Wes Anderson has “ruthlessly” criticised Netflix – seemingly without meaning to.
The director, whose new film Asteroid City is released later this month, has directed a Roald Dahl adaptation for the streaming service, which is set to be released later this year.
Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, based on the author’s short story collection from 1977, stars Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ben Kingsley.
The director, who previously directed the animated adaptation of Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox (2009), revealed in a new interview that The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar will be just 37 minutes long.
He told IndieWire that he had wanted to adapt the short story collection for 20 years, but “by the time I was ready to do it”, the rights to Dahl’s works had been sold to Netflix.
“Suddenly, in essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it,” Anderson said, suggesting he only worked with Netflix on the project because he had to.
He then added: “But beyond it, because it’s a 37-minute movie, [Netflix] was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie.”
Anderson acknowledged that he “had only a good experience with Netflix”, but said: “I’m very happy to be putting Asteroid City in cinemas. Focus and Universal are doing it the real cinema way. That’s the way I really want my movies to be shown.”
Following his remarks, many are commenting on the way Anderson subtly criticised the streaming service.
Andrew Woods wrote: “That's wonderful shade at Netflix,” while David Renshaw tweeted: “Write this on Netflix’s grave.” Twitter user @duckisgod stated: “Do you think Wes knows how much he just insulted Netflix?”
However, some said that “it rocks” that Anderson is championing short-form moviemaking.
“Everyone’s into the *epic burn* on Netflix here but it rocks that he realized short form is what best supported his take and it’s good that Netflix can be a venue for that kind of project,”@tjbnx wrote, adding: “Lord knows theatrical or television has little-to-no room for one-off projects like this.”
Asteroid City, released on 23 June, is one of The Independent’s five best films to watch this month. Find the full review here.
