The Phoenician Scheme: Cast & Characters of Wes Anderson’s Latest Film Explained
Wes Anderson’s latest film is an unexpected tale about an estranged father and daughter.
Focus Features' The Phoenician Scheme finds writer/director Wes Anderson weaving a quirky road trip across Phoenicia following the unexpected odd couple of ruthless businessman Anatole “Zsa-zsa” Korda (Benicio del Toro) and his heir and potential successor, Liesel (Mia Threapleton). For the last six years, she’s been studying to become a nun, but his summons changes the trajectory and scope of her humble life. Korda wants her to learn how to run his operation and help him secure the financial means to close his career-defining project, the Korda Land and Sea Phoenician Infrastructure Scheme.
During their travels, father and daughter finally come to know one another as they meet a string of eccentric investors — played by Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, and Benedict Cumberbatch — and try to secure their family’s legacy.
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The Phoenician Scheme, the 12th theatrical film that Anderson has directed, opens for a limited release in theaters today, May 30, and then opens wide across the nation on June 6 (get tickets now!).
The main cast and characters of The Phoenician Scheme
Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda
Korda is an international businessman specializing in armaments, aviation, infrastructure, and the negotiation of clandestine trade agreements. Essentially, he’s a robber baron acquiring vast amounts of wealth, living on the fringes of society and outside the law. Among the richest men in Europe, Korda is unmarried but has had many affairs. One produced his sole daughter, Liesel. Otherwise, he has a gaggle of adopted boys whom he has tutored by a revolving door of educated experts.
In the film's press notes, Anderson says Korda is a larger-than-life character inspired by his own family. “The father/daughter aspects also reflect the father of my wife Juman, Fouad Malouf, a Lebanese businessman, and her experiences with him, and my experiences, too. In a way, he’s the first inspiration for the movie. Something in Zsa-zsa is just totally rooted in Fouad.”
Other projects of note for Del Toro: The French Dispatch, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Wolfman
Mia Threapleton as Liesel
The only daughter of Korda, Liesel is a novitiate about to take her vows at the end of the month when she is summoned by her biological father to take a trial run at becoming the successor to his business. She is curious about the man who put her in the convent after her mother was murdered six years before, but she’s most interested in determining who was responsible for her mother’s death. She agrees to help Korda secure capital for his Phoenician Scheme, and to learn how he conducts his business, but she intends to remain emotionally distant from him.
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Threapleton is the daughter of actress Kate Winslet, and this is her first major feature starring role. “For the audition tape, I did a scene from Isle of Dogs,” Threapleton says in the press notes. “Then I did a screen test with Benicio and Wes that took place over two days, and I got the call the next day. I was on a train at the time, and I just sat down on the floor and had a little cry."
Other projects of note for Threapleton: The Buccaneers, Dangerous Liaisons
Michael Cera as Bjorn
Bjorn appears in Korda’s massive mansion at the same time as Liesel. He is a Norwegian tutor and entomologist hired by Korda to teach his adopted sons about nature. He is immediately taken by Liesel and travels with the father and daughter to Phoenicia to collect capital to complete Korda’s life’s work, the Phoenician Scheme.
Quirky and clever, Bjorn is an astute observer of the Korda’s odd way of life. “The character was very, very complete in the script,” Cera says. “When we first approached it, I think Wes was a little surprised that I was talking about doing the accent. Of course, he wrote it so it’s Norwegian, so it had that, but I don’t think Wes had really thought about how it would be until I showed up. But we found it together, and committed to it, and went from there.”
Other projects of note for Cera: Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Scarlett Johansson as Cousin Hilda Sussman-Korda
Korda’s pragmatic second cousin, Hilda oversees construction of the Trans-basin Hydroelectric Embankment within The Hilda Sussman-Korda Private Utopian Outpost, Middle Independent Phoenicia. She is part of Korda’s overall plan to secure his Phoenician Scheme.
Other projects of note for Johansson: Asteroid City, The Avengers, Jurassic World Rebirth (in theaters July 2)
Benedict Cumberbatch as Uncle Nubar
Another titan of industry, Nubar is Zsa-zsa’s brother. He is a shadowy figure in the film and is the last participant that Korbel needs in order to achieve his overall scheme. Nubar does not have an easy relationship with Korda because of his possible involvement with Liesel’s mother. There have been rumors about an affair that Korbel has never bothered to confirm, but he’s also curious about what happened to Liesel’s mother and plans to confront his brother about it.
Other projects of note for Cumberbatch: Sherlock, The Avengers: Endgame
The Phoenician Scheme is available exclusively in limited theaters today, May 30, and opens wide June 6, 2025. Get tickets now!
