The Magical Universe of Wes Anderson and Mia Threapleton
It’s easy to get **star-struck** by a **Wes Anderson** cast. There are **Oscar winners**, **screen legends**, and **blockbuster stars** all occupying the same, impeccably ornamented space. However, it’s an entirely different experience getting star-struck by the Anderson troupe when you are the one leading his films.
“As a performer, it was amazing to play around within the scenes and try **different things** and explore things with the sheer volume of talented people that he amasses,” says **Mia Threapleton**. “On a personal level, it was the most surreal experience of my life, because I’m suddenly stood next to **Tom Hanks**, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, it’s Woody!’”
Hanks is among the ensemble of The Phoenician Scheme that includes **Bryan Cranston**, **Scarlett Johansson**, **Benedict Cumberbatch**, and **Riz Ahmed**, where **Benicio Del Toro**, **Michael Cera**, and Threapleton act as the starring triumvirate.
“I’ve watched all of these people growing up and have loved their films forever,” Threapleton expresses, emphasizing her excitement about being part of such an esteemed project.
The Plot of “The Phoenician Scheme”
The Phoenician Scheme, set to release on May 30 via **Focus Features**, stars Del Toro as **Zsa-Zsa Korda**, a European tycoon who has built a globe-spanning empire using dubious business practices. After barely surviving the latest in a litany of **assassination attempts**, he appoints an heir to his estate—his estranged and only daughter, **Liesl**, a nun on the verge of taking her vows, played by Threapleton.
It’s fair to say that the 24-year-old actress came by her profession naturally from a young age. She recalls, “I was forever putting on **plays** in the garden with my cousins. I must have been about 10 when I actually said out loud, ‘I want to do this.’” Despite being the daughter of **Kate Winslet**, Threapleton notes that she wasn’t familiar with the ins and outs of the entertainment industry nor the experience of being on set.
Roger Do Minh/TPS Productions/Focus Features
From Theater to Screen
“She really kept her work very separate from family life. Her work stayed in her office, and then when she was not in her office, she was **‘Mum,’**” says Threapleton. She landed an agent after being **scouted** in a high school play. “I don’t think I ever really had the thought of, ‘I’m gonna do this on my own.’ But that seems to have been what happened, and that was something that my mother was really supportive of me wanting to do because that’s what she did when she was younger.”
But Threapleton hasn’t shied away from an association with Winslet. She starred with her mom in Channel 4’s I Am and has since amassed credits that include **Apple TV+**’s The Buccaneers and smaller roles in films with **Jude Law** (Firebrand) and **Gillian Anderson** (Scoop). The Phoenician Scheme is, by far, her biggest role to date.
A Long Audition Process
It was in May 2023 that the actress got an email from her agents about a new Anderson project. “It literally was just ‘young girl,’ that was it, informationally,” says Threapleton, who genuinely clicked into the **Anderson oeuvre** when she saw **Moonrise Kingdom** at the age of 12.
The **audition process** lasted six months—comprising a series of self-tapes, in-person readings, meetings, and screen tests—all of which ultimately landed her in the role of Liesl. “We auditioned hundreds, but when she appeared, it was very clear that she was going to work,” Anderson told **THR**.
Exploring Themes of Inheritance
Ultimately, The Phoenician Scheme is a story about **inheritance**, both literal and metaphorical. Del Toro’s Zsa-Zsa and Threapleton’s Liesl hold the narrative spokes together with a **centered father-daughter relationship** that, even with all of the trappings of an **Anderson-ian lilt**, dives into themes of **generational trauma**.
Over a week and a half of **rehearsals**, Del Toro and Threapleton, along with Anderson and Cera, engaged in lengthy conversations about character that built the foundation for their months-long shoot at **Berlin’s Studio Babelsberg**. Leading up to production, the director asked Threapleton to create some of her own props that she used on screen. “He really creates this world, and you’re walking and living and breathing it all day, every day,” she remarks. “It sort of felt impossible not to feel like you weren’t in that space in real life because it was all-encompassing.”
The Cannes Experience
Before touching down at the **Cannes Film Festival**, where The Phoenician Scheme will screen in the festival’s main competition section, Threapleton had the opportunity to see the movie solo in a **London screening room**. “The opening credits started, and I burst into tears,” she laughs. “And then it was my face, and I thought, ‘Holy shit, that’s a lot of my face!’ Then the ending happened, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I did that.’”