Four years before Wes Anderson‘s “The Phoenician Scheme” premiered at Cannes on May 18, the idea for the film was born at the festival as the visionary director presented “The French Dispatch.” Benicio del Toro had a small yet memorable role in the movie as an imprisoned artist, but Anderson wanted more for the Oscar-winning actor.
“I had a sort of image in my mind of Benicio playing a Euro business tycoon,” Anderson told Variety via email. “As if he has walked out of an Antonioni movie with his sunglasses.”
At first, del Toro thought his part would be a similar size to “The French Dispatch,” and didn’t get his hopes up. But then he read the script. “[Anderson] sent me the next 20 pages and I’m still in it and then the next 20 pages and I’m still in it,” del Toro said in an interview with Variety at Cannes. “And then I started to get the fear: Oh my god, this is huge!”
Del Toro plays Zsa-Zsa Korda, a wealthy businessman who keeps evading assassination and must make amends with his estranged daughter, a nun named Liesl (Mia Threapleton), in order to save his empire. Inspiration for the character included the Armenian millionaire Calouste Gulbenkian, Aristotle Onassis, William Hearst and even construction engineer Fouad Malouf, the father of Anderson’s partner Juman Malouf.
As Anderson describes him, Zsa-Zsa is “a man who can always pivot, and has no obligation to the truth. A man who feels empowered — and even obligated — to make decisions that redirect the lives of populations. Someone whose ambition is like a storm system.” The filmmaker wrote the part with del Toro in mind — and not only is he the main character, but he’s in every shot of the movie.
“He was the only one I ever considered,” Anderson said of del Toro. “Maybe if Anthony Quinn had been available, I might have considered him as a back-up plan. Orson Welles could play this part. Toshiro Mifune, but he didn’t speak English, as far as I know.” (All of these actors are dead.)
Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera in “The Phoenician Scheme.”
©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
With little rehearsal time before shooting “The Phoenician Scheme” over eight weeks in Germany, del Toro said the task was daunting, “but in the end, you just trust [Anderson]. You just go for it, and you’re in good hands.”
Despite Zsa-Zsa’s magnate status, del Toro noted that the “human arc of the character is really the heart of the piece,” which is where Threapleton’s character Liesl comes in. Del Toro accompanied Anderson to London to audition her, and the two knew right away.
“There was this moment where we locked eyes and I was like, I think she could tell Zsa Zsa what’s up,” Del Toro said. “And she’s the angel that saves Zsa Zsa. Without her, I think Zsa Zsa is a really sad human being. It’s her who really ignites his conscience.”
As Zsa-Zsa and Liesl embark on a globetrotting adventure, they’re accompanied by the shy, insect-obsessed tutor Bjorn, played by Michael Cera, who provides much of the film’s comic relief. “He’s got that Buster Keaton thing,” del Toro said. “He’s stoic, but there’s something else, like a je ne sais quoi. I think he’s terrific in the film as well and he’s been around a little bit, but this is just a great part that’s going to give him sail.”
“The Phoenician Scheme” will surely give del Toro some momentum of his own as well. “I don’t take it for granted. I know the part was a gift,” he said. “Actors dream of moments like this happening, where a great director says, ‘I got this part for you. I’m going to lean on your shoulders for this.’ So it was a call to arms and I just was honored.”
“The Phoenician Scheme” releases in theaters on Friday via Focus Features.
