and Dreamworks’ The Boss Baby 2.
We first reported that this film was in the works and, at that time, we heard there was a romance story at the center. However, this is seemingly no longer the case as multiple sources have suggested to us that the focus is instead on a group of brainy teenagers. Furthermore, due to COVID-19, the film has pushed back its production start with hopes to begin shooting later in Spring.
Wes Anderson’s company Indian Paintbrush will produce the film with Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson. No distributor is attached at the moment but given Anderson’s strong relationship with Searchlight Pictures, it would not be surprising if the film headed there.
His next film will be The French Dispatch, which follows the staff of a European publication who decide to publish a memorial edition highlighting the three best stories from the last decade: an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef. The all-star cast of The French Dispatch includes Benicio del Toro, Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson. The film was originally intended to have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival to later get a wide release on July 24, 2020. Searchlight first pushed the film to October 16, 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic until it was delayed indefinitely, as it has been for months now.
The French Dispatch is still expected to release sometime later this year in order to compete in the 2022 Oscar season. Depending on when his new film can begin production, there is a possibility of back-to-back Wes Anderson films in 2021 and 2022.
