Wes Anderson is back at it with another meticulously crafted, offbeat tale—The Phoenician Scheme—and the trailer just landed. True to Anderson form, it’s dripping in color, chaos, and characters you won’t forget anytime soon.
This time around, Anderson’s rounding up the usual suspects and throwing in a few new faces for good measure. The ensemble cast includes Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Mia Threapleton, Richard Ayoade, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Hope Davis.
So what’s the scheme?
Del Toro plays Zsa-zsa Korda, a wildly wealthy (and apparently recently deceased?) tycoon who stumbles out of a plane crash and immediately spits out a tooth like it’s just another Tuesday. His daughter Liesl (played by Mia Threapleton), a nun of all things, is named the sole heir to his fortune—much to the likely dismay of his nine sons. And yes, you read that right—nine sons.
From the jump, there’s a cloud of suspicion and double-crosses in the air. There’s a boardroom of mysterious figures dead set on destroying Zsa-zsa’s empire “by any means necessary.” There’s talk of betrayal, inheritance drama, shady dealings, and a tutor (Michael Cera) who might’ve had one too many beers and made a fool of himself. Honestly, it’s Anderson at his most Anderson-y—and we’re not mad at it.
The Phoenician Scheme marks Anderson’s third go-around with Focus Features, who also backed Moonrise Kingdom and Asteroid City. Combined, those two films pulled in over $122M worldwide, so it’s no surprise they’re teaming up again.
Behind the scenes, Anderson co-wrote the screenplay with longtime collaborator Roman Coppola (the duo behind Asteroid City and Moonrise Kingdom), and the score is composed by the ever-iconic Alexandre Desplat. Production went down at Studio Babelsberg in Germany, where Anderson now has a building named after him. Not too shabby.
Anderson may be known for his unmistakable style, but in a 2023 interview, he made it clear he doesn’t set out to be “on brand”—he just follows the story. “The one thing I never think about, really, when I’m making a film is myself or my own style, my voice,” he shared. “And yet every time I make a movie, the first thing people say is: ‘You can sure tell who made this one!’” Listen, if it ain’t broke…
Between his Netflix short The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (which nabbed him his first Oscar, by the way) and last year’s Asteroid City premiere at Cannes, Anderson’s had quite the run. And it looks like The Phoenician Scheme might be next up to hit the Croisette. With its limited U.S. release set for May 30 and expansion to more theaters June 6, don’t be surprised if Cannes comes calling.
Check out the trailer now, and get ready to be whisked into another meticulously curated world where the wigs are flawless, the drama’s drier than toast, and every frame is begging to be paused and admired.