Wes Anderson's Next Pic will be an "Espionage" movie, Will star Benicio Del Toro, Michael Cera & Bill Murray

by Darian Scalamoni

    Wes Anderson is such a distinct filmmaker that this next piece of news is a bit shocking, considering usually when you're going into a Wes movie, you sort of know what you're getting. Deadline is confirming an original report from World of Reel that Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel) is gearing up to go into production with his next film, which is currently untitled but is described as an "espionage."

    Frequent collaborators of some of Anderson's past films will star in this one as Benicio Del Toro (Sicario) and Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) will reunite with the unique director. Michael Cera (Barbie) will mark his first acting role in an Anderson feature, however, appearing alongside Del Toro and Murray. Anderson will co-write the film with Roman Coppola.

    Anderson is coming off a 2023 where he was more in the spotlight than usual. He directed one of most profitable films ever in Asteroid City, which starred Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks, as well as a collection of short films for Netflix that starred Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, Rupert Friend and Ralph Fiennes. 

    Meanwhile, Del Toro has mostly stayed under-the-radar these past couple of years, however, he did star in Netflix thriller Reptile opposite Justin Timberlake and Alicia Silverstone in 2023. Murray joined the MCU in 2023 with his role as Lord Krylar, an old ex-boyfriend in the Quantum Realm of Janet Van Dyne's in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Before that, Murray was co-starring with Zac Efron in The Greatest Beer Run Ever.

    Cera had the biggest year of the three actors by far. He almost stole Barbie entirely for his role as Allan. Cera actually emailed director Greta Gerwig directly to get on board one of the highest-grossing films of 2023. Cera also appeared in Dream Scenario, a surrealist marvel of a movie starring Nicolas Cage that I had a chance to see for at the Montclair Film Festival last year. It's a terrific movie that everyone should check out. Piling onto his 2023 credits, Cera also returned to his most notable role as Scott Pilgrim, this time in animated form for Netflix's Scott Pilgrim Takes Off as well as appearing in the latest season of Black Mirror for the streamer.