What was Wes Anderson's favorite thing about making The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou? If his next project is any indication it was the animation. Apparently he's finally gotten tired of working with real actors (I know I'm getting a little tired of Luke Wilson myself) and is ready to try his hand at a full-length, stop-motion animation film. The even stranger news...it's a kid's story.

According to Variety, Anderson is adapting the children's book "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" for the big screen. "Mr. Fox" comes from the imagniation of Roald Dahl. You may have heard of him. He also wrote a few other little things like "James and the Giant Peach" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  Wes doesn't have any children that I'm aware of, so what prompted this sudden change of heart? Who knows.  Maybe he really likes playing with clay. Maybe he's taken up Tim Burton worship. Maybe he's just trying to bring some balance to his career, filming something he hasn't invented himself. Are you taking notes Mr. Shyamalan? 

It could be there's a clue in this description of the book from Children's Literature Critic (what a career choice) Michael Chabin:

"My lucky thing," Roald Dahl once said, "is that I laugh at the same things children laugh at." And children do laugh at the things he writes. In this case, fat Mr. Boggis who eats three chickens at every meal, potbellied Mr. Bunce who lives on doughnuts stuffed with goose liver paste, and pencil-thin Mr. Bean who drinks hard cider all day long, have decided to do away with Mr. Fox and his fine family. So determined are these maniacal three, that their efforts to eliminate the Fox family threatens the lives of every digging creature in the forest. Does Mr. Fox save the day? Of course he does! How? That you'll have to find out for yourself in this beautifully bound and superbly illustrated volume. Roald Dahl is the author of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He died in 1990 after more than forty years of making children laugh. Parents note: the farmers have guns, the cider is hard, and there is an occasional graceless belch. -- (from BarnesandNoble.com.)

Whatever Anderson's reasons, I'm sold. I love anything new and different from proven directors and this is definitely a step in a different direction for Anderson. No word yet on whether he will bring back his bosom Owen buddies to help voice the project. The movie is set to release sometime in 2006.

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