Filmmaker Wes Anderson spoke out against the recent editing of the works of children’s author Roald Dahl in order to remove offensive language, the Guardian reports.
Puffin Books, which publishes Dahl’s books in the U.K., recently updated the language in works including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach to remove words including “fat” and “ugly.”
Anderson, whose latest work is a short film adaptation of Dahl’s short story “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” was asked about the changes to Dahl’s books at the Venice Film Festival.
“I’m probably the worst person to ask about this, because if you ask me if Renoir should be allowed to touch up one of his pictures, I would say no. It’s done,” Anderson said. “I don’t even want the artist to modify their work. I understand the motivation for it, but I’m in the school where when the piece of work is done we participate in it. We know it. So I think when it’s done, it’s done. And certainly, no one who is not an author should be modifying somebody’s book. He’s dead.”
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar isn’t the first Anderson adaptation of a Dahl work. In 2009, he directed Fantastic Mr. Fox, a film based on Dahl’s 1970 novel; the film earned an Oscar nod for best animated feature.
Anderson also said he’s making three more films based on short stories by Dahl, “The Swan,” “Poison,” and “Ratcatcher.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
