Many people can instantly recognise a Wes Anderson film just from looking at a single frame. The director’s latest work, The Phoenician Scheme, is no less distinctive. In cinemas from 23 May, and also competing at the Cannes film festival, it bears his usual hallmarks while also feeling like a completely fresh departure. Here’s everything you need to know at a glance about the man and his art.
He’s from Texas
He was born in Houston, Texas, in 1969, grew up there, went to school in the same area (he filmed Rushmore at his old school) and went to university at the University of Texas at Austin, where he made an important friend …
Owen Wilson was his roommate at university
The director has said his career would never have gotten going if it wasn’t for Wilson – and he’s not just being modest: not only has Wilson had acting roles in a healthy seven of Anderson’s films, he also co-wrote the first three.
His first film was revered by critics
A feature-length film based on the 13-minute black and white short Anderson had made with Wilson, Bottle Rocket came out in 1996 and the yarn about a group of dysfunctional pals plotting an ill-conceived heist went down really well with critics.
His adverts are well worth checking out
Sometimes it just doesn’t quite work when a big name actor or director gets into the world of television advertising. But on the whole, it feels as if Anderson’s experiments making ads for the likes of American Express, Prada and Stella Artois have resulted in some pretty cool art. Check out his four-minute Adrien Brody-starring 2016 H&M advert as it’s his previous collaboration with The Phoenician Scheme cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and should offer a little taste of things to come.
As are his storyboards
Megafans of his work are always desperate to get their hands on the storyboards, and though many are unreleased, some decent chunks have been made public as DVD extras and are well worth a look.
He’s pretty popular these days
Anderson’s capacity for invention and imagination means that all his films have an air of an event to them. Indeed, in an era where the death of cinema is often fretted about, Anderson just keeps going from success to success – and it’s no surprise, there’s no better way to take in his epic films than on the big screen. The nine-times Academy Award-nominated Grand Budapest Hotel from 2014 is his biggest hit to date, but his knack for consistently crafting astonishing looking, emotionally beguiling, always amusing, celebrity filled opuses means his films always draw in crowds.
He always manages to attract stellar acting talent
His new film The Phoenician Scheme boasts an enviable cast list – a feat Anderson seems to pull off. In this case, regulars such as Benicio del Toro and Scarlett Johansson are joined by newcomers Michael Cera and Riz Ahmed. Click here for more information on the cast.
His latest is a globetrotting international adventure
The Phoenician Scheme has some distant similarities to The Grand Budapest Hotel. Really, though, it’s something completely new for the director, a thriller based around the unique relationship between Del Toro’s ruthless, charismatic European business tycoon Zsa-zsa Korda and newcomer Mia Threapleton as his daughter Liesl, an unflappable and stoic nun. As ever with Anderson, it’s instantly recognisable as his work, but you’ve never seen anything quite like it.
To find out more about Wes Anderson’s new film The Phoenician Scheme, visit universalpictures.co.uk
In cinemas from 23 May
