Is Wes Anderson Making A Stop-Motion Adaptation of Berkley Breathed’s Flawed Dogs?

Late last week, a vague news item hit the internet announcing Wes Anderson’s (The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom, etc.) stop-motion follow-up to The Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was based off of the following tweet by Moviescope:









This was quickly followed-up by a source-less claim by Indie Wire that the film “will be about dogs,” that was then repeated by everyone from The NYTimes to Cartoon Brew.



While virtually EVERY news site took the opportunity to reference The New Yorker’s years-old humor piece, Does Wes Anderson hate dogs?, no one bothered to try and figure out what dog film Anderson was actually taking on.

Until now.

Yes, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I believe that Wes Anderson’s next stop-motion animated feature will (POSSIBLY!) be an adaptation of Berkeley Breathed‘s Flawed Dogs for DreamWorks.

How did I get there? Flawed logic, of course!



Consider this: Anderson’s co-writer on Fantastic Mr. Fox – as well as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – was none other than writer/director Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha, The Squid and The Whale, etc.). Way back in 2013, Bleeding Cool reported that Baumbach was “secretly” writing the screenplay and doing visual development on Flawed Dogs for DreamWorks.

Well, to be precise, Bleeding Cool actually stated that Baumbach was directing the film, but could this have changed? Could DreamWorks and/or Baumbach have decided to let the more ‘marketable’ Anderson step in to helm the project? Or could Bleeding Cool have accidentally over-stepped their scoop when giving Baumbach the directing credit? (I mean, they completely missed the fact that actress/writer Greta Gerwig was co-writing the script. It took Indie Wire to leak that tidbit.)



I honestly don’t know.



But this seems faaaar more likely than longtime friends and collaborators Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach intentionally going head-to-head with competing animated dog films. I mean, did DreamWorks learn NOTHING from their ill-fated attempt at putting Bee Movie up against Pixar’s A Bug’s Life?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!





Update! The plot summation of Breathed’s Flawed Dogs: Sam the Lion is actually a priceless dachshund, bred to be a show dog. More important, he is Heidy’s best friend — and she needs one like never before. Living with her reclusive uncle is hard, but Sam has a way of making her feel soft and whole. Until the day Sam is framed by the jealous poodle Cassius, and is cast out by Heidy’s uncle, alone on the wild streets, where he is roughed up by a world he was not bred for. Sporting a soup ladle for a leg, Sam befriends other abandoned dogs and journeys all the way to the Westminster Dog Show, where his plan for revenge on Cassius takes an unexpected turn when he and Heidy spot each other after years of being apart.

Hmn….a group of adorkable misifts going on a quirky adventure centered around family and abandonment issues? Sure sounds like a Wes Anderson movie to me!

