First poster for Wes Anderson's 'The French Dispatch' dispatched ahead of imminent first trailer

Searchlight Pictures has shared the first poster for Wes Anderson’s new film The French Dispatch, and it’s quirky af.

The hand drawn poster for the new film from the director of The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic is like a Where’s Wally for the American filmmaker’s most reliable contributors: Bill Murray - check, Tilda Swinton - check, Frances McDormand - check, Owen Wilson - check, Adrien Brody - check.

Also appearing in illustrated form on the poster for the France-set film is Timothée Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Benicio Del Toro, Léa Seydoux, Lyna Khoudri, Stephen Park, and Mathieu Amalric.

Listed as appearing, but not illustrated on the poster is Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Lois Smith, Saoirse Ronan, Christoph Waltz, Cécile De France, Guillame Gallienne, Jason Schwartzman, Tony Revolori, Rupert Friend, Henry Winkler, Bob Balaban, Hippolyte Girardot, and Anjelica Huston.

Read More: The real-life Grand Budapest Hotel is not in Budapest… or even a hotel

Chalamet also suggested that the first trailer will debut imminently with a cryptic tweet.

The film’s synopsis suggests it will be a portmanteau film with a number of different stories, all connected by the French Dispatch publication of the title. The illustrated poster hints that police car pursuits, machine gun wielding mobsters, and bloodied butchers will all be involved.

“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.”

In 2019 Anderson gave the French magazine Charente Libre, via Variety, a little more insight on the film, explaining, “The story is not easy to explain. [It’s about an] American journalist based in France [who] creates his magazine.”

“It is more a portrait of this man, of this journalist who fights to write what he wants to write. It’s not a movie about freedom of the press, but when you talk about reporters you also talk about what’s going on in the real world.”

The French Dispatch comes to cinemas on 28 August, 2020.