Wes Anderson has yet again entertained Cannes.
This time, the auteur debuted his hotly-anticipated The Phoenician Scheme at the fest’s Lumière Theatre, arriving by bus — yes, bus — with stars Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera and Riz Ahmed on Sunday night.
Anderson was also joined by Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bill Murray, Rupert Friend, co-writer Roman Coppola and composer Alexandre Desplat on the Palais steps ahead of the premiere.
Receptions at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, in particular for the competition titles, have generally been a little tepid. Anderson was the recipient of a polite six-minute ovation. Mia Threapleton was in tears, hugging Michael Cera during the ovation. After the applause calmed down, Anderson took a brief moment to thank his cast.
Before the movie screened, Anderson and his cast were in good spirits as they took to the Palais steps, waving the weekend farewell on the Croisette.
The Phoenician Scheme marks Anderson’s fourth debut in Cannes, after Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The French Dispatch (2021) and Asteroid City (2023).
Out May 30 via Focus Features, this next movie stars del Toro as European tycoon Zsa-Zsa Korda, who has built a globe-spanning empire using dubious business practices. “I didn’t really know what it was, but I had the image of Benicio playing a Euro business tycoon, like somebody in an Antonioni movie,” Anderson recently told The Hollywood Reporter about casting del Toro.”
“I could just see him in it; I could see him and his sunglasses. But one of the main inspirations — along with a handful of real European businessmen — but the more personal connection is my wife’s father [Fouad Malouf]. He’s Lebanese, and he was an amazing kind of larger-than-life figure, and I really loved him.”
After barely surviving the latest in a litany of assassination attempts, del Toro’s character appoints an heir to his estate, his estranged and only daughter, Liesl, a nun on the verge of taking her vows, played by Mia Threapleton. Returning Anderson players like Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bryan Cranston and Tom Hanks also feature.
Threapleton said to THR for in her rising star feature: “As a performer, it was amazing to play around within the scenes and try different things out and explore things with the sheer volume of talented people that he amasses.”
The Phoenician Scheme follows star-studded premieres of Die, My Love, Eddington, The Chronology of Water, Nouvelle Vague and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, running May 13-24.