Wes Anderson on the personal inspirations for 'The Phoenician Scheme'

From The 关键字3Royal TenenbaumsandFantastic Mr. FoxtoThe Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Asteroid City, Wes Anderson has been fascinated with flawed fathers. These disappointing dads aim to reconnect to their children through cockamamie ploys, be it an odd road trip, a dangerous sea mission, a reckless heist, or a faked cancer diagnosis. Anderson's latest film is actually named for his protagonist's paternal ploy: The Phoenician Scheme. 

SEE ALSO: 'The Phoenician Scheme' review: Wes Anderson does espionage thriller as only he can

Benicio del Toro stars as Zsa-zsa Korda, an unscrupulous robber baron dedicated to building his wealth over all else. That is, until he reunites with his estranged daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who is readying to take her vows and become a nun. Ushering her into his home and his motley crew of young sons, Korda asks her to become his assistant in pulling together a complicated business scheme — and to be his heir. However, her principles clash with his utter lack thereof, creating a wall he tries to overcome with opulent gifts. But could her faith and advocacy have a bigger impact than his showering her in luxury?

In Mashable's interview with Anderson, he revealed the personal inspirations of this story, how del Toro's influence honed the shape of Korda, and what it means to accept a "secular rosary." 

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Wes Anderson's mother inspired elements of The Phoenician Scheme. 

Credit: Roger Do Minh / TPS Productions / Focus Features

Sitting down with Anderson in Manhattan, I confessed that I was personally moved by The Phoenician Scheme, as it offers a hopeful look at parent-child relationships that are challenged by a dramatic difference in values. Anderson described Korda as "a brutal, ruthless, unkillable guy, who has no real compunction about double-crossing anybody. He's also happy to lie, or [do] whatever is needed [to get what he wants]." 

This leads to a string of assassination attempts that don't seem to change him one bit. But then Liesl, in her stark white novitiate uniform, denounces his use of slave labor and his scheme to induce a famine in order to lower construction costs. Slowly but surely, Korda begins to shift, confronted by his daughter and a series of religious visions in which she has a key role. Anderson recalled, "There's one line where he says something to the effect of, 'I've just decided to go on her side. I'll be religious, if that's what's right.'"

SEE ALSO: Every single Wes Anderson movie ranked, worst to best

"And I have to say, not to get overly personal," Anderson continued, "but my mother, when it came to the politics of the last 14 years or something like that, she went so far away from everybody else in the family. And I did at one point say to her, 'I think it's better if you just go on our side. Because otherwise, we're just — you're annoyed at us. And we don't even talk about politics, right?' But, um, she didn't do it, though." 

How does Wes Anderson's own father (and father figures) connect to The Phoenician Scheme?

Credit: Courtesy of TPS Productions / Focus Features

Anderson's father also provided inspiration for the father-child relationship in The Phoenician Scheme, and more broadly in his filmography, which is peppered with failed fathers (and failed father figures) facing their own mortality. 

"I love my father," he said, "But it's probably — he moved out of the house at a certain point. And I'm sure that if we really trace it back to, why do I get drawn to that? What's my personal investment in this kind of story? I guess it must start there. It's something about when he got in his car and moved to another place." 

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Anderson continued, "I've always been close to my father, but I've always had a lot of father figures who I guess I've sought out. I've been drawn to them, and I mean, a lot of them have died. My father died. Most of the father figures died. But you know, that's what happens when you become 56 years old." 

How Benicio del Toro shaped Zsa-zsa Korda. 

Credit: Courtesy of TPS Productions / Focus Features

Anderson wanted to make a movie about a robber baron, a man whose wealth depended on his immorality. And he wanted del Toro, who'd previously appeared in Anderson's vignette-filled film The French Dispatch. 

In a Q&A this author moderated in New York City on The Phoenician Scheme's opening weekend, del Toro revealed he was pleased to work with Anderson again, but he was warned he'd have a lot more lines than he did in The French Dispatch. Receiving 20 pages of the script at a time as it was being developed, del Toro was surprised not only by how many lines he had in the film, but also that he was the lead. He'd initially assumed The Phoenician Scheme would be like The French Dispatch, made up of interwoven shorts. He didn't initially realize he was its leading man.  

Within this answer, both the audience and I got a sense of del Toro's humility and gentleness, the latter of which informed Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola's approach to Korda. 

Speaking of the notorious schemer, Anderson said, "There's violence around him. And this character is bleeding for half of the movie, one way or another. But when we started working on the script and I started talking with Benicio about it, there's something in Benicio. There was a lighter side of him, a more hopeful side of him that just seemed to kind of want to come out. It was because of our collaboration with Benicio that we started to see this other thing in the character."

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Conversely, there's a complexity to stoic nun Liesl too, even before she's under her father's influence. "I mean, as soon as she walks in the door, she's devout and presents herself that way," Anderson said. "But she's a little more stylish than a nun normally would be, even before he offers her a 'secular rosary,' [as] he calls it; it's not like she bounces it back to him. That's already in her, the potential for that. And I think it's already in him, the potential to change his path." 

Anderson continued, "And I even think at a certain point, he realizes that actually his giant business plan is a ritual, a scheme to get her." Anderson added, "Consciously, [Korda is saying], 'If I'm not able to handle this, you [Liesl] need to do this. You're the one I choose. But unconsciously, it might be that he's just saying, 'Can we please do something together? Let's play this game.'"

In that way, even if the scheme isn't going to plan, it's not that bad. Or, as Anderson put it, "So, it's more successful than he might think. You know, his venture is actually not the failure that we would think it is."

The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters everywhere. 

Topics Film