A Battered Benicio Del Toro Stars in Trailer for Wes Anderson’s ‘The Phoenician Scheme’

Focus Features dropped the star-studded trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest project, The Phoenician Scheme, which will be released in theatres on May 30th. The film follows a complicated father-daughter relationship between Zsa-zsa Korda, a mega-rich businessman, and Liesl, a nun.

The campy preview begins with a reporter speaking on a plane crash that reportedly killed arms dealer Zsa-Zsa Korda, calling him an “international businessman, maverick in the fields of armaments and aviation, among the richest men in Europe.” Although the reporter speaks of him in the past tense, a battered Korda emerges on camera. Director and writer Wes Anderson has said that Del Toro appears in every scene of the black comedy. 

Though the plot is only loosely depicted, the trailer chronicles Korda naming his nun daughter Liesl, played by Mia Threapleton, the sole heir to his estate, and an apparent partner in his agenda to “rendezvous with every titan and pretend we agree what we already agree, but in fact we don’t, we can’t.” It also depicts an office full of men focused on “obstructing and crippling his enterprise.” And the hijinks continue from there, with scenes of Korda playing basketball with someone played by Tom Hanks, and their tutor Bjorn, played by Michael Cera, drunkenly flirting with Liesl. 

The loaded ensemble cast also includes Riz Ahmed, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Hope Davis.

Anderson crafted the script for The Phoenician Scheme with Roman Coppola, and has previously told Movie Web that,” I can’t tell you much more than that except that it will be about espionage, a father-daughter relationship, and, let’s say, with a rather dark tone.”

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