Why Wes Anderson Missed His First Oscars Win At The 2024 Academy Awards

The 2024 Academy Awards were a historic night for so many reasons. After a career of highs and lows, Robert Downey Jr. finally won an Oscar (which was a bigger deal than you might think), and Christopher Nolan is now officially an Academy Award-winning director. But he wasn't the only filmmaker finally honored with an Oscar that evening. Wes Anderson had been nominated for an Academy Award seven times, but this year he finally took home a trophy, winning the best live-action short film category for his adaptation of Roald Dahl's "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar." It was an extraordinary moment, but Anderson wasn't even at the ceremony to celebrate it.

A representative for Anderson confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the director was unable to attend because shooting for his next feature-length movie began the following Monday morning. As such, he couldn't be physically present at the event on Sunday evening. Details on Anderson's next film are sparse, but Deadline confirmed in January that it stars Bill Murray, Benicio del Toro, and Michael Cera. It's Anderson's feature follow-up to 2023's "Asteroid City," one of the best sci-fi movies of 2023 that sadly garnered no Academy Award nominations.

Anderson's explanation for not being at the award ceremony is perfectly reasonable, but host Jimmy Kimmel couldn't help but poke some fun at his expense. The late-night show host joked that the director was too busy "building a diorama out of corduroy" to accept the award in person.

Wes Anderson had an eventful 2023. In addition to releasing "Asteroid City," he put out four short films based on the works of Roald Dahl on Netflix, including the now Oscar-winning "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar." Despite clocking in at just 39 minutes, it manages to be one of 2023's best family films. Anderson did manage to share a few thank-yous for his win, publishing an acceptance speech through Netflix's page on X (formerly known as Twitter).

In his statement, the filmmaker brought attention to many people who made the short film possible, including Steven Rales, a producer for "Henry Sugar," as well as cast members like Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, and Dev Patel. He also reflected on the collaboration that started him on this journey. "If [I] had not met Owen Wilson in a corridor at the University of Texas between classes when I was 18 years old, I would certainly not be receiving this award tonight," Anderson said. He then confirmed that he was in Germany working on his next project, lamenting that he was unable to praise his collaborators on camera during the ceremony.

The Oscar win may draw more attention to "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" along with three other short films Anderson made for Netflix: "The Rat Catcher," "The Swan," and "Poison." And with his next film already in active production, Anderson's obviously not resting on his laurels, so that corduroy diorama will have to wait.