A Howling Time at the ‘Isle of Dogs’ Premiere

NEW YORK — Wes Anderson’s new animated movie, “Isle of Dogs,” is about a dog-saturated island.

No, not Manhattan.

The setting is a fictitious one, a grim trash island across the water from a Japanese city so packed with dogs that they are all being deported by an evil mayor.

Tuesday’s lavish premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art began with a group photo of the cast howling in unison with a verisimilitude only actors can bring to their roles. It also gave guests a chance to talk about a topic closer to their hearts than the weather or politics.

“My dog Woody is a standard poodle,” said Jeff Goldblum — who gives voice to a gossipy dog in the movie — on the red carpet before the screening. “He’s kind and funny and gentle and genuine. And a model for humanity.”

In the Egyptian wing, near a lion-headed statue of a goddess, Tilda Swinton spoke of her dogs in Scotland. “I have five springer spaniels,” said Swinton, who lends her voice to a pug in the movie. “I miss them all so much right now.”

There was no time to pine, however, because she had to step onto the auditorium stage when Anderson introduced his cast — a dog and pony show that included Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Liev Schreiber and Harvey Keitel (a reservoir dog in another film).

After the movie, which charmed the audience as only a story about a flawed leader obsessed with deporting the innocent could, top dogs and other guests trotted into the museum’s Great Hall for a reception heavy on Japanese touches, including cherry blossom displays, taiko drumming and a sushi bar that stretched out like a very long tail into the pack. Nearby, the grand staircase was illuminated with a projection of a trash heap.

Guests including Salman Rushdie, Francesco Clemente, Bob Balaban and Anh Duong pawed at canapés and lapped up cocktails. And dogs, of course, remained the topic of the night.

“I have a Havanese recuperating at home,” said Julie Taymor, whose theater résumé includes directing a lion king and a spider man. “They’re inspiring, loyal and deeply honest.”

Tom Sachs, the conceptual artist, said that when he first started dating his wife, Sarah Hoover, he found it disgusting that she slept with her French bulldog, Napoleon.

“But if you want to date a spoiled girl, you have to date her spoiled dog,” Hoover said. “And now I wake up in the morning and they’re sleeping snout to snout.”

Not everyone had a dog at home. Greta Gerwig, who grew up with dogs, said she dreams of having “a little mutt” of her own one day. Willem Dafoe travels too much, he said, to have a pet.

Anderson does not have a dog, either. But the silky-haired director, who wore his trademark soft brown velvet suit, said that the movie was inspired not by dogs but by humans. “Dogs are like people,” he said.

And in a party full of social animals, the reverse seemed at least as true.