Nominated for seven Academy Awards, filmmaker Wes Anderson won his first Oscar this past weekend, the Best Live Action Short Film for his 33-minute short, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch. But during the Oscar ceremony, Anderson was nowhere to be found and couldn’t accept in person.

Was the director thumbing his nose at the Academy? Not at all. As many suspected, Anderson wasn’t available as he’s about to shoot his new movie, rumored to be called, “The Phoenician Scheme.”

READ MORE: Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl Shorts Review: The Preciousness Of Wes Anderson-Isms Are Pushed To Their Artisanally-Crafted Limits [Netflix]

“If I could have been there, I (along with [producer] Steven Rales) would have said ‘Thank you’ to: the family of Roald Dahl; the team at Netflix; our cast and crew,” he wrote in a statement, explaining his absence “And also: 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 — but unfortunately, Steven and I are in Germany and we start shooting our new movie early tomorrow morning, so I did not actually receive the award or get a chance to say any of that.”

While not an official title, “The Phoenician Scheme” is said to be a spy/espionage and family drama that stars Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, and Bill Murray.

Continue reading Wes Anderson Missed The Oscars To Shoot New Spy Movie, While ‘Henry Sugar’ Shorts Turn Into Netflix Anthology [Trailer] at The Playlist.

“To be honest, the idea of freedom scares me:” Produced and presented by filmmaker Roman Coppola (“Mozart in the Jungle,” “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III,” and a regular Wes Anderson co-writer), eight different filmmakers come together to collectively direct “The Seven Faces of Jane,” in which the titular protagonist (played by Gillian Jacobs, who also directs) undergoes a series of life-altering changes, as she drives away from her “mundane life into an exciting odyssey on the road.”

The idea is essentially a cinematic exquisite corpse, the game invented by French surrealists, where one person writes a fragment of a sentence, the next person reads some of it, and tries to add onto it from there; essentially an experimental game of passing the baton with art.

Continue reading ‘The Seven Faces Of Jane’ Trailer: Gillian Jacobs Stars In A Movie Directed By 8 Filmmakers, Including Gia Coppola & Xan Cassavetes at The Playlist.

There are two types of people in the world. There are those who watch the Super Bowl each year just for the commercials, unaware of the teams playing in the actual event and with zero interest about what the outcome might be. And then there are people who actually enjoy the Super Bowl, claiming they don’t care about the commercials and half-time show because it’s all about the sanctity of sport. That latter group is lying.

Continue reading The Best (Or Most Notable) Super Bowl Ads: Bill Murray Reprises ‘Groundhog Day’ Role, ‘Wonder Woman 84’ & More at The Playlist.

We’ve been talking about Wes Anderson’s upcoming film “The French Dispatch” for months now. Unlike the films from Marvel Studios, there hasn’t been a whole lot of secrecy surrounding the project, as cast, plot, and possible Cannes premieres have all been leaked or speculated. In fact, the only thing we really didn’t know is the actual release date. Until now.

READ MORE: No, Wes Anderson’s ‘French Dispatch’ Is Not 4 Hours Long, But Here’s A Synopsis & New Details

According to Searchlight, “The French Dispatch” will arrive in theaters on July 24.

Continue reading Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch’ Lands July Release Date at The Playlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started off the month by inviting 842 new members into the mix. Assuming they all agree to join, which is never the case, this swells the membership to almost 9,000 members. This year’s class also helps AMPAS come closer to many of the diversity goals it has strived for since the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2016.

READ MORE: Timothee Chalamet, Tiffany Haddish among massive new 928 member Academy class 

According to the Academy, 50% of the new members are women and push the overall percentage from 25 to 32%.

Continue reading Adele, Lady Gaga, Sterling K. Brown & 839 More Invited To Join The Academy at The Playlist.

Watch: Trailer For Season 2 Of Amazon's 'Mozart In The Jungle' Starring Gael Garcia Bernal & Lola Kirke

Continue reading Watch: Trailer For Season 2 Of Amazon’s ‘Mozart In The Jungle’ Starring Gael Garcia Bernal & Lola Kirke at The Playlist.

Continue reading Charlie Sheen Says He Has A Script From Roman Coppola; Says WB Will Rename Studio Charlie Bros. at The Playlist.

Continue reading Exclusive: Sofia Coppola Says Roman Coppola Is Working On A New Feature-Length Film at The Playlist.

Continue reading Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray & More In Talks For Wes Anderson’s ‘Moon Rise Kingdom’ at The Playlist.

Stella Artois tapped Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola to direct a spot as part of a new global campaign for the brew and this is the result. It’s essentially as if Quagmire from “Family Guy” traveled back to the 1960s and had his array of robotic romantic mood setting tools go haywire. While the date ends up trapped in a couch, at the least the beer remains cold and the glass full.

Continue reading Watch: Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola Directed Ad For Stella Artois at The Playlist.

New Yorker magazine has launched an iPad app and enlisted Roman Coppola to direct a tutorial for users starring Jason Schwartzman. It’s a fun little spot with Schartzman taking to a number of oddball locations and scenarios to talk about each feature. We’re just mostly wondering how he keeps water out of his iPad or if just buys a new one every time it gets wet.

Continue reading Watch: Jason Schwartzman Stars In New Yorker iPad App Tutorial Directed By Roman Coppola at The Playlist.

Kicking things off, Wes Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited” (no artwork yet) will finally get the extras-laden treatment it deserves after an initial bow on home video via Fox Searchlight.

Continue reading Criterion October Slate Includes ‘The Darjeeling Limited,’ ‘Paths Of Glory,’ ‘The Magician’ & More at The Playlist.

They confirm that Meryl Streep not Cate Blanchett (as once was the plan) voices the lead Mrs. Fox — the husband of Mr. Fox as voiced by George Clooney — and that additional rumored voice cast members Owen Wilson, Michael Gambon (who was already rumored for sometime), Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Jarvis Cocker and Wes Anderson himself, are legit and part of the film.

Continue reading Confirmed: Meryl Streep Replaced Cate Blanchett In Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’? Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe & Adrien Brody Are Part Of Voice Cast at The Playlist.

The new drama?

When the documentary originally aired at Sundance and Cannes (and aired on Monday on HBO), it concluded with a statement that an agreement had been reached that would have allowed the director to return to the United States with no further jail time, but here’s the rub – only if the filmmaker agreed to allow his unlawful intercourse with a minor hearing to be televised.

Continue reading Further Evidence Suggests L.A. Judges Sought Further Public Humiliation For The Diddling Director Roman Polanski at The Playlist.

The press loves Anderson even as much as they might not love ‘Darjeeling,’ (reviews are starting to tip into the favorable scale, but they’re generally tentatively positive), so there’s literally dozens and dozens of pieces out there on Wes and the film and it’s hard to keep track of all of them, but here’s what we’ve collated so far and deemed noteworthy.

Continue reading Stalking Wes Anderson Part 2: NYFilm Fest Press Conference And Miscellaneous ‘Darjeeling’; Bottle Rocket Criterion Confirmed at The Playlist.

As Schwartman noted to EW, his involvement with co-writing ‘Darjeeling,’ with Anderson and Sofia Coppola’s older brother Roman, came as an off-the-cuff inquiry from Wes asking, “How about a movie with three brothers on a train?,’ and evolved from there.

Continue reading Schwartzman Talks ‘Darjeeling’; Soundtrack Due September 25 at The Playlist.

Continue reading The Darjeeling Limited Trailer Gets Kinky at The Playlist.