Including all four Roald Dahl adaptations he made for the streamer in 2023
March 11, 2024 | 4:57pm ET
Wes Anderson took home his first-ever Academy Award on Sunday night (March 10th), winning the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, one of four Roald Dahl adaptations he made for Netflix in 2023. Now, the streaming giant has announced a repackaging of the four short films into an anthology entitled The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, due out March 15th.
In addition to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Anderson and Netflix’s The Swan, The Rat Catcher, and Poison round out the titular “three more.” Each short pulls from a star-studded pool of actors, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, and more appearing and reappearing throughout the collection. What’s more, the anthology will feature an original song by frequent collaborator Jarvis Cocker, as Anderson revealed in an official statement (via TheWrap).
“It was a special pleasure to (extremely faithfully) adapt four of Roald Dahl’s marvelous short stories,” Anderson said. “I am delighted to present them now as an anthology — also featuring an original song by Jarvis Cocker: ‘Roald Dahl’s Rules for Being a Fiction Writer.’”
In addition to the announcement of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, Anderson has shared several statements regarding his win, as the director wasn’t in attendance due to the start of production on his yet-to-be-titled next film starring Bill Murray, Michael Cera, and Benicio del Toro.
“If I could have been there, I (along with Steven Rales) would have said ‘Thank you’ to: The family of Roald Dahl (Luke and Liccy); the team at Netflix (Ted/Scott/Racheline/Lisa/Catherine/many others); Benedict and Ralph and Ben Kingsley and Dev and Richard and Bob and Adam and Jeremy and John and Jim and Rich and Jim and Polly and more,” Anderson told Entertainment Weekly. “Also I would have said: If I had not met Owen Wilson in a corridor at the University of Texas between classes when I was 18 years old, I would certainly not be receiving this award tonight.”
While The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar marked Anderson’s first win, it wasn’t the first time one of his films has nabbed an Oscar. The Grand Budapest Hotel, for example, snagged four awards at the 2015 ceremony for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is currently streaming on Netflix. Read our review by Senior Entertainment Editor Liz Shannon Miller, who wrote that it’s “a reminder that just because a story is short doesn’t mean it lacks power.” Also, check out our review of his 2023 feature Asteroid City and see where it placed on our definitive ranking of Wes Anderson movies.
