After being nominated eight times over the decades, Wes Anderson finally won his first-ever Academy Award tonight at the 2024 Oscars. His short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar—a 39-minute adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1977 story of the same name—won Best Live Action Short Film, beating out The After, Invincible, Knight of Fortune, and Red, White and Blue. Anderson was not present to accept the award in person.
“Sometimes I’ve made short films that are genuinely my own thing. They’re basically for fun,” Anderson told IndieWire last month. “Whereas when I’m making a movie-movie, I’m putting my whole life into it and it has a different gravity for me. But every now and then, I’ve done shorts where they’re totally in the same category as the feature films for me. These Roald Dahl ones are more like a movie-movie for me, because it’s something I’ve been thinking about for so long.”
Back in 2001, Anderson received his first Academy Award nomination with The Royal Tenenbaums for Best Original Screenplay. Since then, he’s gotten nods for Best Animated Picture with Fantastic Mr. Fox, Best Original Screenplay for Moonrise Kingdom, and Best Animated Picture for Isle of Dogs. His most nominations came in 2014 for The Grand Budapest Hotel, with Anderson getting nods for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
While tonight’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar win is a first for Anderson specifically, it’s not his first movie to take home an award. The Grand Budapest Hotel earned four Academy Awards at the 2014 Oscars for Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat), Best Production Design (Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock), Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier), and Best Costume Design (Milena Canonero).
Follow all of Pitchfork’s coverage of the 2024 Academy Awards.
