The Wes Anderson Collection: Isle of Dogs

The Wes Anderson Collection: Isle of Dogs takes readers behind the scenes of the beloved auteur’s stop-motion animated film.

Foreword by movie/TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz
Introduction by Every Frame a Painting video essay series co-creators Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou

Through the course of several in-depth interviews with film critics Lauren Wilford and Ryan Stevenson, writer and director Wes Anderson shares the story behind Isle of Dogs’s conception and production, and Anderson and his collaborators reveal entertaining anecdotes about the making of the film, their sources of inspiration, the ins and outs of stop-motion animation, and many other insights into their moviemaking process.

Previously unpublished behind-the-scenes photographs, concept artwork, and hand-written notes and storyboards accompany the text.

The fourth volume of the New York Times bestselling Wes Anderson Collection, Isle of Dogs stays true to the series with its rich design and colorful illustrations, capturing Anderson’s signature aesthetic vision with the series’ definitive study of the director’s filmography.

Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

The film features the voices of Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, F. Murray Abraham, Tilda Swinton, Akira Ito, Yoko Ono, Mari Natsuko, Harvey Keitel, Courtney B. Vance, Ken Watanabe, Scarlett Johansson, Fisher Stevens, Nijiro Murakami, and Liev Schreiber.

Also Available:
The Wes Anderson Collection
The Wes Anderson Collection: Bad Dads
The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Wes Anderson Collection: The French Dispatch

Lauren Wilford and Ryan Stevenson are editors at Bright Wall/Dark Room, a magazine that publishes long-form, carefully considered takes on film. They have been married and collaborating since 2015, and are currently based in Providence, Rhode Island.

Matt Zoller Seitz is the editor in chief of RogerEbert.com; the TV critic for New York magazine; the author of The Wes Anderson Collection, The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Oliver Stone Experience, and Mad Men Carousel; and the coauthor of TV (The Book). He is based in New York City.

Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou are the cocreators of the online video essay series Every Frame a Painting. Their joint work has also appeared in the Criterion Collection and on the streaming service FilmStruck. They currently reside in Vancouver, British Columbia, where they work in the animation industry.