Director Wes Anderson is a unique director with some quirky ways of working. One of them is that he likes to work with the same people over and over again, as if he was in a theater company. His next movie, Asteroid City, is the first time he’s working with Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie. With that in mind, we’ve thought of some other actors we want to see in a Wes Anderson film.
10 Elle Fanning
The young actress already has some great performances under her belt, but it’s her role in The Great that proves how she can do deadpan and adapt to unique voices and humor, making her a perfect actress for an Anderson project. She could play the ingénue as Saoirse Ronan played in Hotel Budapest, or Timothée Chalamet played in The French Dispatch, fitting right in to the ensemble nature of the director’s works.
9 Keanu Reeves
After killing absolutely everyone in the last John Wick movie, Keanu Reeves deserves some fun. The actor might look too much of the 21st Century for some of Anderson’s latest projects, but he could still be used in a bit part, or even better, in the next Anderson animated project. Reeves had a fun, joyous performance in Toy Story 4 as Duke Caboom, going all in on the voice role, that still had a lot of Reeves’ attitude in it. He could do the same for Wes Anderson. Now that we think about it, he would’ve been a great Chief in Isle of Dogs.
8 Jenna Ortega
Jenna Ortega is one of the newest IT girls in Hollywood after the successes of Wednesday and Scream VI. Anderson could use her in a whole different registry, as a bright, optimistic, fun character full of wonder, showing a new side of the actress. As Fanning, she could also play the ingénue, although we believe Ortega has more bite and would also work as a fun, unique bad guy in the Anderson mold.
7 Steven Yeun
Since he left The Walking Dead, it looks like Steven Yeun‘s mission is to work only with great unique filmmakers, like Jordan Peele on maybe his best film yet, Nope. The actor has a low-key charisma and quiet magnetism that would make him perfect for Anderson in the Jason Schwartzman kind of role. We can also see him becoming a bit player in every one of the director’s movies, like Adrien Brody or Willem Defoe. Whatever the role, it’s for sure that Yeun would fit right in with the troupe as he has both a sense of humor and looks like a modest, thoughtful guy in his interviews.
6 Adam Driver
In the last few years, Adam Driver has worked with many great directors like Noah Baumbach, Francis Ford Coppola, and Leos Carax in the unique film Annette. The actor is always interested in collaborating with great directors, and Anderson is one of the few with whom he hasn’t done it yet. We believe the director could use the actors’ goofiest side, one he hasn’t used in a while, and make him one of his imperfect, sad but happy, lonely, lead characters.
5 Emma Stone
Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Léa Seydoux, Cate Blanchett, and Natalie Portman have worked with Wes Anderson. It makes sense Emma Stone should be next. She’s proven she’s game to play anything in both La La Land and Cruella, so a Wes Anderson picture should be in the cards for her. She can do comedy, she can do drama, and everything in between (including singing and dancing), so she could do any kind of role in one of the director’s projects. The actress’s charismatic presence and big eyes also make her the perfect actress to play someone from the past, as Anderson hasn’t written a movie in the present since 2007, The Darjeeling Limited.
4 LaKeith Stanfield
LaKeith Stanfield has already done surreal, and unique in both Atlanta and Sorry to Bother You, so imagining him in a Wes Anderson movie doesn’t feel like a stretch. The actor has always marched to the rhythm of his own drum, and so does the director, so it would be interesting what kind of rhythm and metaphorical music they could do together.
Stanfield told The Guardian: “I definitely have quite the imagination,” Stanfield accepts. “And I’ve always been described as quirky or weird or strange. I obviously never saw myself that way.” He laughs, “I think everyone else is completely insane.” That kind of philosophy would work wonders with Anderson’s unique, quirky scripts and visuals.
3 Javier Bardem
Javier Bardem’s Stoic performance and absurd haircut in No Country for Old Men are enough to make us think he would work perfectly as a Wes Anderson character. His chameleonic performances would also allow Anderson to use him as many possible kinds of characters. Be it a bad guy, a big, dumb good person, or anything in between. Bardem’s accent and deep voice would also be an asset, as he could play all kinds of social classes and countries in the more intrinsic stories the director is writing lately.
2 Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a unique performer who knows how to sell every one of her jokes, while also showing an emotional, damaged side. She could do the same as an Anderson character, maybe she could be the next Tilda Swinton, always in a supporting, chaotic role. Although, a role as a Margot Tenenbaum-inspired character would also be a fun thing to see. Whatever the role, her unique sense of humor and way of emoting could be used by the director, even if as a contrast to a crazy lead role, a bit like Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum) in Life Aquatic. The actress hasn’t done much work in front of the camera when she hasn’t been involved behind it, so this would be a unique experiment for both Anderson and Waller-Bridge.
1 Harrison Ford
Apple TV+
Harrison Ford is an icon in Hollywood. He’s been both Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but also Jack Ryan, The Fugitive, and the president. His role in Shrinking has shown a new side of him, the one of a curmudgeon with a good heart. It’s a role Bill Murray has played many times for Anderson, and although we don’t want the duo to stop working together, we can’t stop thinking about how Ford would fit in. Maybe he could get an authoritative role, as Bruce Willis did in Moonrise Kingdom. One where the authority is not that important or big, but it’s still some kind of respected character.
About his enthusiasm for new things to experience, Shrinking co-creator Bill Lawrence told The Hollywood Reporter: “I always like to have a young staff writer or two on a show because I think it’s so important to have people that still come to work and go, ‘Wow, a TV show!’ Otherwise, you get very cynical and jaded. I did not expect that voice on set to be 80-year-old Harrison Ford. After the first table read, which was something he’d never done before, he was bouncing around, like, ‘How fun was that?’“ That kind of spirit and wonder is what he could bring to the Anderson group of actors and friends.
