Wes Anderson‘s next film project will be a collaboration with co-writer Roman Coppola and U.K. comedian and actor Richard Ayoade, who stars in the director’s The Phoenician Scheme, which premiered in the competition of the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night.
Anderson teased his collaborators during a Cannes press conference on Monday without disclosing further details about his latest movie.
The press event saw Anderson and a busload of his stars cramming into the Cannes press conference room to answer questions about the Phonecian Scheme. Among the members of the ensemble cast joining him on stage were Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Ayoade. Frequent Anderson collaborator Bill Murray, was also in attendance, but sat in the audience, jumping to his feet when Anderson and the rest of the cast entered, leading the crowd in welcoming applause.
Among other things, Anderson drew laughs with a comment on U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of potential film tariffs. “I’m not an expert in that area of economics, but a 100 percent tariff?” the filmmaker said. “I feel like that means he’s going to take all of the money, and then what do we get? Can you hold up the movies in customs? I feel it doesn’t ship that way. I want to know the details, so I’ll hold off my official answer.”
Phoenician Scheme was the recipient of a polite six-minute ovation on Sunday night. THR‘s review called the movie “a Wes Anderson for those who’ve been feeling alienated by Wes Anderson.” It added that the film “won’t have true haters reconsidering their options, but it will entice those who’ve been feeling alienated to rejoin rank,” concluding: “The Phoenician Scheme marks a return for Anderson to the emotionally grounded and intimate narratives that made his more accessible works (like Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom) so popular.”
Focus releases it widely on June 6.
