Wes Anderson was the toast of New York on Wednesday night at the premiere of his latest film, “The Phoenician Scheme.”
The film’s sprawling ensemble cast, including Benicio del Toro, Bryan Cranston, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and breakout lead Mia Threapleton, walked the carpet at Jazz at Lincoln Square before the film’s 7 p.m. screening, which was packed with the auteur’s bold-faced network of friends and collaborators.
The night was particularly special for Threapleton, whose role marks the 24 year-old actor’s first starring turn in a major feature film.
She recalls the nerves she felt before meeting Anderson for the first time during the audition process but “then he opened the door and said ‘Hello!’ and gave me a hug,” she said. “He was wearing hotel slippers and pink socks and I was like ‘Oh you’re not scary, you’re not a dragon, you’re not gonna eat me!’”
Even if the nepo baby accusations loom — she’s Kate Winslet’s daughter — Threapleton proves her star power as del Toro’s porcelain-faced daughter (and novitiate nun) throughout the globe-trotting adventure, holding her own alongside veteran actors who have nearly all worked with Anderson on prior projects.
Variety via Getty Images
Variety via Getty Images
Variety via Getty Images
“What is consistent in Wes Anderson’s storytelling is that you cannot predict where it’s gonna go,” Cranston, who previously starred in Anderson’s “Isle of the Dogs” and “Asteroid City,” told Variety on the carpet. “He is so unique, he is such an auteur, that you just have to buy in, put the seatbelt on and go for the ride.”
In this case, the rollicking 90-minute ride stars del Toro as business magnate Zsa-zsa Korda, who happens to be one of the richest men in Europe. Threapleton stars as his daughter, a nun named Sister Liesel, with Cera making his long-awaited Anderson movie debut as her tutor Bjorn Lund.
The Hollywood Reporter via Getty
Variety via Getty Images
The Hollywood Reporter via Getty
After the screening, attendees braved the rain and packed into shuttles for a glitzy after party at the Upper East Side’s famed Metropolitan Club. Under glittering crystal chandeliers and soaring ceilings, celebrities such as Jon Hamm, Ari Aster, Steve Buscemi and Sean Baker schmoozed over specialty Zsa-Zsa cocktails until well past midnight.
It’s no surprise that the beloved auteur had such a good turnout, even on a school night. “He leads with a lot of love,” Threapleton says of Anderson. “Everyone feels profoundly comfortable around him. And they keep coming back because they love him, and he loves them.”
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