Wes Anderson is reportedly eyeing a major reunion for his 10th feature film. French publication Premiere reports the writer-director has tapped musician Mark Mothersbaugh to write the original songs for what is rumored to be a musical set in France during the 1950s. News broke in August that Anderson was scouting locations in Angoulęme, France to film the movie in early 2019.

Anderson fans should easily recognize the name Mark Mothersbaugh. The musician was Anderson’s longtime film composer and contributed the scores to the director’s 1996 directorial debut “Bottle Rocket,” “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbums,” and “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.” The two have not worked together since 2004’s “Zissou,” which means the French musical will be their first feature in 15 years. Anderson has worked with composer Alexandre Desplat in recent years.

Production on Anderson’s 10th feature is tentatively set to begin in February 2019 and is expected to last at least four months. Anderson was back in theaters earlier this year with the stop-motion movie “Isle of Dogs,” which is being eyed as an awards contender for screenplay and animated feature. Desplat has scored the last three Anderson movies, and he could return if Mothersbaugh is solely working on the musical’s original songs.

In addition to working with Anderson, Mothersbaugh is also known for working on the scores to “Thirteen,” “21 Jump Street,” and “Thor: Ragnarok.” His work was most recently heard in “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” earlier this year and he’s got “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” set for release in 2019. Outside of film work, Mothersbaugh is famous for co-founding the rock band Devo. IndieWire has reached out to Anderson’s representative for further comment.

As the animated “Isle of Dogs” heads toward an Oscar nomination, Wes Anderson’s next live-action movie started shooting a week ago under wraps in Southwestern France (Angoulęme), where local French papers have reported various sightings. (While Anderson lives in Paris, this marks his first film set in the City of Lights.)

Contrary to prior reports, the movie, his tenth, is not a musical. According to one source close to the production, “The French Dispatch” is a love letter to journalists set at an outpost of an American newspaper in 20th-century Paris and centers on three storylines. As usual the movie features a mighty ensemble including regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton (who currently stars in “Suspiria”) plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, and Oscar contender Timothée Chalamet (“Beautiful Boy”).

While these cast members are real, Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, and Léa Seydoux remain in the rumored category — although Portman did star in his short “Hotel Chevalier,” Seydoux appeared in “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” and Pitt channeled M. Hulot in the SoftBank commercial below. So you never know.

Written by Anderson (and his posse), the film is independently financed by Anderson’s usual billionaire backer Steve Rales (Indian Paintbrush). We will likely see it unspool at Cannes and wind up with usual distributor Fox Searchlight.

When asked to confirm his casting at an Amazon Studios party celebrating “Beautiful Boy,” Chalamet threw his hands in the air and laughed.

Speaking to the French outlet Charente Libre, Anderson spoke at length about shooting in France for his upcoming film, while also dropping a bit more information about casting and the plot.

First off, the interview is happening because Anderson is back in the town of Angouleme, continuing work on “The French Dispatch.” And this time, he’s brought along actors that haven’t shot with him previously on the film, including Rupert Friend, Alex Lawther, and perhaps most surprisingly, Christoph Waltz.

Friend is probably best known for his work on the Showtime series “Homeland,” as well as the films “Pride & Prejudice” and “The Death of Stalin.” Lawther, on the other hand, is relatively new to the industry, as the young actor is probably most known for the series “The End of the Fucking World.”

However, Waltz is one of the best actors on the planet, winning two Oscars for his roles in the Quentin Tarantino films “Django Unchained” and “Inglorious Basterds.” In addition to those roles, the actor has been recently seen in the James Cameron/Robert Rodriguez film “Alita: Battle Angel” and also “Downsizing.”

Sadly, it appears that Bill Murray’s previously announced role in “The French Dispatch” is set to be a rather minor one. Anderson confirms that the actor was only on set for two days, but was in France a week longer because… it’s France.

The filmmaker also describes the basic premise of his latest film, which he says follows the life of an American journalist attempting to fight for what he wants to write about. However, Anderson says it’s not a freedom of the press movie, but does include a bit of social commentary, as it’s unavoidable when covering this sort of story.

Anderson also dropped a welcome bit of information that film fans might get the chance to see “The French Dispatch” before the end of the year. The director said that no release date has been decided but he thinks that he could be finished by the end of 2019. So, maybe there’s going to be a Wes Anderson-sized present under fans’ Christmas trees this year?

Searchlight has confirmed with us that the official runtime for The French Dispatch is one hour and 48 minutes.

Official synopsis:
The French Dispatch is a love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city and brings to life a collection of stories published in The French Dispatch magazine.

Variety reported today the $25 million shoot lasted six months. (In comparison, The Grand Budapest Hotel was a similar budget, but the shoot only lasted around three months, further fueling these runtime rumors.) The trade also reports the film is expected to premiere at one of the European film festivals this year and “a collective of Angouleme-based cartoonists will release a graphic novel detailing their own experiences with the shoot.”

The film stars Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Adrien Brody, Timothée Chalamet, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Mathieu Amalric, Lyna Khoudri, Stephen Park, Owen Wilson, and Bill Murray. Also reportedly in the cast, but not mentioned in Searchlight’s press release last year, are Elisabeth Moss, Lois Smith, Willem Dafoe, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Kate Winslet, Jason Schwartzman, Christoph Waltz, Griffin Dunne, Denis Ménochet, Vincent Macaigne, Cécile de France, and Rupert Friend.