FILM · 2025 · GERMANY
The Phoenician Scheme
15 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (15)
- #001
Benicio Del Toro said he accepted the role based on a 20-page script Wes Anderson sent him for the character's first sequence, which he would play alongside his daughter. "It was so rich, detailed, original, funny and sad. It was so layered. As an actor you look for pieces like that. When they come, you bite into them and don't let go."
- #002
Historically, Phoenicia referred to a region covering present-day Lebanon and Syria. The fictional Phoenicia depicted in the film roughly corresponds to the broader Levantine region defined in the first half of the 20th century. Prince Farouk's kingdom is Jordan; Marseille Bob's nightclub is in French Algeria; the canal Zsa-zsa passes through is the Suez Canal; Hilda's "Private Utopian Outpost" is an Israeli kibbutz; the hotel where the summit takes place is in Luxor, Egypt; and Marty's ship is in the Mediterranean.
- #003
Marseille Bob appears to sign differently from the other signatories. As an Arabic speaker, this is not a mistake: he would normally sign his name from right to left.
- #004
The story focuses on a father-daughter relationship that Anderson drew inspiration from and that his wife predicted after their daughter's birth.
- #005
Mia Threapleton, who plays Liesl, is Kate Winslet's daughter. Although Winslet has not yet appeared in an Anderson film, her name inspired the character Cate Blanchett played alongside Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic (2004): Jane Winslett-Richardson.
- #006
This is the sixth feature film co-written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola.
- #007
This is Wes Anderson's first live-action feature not shot by Robert D. Yeoman. Yeoman instead chose to shoot The Collaboration with director Kwame Kwei-Armah, so Anderson selected Bruno Delbonnel (the cinematographer of, for example, Amélie (2001) and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)). The film was shot on Arriflex 235 with Arricams and Kodak film stock and has a very unusual 1.5:1 aspect ratio.
- #008
When Liesl opens the shoebox, she says one of the items is her grandfather's ashes. These are kept in an ancient Egyptian canopic jar. Canopic jars were not intended to hold ashes; in the mummification process they were used to preserve the deceased's mummified organs before the rest of the body was mummified. This is a callback to Zsa-zsa's earlier statement that her father wanted to be mummified and buried in a pyramid, but that despite having the land and plans for a pyramid, Zsa-zsa had him cremated instead. The jar seems to be a small concession to her father's wishes.
- #009
Zsa-zsa Korda was shot in the stomach and wounded in the head. This hole wound in her stomach and her bleeding forehead are linked to religious depictions of Jesus Christ (at one point she even lies on her back on the ground with her arms in the position of a crucified man). This is broadly consistent with the religious figures and imagery that appear in the film.
- #010
The cast includes four Oscar winners: Riz Ahmed, Benicio Del Toro, Tom Hanks and F. Murray Abraham, and six Oscar nominees: Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray.
- #011
The entire film was shot at Babelsberg Studio in Germany from mid-March to early June 2024. Because director Wes Anderson dislikes green screens, LED panels were used to display clouds during the airplane scenes.
- #012
On set, several real-life paintings were used as set decoration, including Renoir's "Enfant Assis en Robe Bleue" and Magritte's "The Equator" from the collection of the Berlin State Museums.
- #013
Composer Alexandre Desplat (in his seventh collaboration with director Wes Anderson) took a piece from Igor Stravinsky's 1910 ballet The Firebird, altered and expanded it, and used it as the basis of his score. Variations on this motif can be heard throughout the film when the title cards are shown.
- #014
This is the tenth collaboration between director Wes Anderson and actor Bill Murray. It is the sixth collaboration between Anderson and actor Willem Dafoe. It is the sixth collaboration between Anderson and actor Rupert Friend (counting each of the short films in the 2023 Netflix short film collection). It is the fourth collaboration between Anderson and actor Benedict Cumberbatch (same count as above). It is the fourth collaboration between Anderson and actor Richard Ayoade (same count as above). It is the fourth collaboration between Anderson and actor Mathieu Amalric. It is the third collaboration between Anderson and actor F. Murray Abraham. It is the third collaboration between Anderson and actor Jeffrey Wright. It is the third collaboration between Anderson and actor Scarlett Johansson.
- #015
Benicio Del Toro, who shot this film between 12 March and 3 June 2024 that year, was in fact in the middle of shooting One Battle After Another (2025) while working on this film. Coincidentally, both directors Del Toro worked with share the same surname: Anderson (Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson).
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