'The French Dispatch' Teaser: Benicio Del Toro Is A Great Artist, And Also A Murderer

The French Dispatch is getting closer to its October release date and Wes Anderson fans are getting more and more restless. Thankfully, Searchlight Pictures is throwing us a few bones with tiny teasers of the stories that make up Wes Anderson's latest film. The most recent clip gives us a glimpse at "The Concrete Masterpiece by J.K.L. Berendsen." Benicio del Toro stars as incarcerated artist Moses Rosenthaler, a man who turns out to be as murderous as he is talented.

Check out the teaser below!

Del Toro's Moses is introduced as one of the loudest artistic voices of his generation. More often than not, he appears covered in splatters of what we can probably assume is paint, given the brushes often held in both his hands. But in all fairness, he's also seen tightly bound in a straitjacket and being questioned about a recent murder, so blood splatters aren't entirely out of the question.

It doesn't help that the one picture we see him paint is a vibrant, stunning red, well on its way to consuming the entire screen. It's often said that art speaks for itself — in Moses' case, the painting says an awful lot about murder. This has all the makings of a very concerning situation, given that one clip showed the prisoners breaking free and running rampant, and what looks to be an art gallery.

This isn't our first look at Anderson's upcoming film. The first trailer dropped back in 2020 and we've gotten a couple more glimpses since then. A previous teaser showed off Owen Wilson's character, a fourth wall-breaking cycler with a much breezier life story. But even with the two teasers, so much of The French Dispatch still feels like a mystery.

The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to much praise, but the rest of us have a few more months before Anderson's latest masterpiece is revealed. The character trailers are a fun little tease at the tone and whimsy of The French Dispatch, showing off the gorgeous set design and the star-studded cast, but all we really want is to see the film for ourselves.

Until the wait is finally over, these bite-sized teasers are giving us fascinating hints while keeping the mystery intact. And given the long list of cast members, there's plenty of room to throw out a few more. Or so we can hope.

The talented cast list includes Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Adrien Brody, Benicio Del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, Timothée Chalamet, Elisabeth Moss, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Christophe Waltz, Jason Schwartzman, and more.

Ahead of its theatrical release, The French Dispatch will play at this year's New York Film Festival in September. Alas, the rest of us will have to wait until October 22, 2021.