The American director Wes Anderson has won his first Oscar with the live-action short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, but he was not able to collect it in person at the 96th edition of the Hollywood Academy ceremony. It was the eighth nomination for the Texan filmmaker, who lives in Paris and who had previously competed for the golden statuette with The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is based on the book by Roald Dahl, an author he admires and from whom he also adapted Fantastic Mr. Fox in an animated version in 2009. In this Netflix work that he presented out of competition at the Venice Festival, has surrounded a team of British actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and Dev Patel to shape a story about a very rich and greedy man who hears about a guru who can see without opening his eyes and decides to learn his technique to cheat in the game.
