Latest news with #TheRoyalTenenbaums
Mint
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Some of my favourite movies are musicals now: Wes Anderson
Los Angeles, Jun 1 (PTI) Acclaimed filmmaker Wes Anderson says some of his favourite movies are musicals, and the credit goes to his eight-year-old daughter, Freya. Known for projects such as "The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Darjeeling Limited" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox", Anderson said he began to watch films he would never think of, in search of the ones that his daughter prefers. "Your entire life is different once you have a child. You're watching with different eyes with a kid," he told entertainment news outlet IndieWire. "I started trying to find movies that she would like. She likes old movies, she'll watch a black and white movie, she'll watch all variety of things, but she doesn't like 'em all. With her, I've seen a lot of musicals that I had never (seen),' he said. "I never got that into musicals, and now some of my favorite movies are musicals, 'Meet Me in St. Louis' for instance, I didn't know this movie, maybe I'd seen it on TV when I was 12 years old or something. It was not a movie I focused on, or 'The Pajama Game' for instance, 'The King and I,' there's a whole range of musicals that I got into because of her, because she likes them and we've watched them again and again, and some of these are masterpieces," the 56-year-old filmmaker added. Anderson's next work is "The Phoenician Scheme", which is slated to hit the big screen in India on June 6. Starring Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Mia Threapleton, Tom Hanks, Riz Ahmed, Michael Cera, Benedict Cumberbatch and Bryan Cranston, the film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the main competition.
Extra.ie
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Wes Anderson on The Phoenician Scheme: 'In a way, it's the kind of America I am drawn to, something that's so optimistic'
As the director of the iconic likes of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel, every film from Wes Anderson is a bona fide cinematic event, and that's most definitely the case with his new espionage black comedy, The Phoenician Scheme. Set in 1950, the action focuses on Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Benicio del Toro), one of Europe's richest industrialists, who appoints his only daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton) – a nun – as the heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and lethal assassins. For good measure, along the way, Liesl also investigates the murder of her mother, Korda's first wife. Boasting Anderson's trademark visual flair, The Phoenician Scheme – which he co-wrote with Roman Coppola – also features the director's customary deft mix of humour and pathos. Adding to the appeal, meanwhile, is a truly extraordinary ensemble cast. As one of Hollywood's premier filmmakers, Anderson has worked with his fair share of major stars, but this time he has outdone himself. In addition to del Toro and newcomer Threapleton – whose mum is one Kate Winslet – the third lead is Michael Cera, who plays Zsa-zsa's Norwegian tutor, Bjorn. Thereafter, it might actually be quicker to list the A-listers who aren't in the movie, with those making appearances including – deep breath – Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright and Scarlett Johansson. Not to mention Richard Ayoade and Benedict Cumberbatch. Phew! And having had the third act of his career, as the doyen of US indie cinema, launched by Anderson in Rushmore way back in'999, Bill Murray again returns to cameo in the role he may have been born to play: God. But front and centre is del Toro as Zsa-zsa, who instantly takes his place in the pantheon of great Anderson anti-heroes. Wheeling and dealing on the post-war continent, Zsa-zsa is the archetypal European business tycoon, who perhaps enjoys even more mythical status than his American equivalents. (L to R) Actor Mathieu Amalric, director Wes Anderson, actors Mia Threapleton and Benicio Del Toro during the production of THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME. Credit: Roger Do Minh/TPS Productions/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved 'A certain type of businessman who can always pivot, ' suggests Anderson,' and has very little obligation to honour the truth' With his enigmatic demeanour, meanwhile, Zsa-zsa's cinematic antecedents include Charles Foster Kane. 'The beginning of the story was to try to invent something about one of these 1950s Euro tycoons, like an Onassis or Niarchos,' says Anderson. 'I had read about Árpád Plesch and Calouste Gulbenkian, or Gianni Agnelli as well' Korda's epic project represents the culmination of a decades-long, career-defining venture, which involves the realisation of Phoenicia's full socio-economic potential. As he looks to escape the clutches of the many enemies plotting his demise, Korda, Liesl, and their assorted partners must close The Gap (a rapidly expanding financial shortfall), which Zsa-zsa summarises as 'everything that we got – plus a little more'. With The Phoenician Scheme laid out – in an elaborate set of shoeboxes, no less – the three amigos attempt to enlist the help of their various business partners. There's a summit with Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), and then there's an underground – literally, they meet in a tunnel – encounter with the duo Leland and Reagan, played respectively by Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston. 'With the railroad men, even though it is a later era,' says Anderson, 'we still wanted something coming from the robber baron period, a JP Morgan-type railway man, though being Californian. That led us to Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston. Roman and I had spent time with them together, and I just knew they had a very special character, and something totally American that you don't find anywhere else. 'In a way, it's the kind of America I am drawn to, something that's so optimistic. So we dreamed up this whole thing that's very West Coast America – the older West Coast, Sacramento – that I associate with that, which maybe comes out of Joan Didion somehow. But I am also thinking of Ronald Reagan. It's not the movie business, it's more Pasadena.' (L to R) Mia Threapleton as Liesl, Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-Zsa Korda and Michael Cera as Bjorn in director Wes Anderson's THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved. One of the comedic highlights of The Phoenician Scheme is Benedict Cumberbatch as Uncle Nubar, an homage in name and look to Nubar Gulbenkian, the magnificently bearded and famously litigious son of Armenian businessman and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian. 'We had the great, good fortune that Benedict could come to do the part,' says Anderson.' It's one of those kinds of characters that people in the story keep talking about all along, but who doesn't enter until much later… It is such a familiar story that these men totally neglect their children, who also expect them to achieve more than their peers.' It's remarkable that one of Cumberbatch's most notable early roles came alongside Richard Ayoade in Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker's cult 2005 sitcom Nathan Barley – and now, 20 years later, here they are starring in The Phoenician Scheme, where Ayoade plays terrorist leader Sergio. 'Richard is an old friend now,' says Anderson. 'It is like that Buñuel thing as well, having a group of terrorists like The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie. Buñuel has anarchy deep in his personality. I am sure the guerrillas come out of that; this idea that one of the most erudite people you will meet is also the leader of the jungle unit of this militia'. For all of The Phoenician Scheme's picaresque qualities and witty humour, at the heart of the tale is a recurring theme in Anderson's stories: the attempt to repair damaged family relationships, as Zsa-zsa looks to reconnect with his daughter Liesl. It's an aspect of the story del Toro handles beautifully, and as the director notes, he was always the actor he had in mind. 'The interest for me in writing a story about a character like that was the visual in my mind of Benicio playing the character,' says Anderson. 'The idea for the movie was to write a part specifically for Benicio del Toro. I first brought this up with Benicio in 2021, at Cannes for The French Dispatch. I told him then that something was coming his way if he was interested. 'Benicio and I started working on it very early. As soon as there were 15 pages of the script, he'd seen that. There was never a moment in the process when Benicio was not involved.' Indeed, as the director further notes, del Toro was the only actor he ever envisioned in the part, at least in the modern era. 'The kind of character who might have been played by Anthony Quinn, or maybe Lino Ventura, or Jean Gabin,' says Anderson. 'If Benicio didn't want to do it, I don't know who would have been a viable option. You'd have to go back into the history of cinema for that.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wes Anderson's First 10 Films Get Deluxe 4K Ultra HD Box Set
The post Wes Anderson's First 10 Films Get Deluxe 4K Ultra HD Box Set appeared first on Consequence. Here's some great news for Wes Anderson aficionados awaiting the arrival of the eccentric filmmaker's work in 4K Ultra HD: The Criterion Collection has announced that his first 10 feature films will be released as a deluxe 4K UHD box set on September 30th. Approved by the director himself, The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years features new 4K masters of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, and The French Dispatch. Pre-order your copy at the Criterion Collection website. This expansive special edition collector's set contains 10 4K UHD discs presented in Dolby Vision HDR, alongside 10 Blu-ray discs of the films. It boasts over 25 hours of special features, including audio commentaries, interviews, documentaries, deleted scenes, auditions, short films, commercials, storyboards, animation tests, archival recordings, still photography, and visual essays. 10 illustrated books will also be included in the clothbound edition. Anderson's next film, The Phoenician Scheme, is set for a limited US release on May 30th and will open nationwide on June 6th. It stars Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Hope Davis, Tom Hanks, and Jeffrey Wright. Editor's Note: Revisit our ranking of every Wes Anderson movie. Popular Posts Billy Joel Diagnosed with Brain Disorder, Cancels All Upcoming Tour Dates Man Wearing Nazi T-Shirt Gets a Beatdown from Fans at Punk Rock Bowling Fest The 30 Best Action Movie Stars of All Time, Ranked Freddie Mercury's Alleged Child Revealed in New Biography Is The Who's Farewell Tour in Turmoil? Zach Braff to Return for Scrubs Reboot Subscribe to Consequence's email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.
New Statesman
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Wes Anderson's sense of an ending
Photo by Focus Features Wes Anderson's films either entrance or fail. I am a devotee of earlier work, up to The Grand Budapest Hotel of 2014, but The French Dispatch (2021) was intolerably twee, without any of the emotional depth that his best films have, that intuition of pain under the capering, that connection with childhood. Asteroid City (2023) was even more mannered, lapsing into self-parody. The Phoenician Scheme, let's say straight away, is a treat. Unlike its predecessors, it has a story to tell, rather than being an anthology of incidents. It uses all of Anderson's stylisations but is not primarily about them, as his later films had started to seem. He takes his own cinematic language almost for granted here, rather than foregrounding it relentlessly. In a recent interview, he seemed almost to acknowledge that his 'visual handwriting' had become a burden, a distraction from content: 'You can tell it's me… But, for me, each one is a different story, a different set of characters, and it's a whole undertaking.' He even protested: 'I am me, I'm not like me… The only thing I want is for people to look at the movie for what it is, not for what it's like.' Recently, that had become difficult. Not here. It's 1950. Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Benicio del Toro) is one of the richest men in the world, a domineering international entrepreneur, frequently targeted for assassination by his rivals, plotted against by an international cabal. In the opening sequence, we see him survive, just, his sixth plane crash. Bloodied and battered, he emerges from a cornfield, just as reporters are gleefully delivering his obituary, trying to stuff a 'vestigial organ' back inside his body. 'It's not as easy as it looks,' he says. Del Toro, who previously played the deranged artist in The French Dispatch, is tremendous, magnetic and imperious, compelling your attention as much as Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums or Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Anderson wrote the film for him and didn't consider anyone else for the part. His character is modelled quite closely on the tycoon and art collector Calouste Gulbenkian (1869-1955), dubbed 'Mr Five Per Cent' for his custom of retaining that much interest in every deal he put together, including the Turkish Petroleum Company that controlled oil in Iraq and elsewhere. Korda has a massive plan, the Korda Land and Sea Phoenician Infrastructure Scheme, exploiting an entire region. He must get the support of multiple backers, including Prince Farouk, the 7th King of Lower Western Independent Phoenicia (Riz Ahmed), the Sacramento Consortium (Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston), Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), the Newark Syndicate (Jeffrey Wright), his cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and his sinister younger brother Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch, looking very much like Gulbenkian's real-life playboy son Nubar). Meanwhile, the markets, particularly in the bashable rivets he needs, are being manipulated against him. Plus, as he mildly complains, people keep trying to assassinate him. So he recruits his estranged 20-year-old daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), whom he hasn't seen for six years, having sent her to a nunnery as a child. He will make her his sole heir, he tells her, so that 'if they get me, you get them'. He shows her all his plans neatly arranged in a set of shoeboxes (it is a Wes Anderson film, after all). Liesl agrees, for a trial period, provided Korda abandons slave labour, famine creation and confining her nine adopted little brothers to a dormitory. Off they go to persuade the backers, accompanied by Korda's new private tutor, Bjorn,an entomologist from Oslo who may not be entirely what he seems (a brilliantly funny Michael Cera in his first role for Anderson). Threapleton, 24, the daughter of Kate Winslet, is a revelation. Liesl is touchingly resolute: she boldly stands up to her outsize father, earning his love, changing his sense of what matters most. The sense that this part must itself have been a big challenge for Threapleton at this stage in her career plays into the character beautifully. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The film's emotional core is this evolving father-daughter relationship, which Anderson acknowledges comes out of both his relationship with his wife's father, Fouad Malouf, a Lebanese businessman, to whom the film is dedicated, and the fact that he himself has a nine-year-old daughter. Those intimate origins can be sensed, for all the crazy capers: classic Wes Anderson, all over again. 'The Phoenician Scheme' is in cinemas now [See also: Gertrude Stein's quest for fame] Related
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jimmy Fallon's Wes Anderson Correspondent Explains Just How Long That Cannes Standing Ovation Was
It's Cannes season, and you know what that means: many of the Hollywood trades are arguing over how long the standing ovations were for the festival's buzziest movies. But this year, Jimmy Fallon is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. 'There's been a rash of conflicting reports on — this is real — the length of standing ovations at the movies. For example, Variety thinks Wes Anderson's new movie 'The Phoenician Scheme' got a great response. The Hollywood Reporter thinks that it was only polite,' Fallon said on Tuesday night. 'Here to clear that up is 'The Tonight Show's official Wes Anderson correspondent, Danforth W. Westingame III.' The 'Tonight Show' then cut to a man dressed in the same headband and sunglasses combo as Luke Wilson's Richie in 'The Royal Tenenbaums.' Danforth W. Westingame III was introduced via the award-winning director's signature blocky font in pale yellow and pink as three colorful houses that toed the line between aesthetically perfect and unnerving stood in the background. 'In your expert opinion, how was Wes Anderson's new movie received?' Fallon asked. But instead of giving a normal answer, an unseen narrator chimed in, perfectly mimicking one of Anderson's favorite moves. 'Danforth Westingame became a 'Tonight Show' correspondent on his 16th birthday, and in the 20 years since taking the job, he'd never been asked such a question. He would spend the next month pondering what, in fact, it meant to be received. After his peregrinations, he would not like the answer that he found,' the narrator said. The bit had other nods to the beloved director, from a bike ride to trying to use a Rolling Stones song but settling for a harpsichord. Fittingly, the segment ended with the emotionless audience of 'The Tonight Show' giving Danforth W. Westingame III a standing ovation. Just how long that ovation lasted may forever be debated. Watch Fallon's full opening monologue above. The post Jimmy Fallon's Wes Anderson Correspondent Explains Just How Long That Cannes Standing Ovation Was | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
