The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Cr. Netflix ©2023
Netflix has teamed up with famend filmmaker Wes Anderson to supply The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar film (cut up into a number of shorts), primarily based on the tales by Roald Dahl, together with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. The quick movie is about to have a star-studded solid with Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, and Dev Patel headlining the solid and is about to debut on Netflix in September.
The film is written and can be directed by seven-time Oscar nominee Wes Anderson, who’s behind the likes of The French Dispatch and, most lately, Asteroid City.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar can be Anderson’s second adaptation of Dahl’s work following the 2009 film Fantastic Mr. Fox. It’ll additionally notably be the director’s first-ever film for a streaming service.
Anderson is producing the film underneath his American Empirical Pictures banner. Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson are producers, with Octavia Peissel, John Peet, and Alice Dawson co-producing.
VENICE, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 01: Director Wes Anderson attends a photocall for the film “The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar” on the eightieth Venice International Film Festival on September 01, 2023 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Stefania D’Alessandro/WireImage)
Frequent collaborator with Anderson, Robert D. Yeoman, will function the cinematographer on the venture, whereas Kasia Walicka-Maimone is listed because the costume designer.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the primary main unique Dahl function movie at Netflix following the streamer’s acquisition of the Ronald Dahl Story Company within the fall of 2021, gaining the rights to adapt the writer’s complete catalog. It’s price noting, nevertheless, that the film was first picked up earlier than Netflix had acquired the library.
As you could know, Netflix is planning quite a few TV and film diversifications on the earth of Roald Dahl, together with diversifications of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Twits.
Wes Anderson’s venture first got here to gentle by way of Baz Bamigboye, who labored for the DailyMail on the time.
When will The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar launch on Netflix?
We’ve identified for fairly a while the brand new Wes Anderson flick can be launched in 2023 launch, with it being included in Netflix’s film slate reveal in January 2023.
Netflix has set The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar to launch on the service globally on September 27, 2023.
The quick movie may also be launched in choose theaters on September twentieth.
Ahead of its Netflix launch date, the film premiered on the Venice Film Festival (going down between August thirtieth and September ninth) as an out-of-competition entry.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar may have a runtime of 39 minutes
Anderson, chatting with IndieWire, was requested concerning the upcoming Netflix movie and defined that it’s “not a feature film,” including, “It’s like 37 minutes or something.”
It has since been confirmed by way of the Venice Film Festival that the quick can be 39 minutes in whole. Netflix once more reiterated the runtime in a press launch on August twenty fourth, with it being 39 minutes lengthy.
Continuing on why he selected to do the quick movie at Netflix and evaluating the title to his 2007 Apple quick movie Hotel Chevalier, Anderson defined, “Because it’s a 37-minute movie, it [Netflix] was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie. You know they used to do these BBC things called “Play for Today” directed by folks like Steven Frears and John Schlesinger and Alan Clarke. They have been one-hour applications and even much less. I type of envisioned one thing like that.”
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. (L-R) Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar and Ralph Fiennes because the policeman in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Cr. Netflix ©2023
World of Reel reported that they’d heard that the 39-minute runtime is rumored to solely apply to one of what is going to be 4 quick tales anticipated to be launched, with all being 100 minutes in whole. Their report states that one of many shorts can be stop-motion animation, and one other was footage from a stage present shot in 16mm.
In August 2023, we noticed the CARA score board challenge PG scores to 4 quick topics with Netflix hooked up, all anticipated to be Roald Dahl quick tales lined:
- Poison – Rated PG for peril, language, thematic parts, and temporary smoking
- The Ratcatcher – Rated PG for thematic parts, temporary language, and smoking
- The Swan – Rated PG for thematic parts and violent materials
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar – Rated PG for smoking
Ratings for Netflix titles, together with Poison, The Ratcatcher, The Swan, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
This was confirmed on the Venice Film Festival, the place Anderson teased the opposite upcoming shorts:
“There’s one other one which’s within the ‘Henry Sugar’ assortment that’s known as ‘The Swan,’ we’ve performed that with Rupert Friend.
We did a really previous one known as ‘Poison,’ which is one I all the time beloved… And then we’ve additionally performed a really, very unusual one known as ‘Ratcatcher,’ which is from a e-book known as ‘Claud’s Dog,’ a type of obscure Dahl e-book set within the Eastern a part of England. It’s a extremely rural one, it’s a peculiar story. And they’re all unusual. But I don’t actually have another ones in thoughts. I’ve some issues brewing, however that could be it for Dahl for the second.”
What’s the plot of Netflix’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar?
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. (Featured L-R) Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar and Sir Ben Kingsley because the croupier in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Cr. Netflix ©2023
As talked about above, the film can be primarily based on Ronald Dahl’s quick story assortment, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, first revealed in 1982. As the title suggests, there are seven quick tales in it. Four of those are anticipated to be lined by the shorts by Wes Anderson.
Per Netflix’s official description of the film, Anderson’s adaptation can be delving into many of those tales:
“Wes Anderson’s adaptation of several Roald Dahl short stories including The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”
Netflix’s up to date synopsis is as follows:
“A beloved Roald Dahl story about a rich man who learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes and then sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling.”
The title story facilities on Henry Sugar, a person who steals a e-book that reveals him methods to see by means of objects and predict the long run. This touches on a collection of misadventures that contain evading Mafia henchmen, working with a Hollywood make-up artist to craft new identities, and organising orphanages world wide.
The different tales within the e-book embody (these in daring are anticipated to have been tailored):
- The Boy Who Talked with Animals
- The Hitch-Hiker
- The Mildenhall Treasure
- The Swan
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
- Lucky Break
- A Piece of Cake
Poison wasn’t in that assortment of tales, however as an alternative a part of More Tales and Someone Like You. The Ratcatcher was one of many tales collected as a part of Claud’s Dog.
Who is solid in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar?
Cast grid for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar – Pictures: Getty Images
Among the primary batch of solid bulletins for the film included Benedict Cumberbatch, who will lead The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for Netflix. Cumberbatch’s latest work consists of Netflix’s Power of the Dog and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Cumberbatch can be joined on this venture by Dev Patel, Ralph Fiennes, and Sir Ben Kingsley. Patel will be seen within the acclaimed 2021 movie The Green Knight and Netflix’s upcoming Monkey Man, whereas Fiennes’s latest works embody starring alongside Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond in No Time to Die, and the Kingsman prequel known as The King’s Man. Oscar-winner Kingsley will be seen in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Rupert Friend, Richard Ayoade, and Asa Jennings spherical out the primary solid.
Netflix has confirmed actors may have a number of roles within the varied shorts. Here’s a breakdown of these:
- Benedict Cumberbatch will play Henry Sugar and Max Engelman
- Ralph Fiennes will play Roald Dahl and the Policeman
- Ben Kingsley will play Imdad Khan and Croupier
- Dev Patel will play Dr.Chatterjee and John Winston
- Richard Ayoade will play Dr. Marshall and Yogi
When requested about why he had actors play a number of roles, Anderson mentioned:
“I like the idea, right off the bat, of having a little company play the whole film. Benedict Cumberbatch was a key figure, and someone I had been wanting to work with. I have a little history with Ralph Fiennes, and having Ralph play Dahl: that was something that made me kind of want to do it. I hadn’t worked with Richard Ayoade, but have known him for years and years. Rupert I have worked with, of course. He is
dazzling in The Swan. Dev, I also love, and have tried to work with once before. This time he said ‘Yes.’ Ben Kingsley is crucial. We loved him. It’s nice to have somebody new and legendary at once. It was a great experience with the whole gang from start to finish.”
Picture: Netflix
When did The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar movie?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, manufacturing for the film started in January 2022 within the UK and ran by means of to late March 2022.
Are you wanting ahead to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar on Netflix? Let us know within the feedback beneath.
Note: Contains extra reporting from Tigran Asatryan.