Wes Anderson’s New Film, The Phoenician Scheme, Releases Next Month
Another Wes Anderson film is, surprise, just around the corner- the much-loved director’s latest work, The Phoenician Scheme, is coming to cinemas at the end of May. Benicio del Toro, star of Sicario and Anderson’s The French Dispatch, leads the film as a businessman trying to secure the future of his business, which involves his daughter, a nun.
Names like Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade and Benedict Cumberbatch also feature in the cast. Here’s everything we know about Anderson’s latest so far.
What is The Phoenician Scheme about?
Everything about this film, down to the title, certainly looks very Wes Anderson, who may have secured the title of “world’s most Instagrammable director.” A follow-up to Asteroid City and the short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Phoenician Scheme, described as an “espionage black comedy”, is set in the 1940s, and tells the story of Zsa-zsa Korda (del Toro), a businessman who has survived six different plane crashes, and has built up a significant fortune over his lifetime. His ten children include Liesl, his only daughter (played by The Bucaneers’ Mia Threapleton), who lives as a nun. Father and daughter do not get on well together, but now, it appears, he very much needs her help.
The trailer (which again, is very Wes Anderson) begins with Zsa-zsa facedown in a wheat field after one of his planes crashes, before we cut to the businessman in conversation with Liesl. “I have appointed you as sole heir to my estate”, he tells her, but the young nun certainly does not seem entirely thrilled by the news. He also explains he has a scheme involving land development, but conflicting parties stand in his way. Key also to this story is Bjorn, played by Michael Cera, who is Liesl’s tutor, and will join the businessman and his daughter in a globe-trotting journey as Zsa-zsa tries to save the future of his empire.
Who else stars in The Phoenician Scheme?
Alongside the already mentioned cast members, the film also stars Riz Ahmed, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Rupert Friend and Bill Murray– quite a cast list. You won’t have long to wait to see Anderson’s latest either, as The Phoenician Scheme is set to hit UK cinemas next month on 23rd May. Until then, you can watch the first official trailer, in all its symmetrical, pastel-coloured glory.
