The Phoenician Scheme is yet another Wes Anderson reunion production. Anderson’s latest feature film features the usual suspects among the ensemble, including longtime collaborators like Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, and Bryan Cranston. Captaining The Phoenician Scheme is Benicio del Toro, who had previously worked with Anderson on The French Dispatch, and he is supported by the likes of Michael Cera and Mia Threapleton, two stars who are making their Anderson debuts.
del Toro stars as Zsa-zsa Korda, a businessman bent on launching several enterprises in the midst of being caught in the crosshairs of various adversaries. Threapleton portrays his daughter, a nun named Liesl, while Cera supports as Bjorn, the family’s tutor.
ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley spoke with Del Toro, Threapleton, and Cera to discuss their experience working with Anderson, including del Toro’s “every sH๏τ” responsibility as well as Threapleton and Cera’s takeaways from being the new kids on an Anderson set.
Wes Anderson’s “Every SH๏τ” Intention With Benicio del Toro
“I was scared, but not that scared…”
When he was on the press tour for Asteroid City in 2023, Wes Anderson noted that his next feature would be a “dark tone espionage” with “Benicio del Toro in every sH๏τ.”
“He never put it that way [to me],” del Toro told ScreenRant when asked about the pressure of being in every sH๏τ. “I think had he done that, I would’ve got real scared. I was scared, but not that scared. The script was so good. It really was like a motivational pill. Anyone would love to play a character like that. I think all the characters, Michael’s, Mia’s, myself, they all have arcs and that’s really exciting for an actor. That’s always a challenge and fun.”
Michael Cera & Mia Threapleton Are Wes Anderson Newcomers
“Everybody’s very gracious, and there’s a familiar atmosphere…”
The Phoenician Scheme served as a reunion of sorts for del Toro, as he had worked with co-stars Jeffrey Wright and Bill Murray on Anderson’s The French Dispatch in 2021. While Anderson is known to turn to familiar faces to populate his ensembles, he always brings a couple of new faces along for each ride.
“You’re not treated like an outsider,” Cera said of his experience as a Wes Anderson newcomer. “Everybody’s very gracious and there is a sort of familiar atmosphere, which is just nice to step into. You’re folded right into it. The three of us got together with Wes for a week and a half just alone in a room rehearsing. So that was a nice way to just kind of boil everything down to what we were all working on together and get our heads in it and form a little unit.”
That didn’t mean that the nerves weren’t there at the beginning. This project represented Threapleton’s biggest role to date.
This was the biggest thing that had ever happened to me. I just walking into that world was very nervous.
“I remember arriving in Germany, going to the H๏τel, and I just didn’t know anybody,” Threapleton recalled. “I remember going downstairs for lunch, having that moment of thinking, ‘Okay, I think this is going to feel a bit like a big school. I’ll just sit in the corner on my own. I don’t really have a clan yet.’ I walked in, and the grip team and the camera team were there, and they all went, ‘Oh Mia, it’s so lovely to meet you. Come sit with us!’ They just folded me in. Not a lone wolf, part of the pack instantly.”
The Phoenician Scheme is now in theaters.
Source: ScreenRant Plus
