Wes Anderson is playing with his toys, by which we mean his favorite actors, again. Anderson’s new movie, The Phoenician Scheme, which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Roman Coppola, is heading for theaters soon. Surprise: There are also some new faces. And yes, Michael Cera is somehow in that category. You know that a cast is full of bangers when Scarlett Johansson isn’t one of the first six actors billed. Anderson’s last movie was 2023’s Asteroid City, which ended up being one of the most acclaimed movies of his entire career, with Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri calling it “marvelous” and naming it a top ten film of that year. Now Anderson is following that up by something perhaps even more mannered. How is that possible? Well, for starters, Anderson told the French newspaper Le Monde in 2023 that he was planning to have Benicio Del Toro appear in every shot. Below, find everything we know about the upcoming film.
What does it look like?
The Phoenician Scheme’s first trailer teases a father-daughter tale with lots of violence. Ah! The plot is not fully legible — at one point, a voiceover asserts that “Today, tonight, and tomorrow, we’ll rendezvous with every titan and pretend we agree what we already agree, but, in fact, we don’t, we can’t,” which doesn’t make sense … yet. Notably, despite what Anderson told Le Monde, Del Toro is not in every shot in the trailer.
Who’s in it?
Per usual, the cast is filled with huge names, most of whom Anderson has worked with before. Del Toro, who was also in The French Dispatch, is leading the film as Zsa-zsa Korda, with Anderson newcomer Mia Threapleton (daughter of Kate Winslet) as his nun daughter. Cera plays the mustached Bjorn Lund, joined by fellow Anderson freshman Riz Ahmed. Anderson’s returning players include Tom Hanks (Asteroid City), Bryan Cranston (Isle of Dogs), Mathieu Amalric (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch), Richard Ayoade (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar), Scarlett Johansson (Asteroid City), and Benedict Cumberbatch (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar).
When is it coming out?
The Phoenician Scheme debuts in theaters on May 30, a.k.a. the weekend after Memorial Day Weekend. That’s a full month before the next ScarJo Summer Blockbuster, Jurassic World Rebirth, comes out on July 2. Be a hipster and see her before it’s mainstream.
Related
- You Mean to Tell Me Michael Cera’s Never Done a Wes Anderson Movie Until Now?
- Wes Anderson Has Gone Mad
- Every Wes Anderson Film, Ranked
And its web of Wes Anderson’s favorite actors.
