CANNES, France (AP) 鈥 Wes Anderson isn鈥檛 driving the bus. Laurent is. That鈥檚 the name of the driver who鈥檚 bringing Anderson, and his bus, to the Cannes Film Festival.
As they drive from his home in Paris to the South of France, Anderson explains by phone: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 drive the bus. You have to have, like, four years of training and an EU bus driver鈥檚 license. The thing is, if you鈥檙e going to drive a bus like this, you鈥檝e got to be able to drive it in reverse, too.鈥
For years, Anderson has, in favor of the normal festival cars that shuttle guests, brought his own bus to Cannes so his whole cast can arrive together at the premiere. On Sunday, Anderson and company (including Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson and Bryan Cranston) will pile in for the premiere of Anderson鈥檚 latest, 鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme.鈥
It鈥檚 another example of how Anderson has made something quite unusual into a regular tradition.
With remarkable regularity, Anderson has been crafting movies uniquely his own since his 1996 debut, 鈥淏ottle Rocket.鈥 There are variations. Some are expansive family dramas ("The Royal Tenenbaums"). Some are more intimate ("Rushmore"). Some are more densely layered ("Asteroid City").
鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme,鈥 a leaner tale which Focus Features will release May 30, is Anderson working in high comic gear. A playful and poignant kind of thriller, it stars Del Toro as the tycoon Zsa-Zsa Korda, who decides to name his daughter, a novitiate (Threapleton) heir to his dubiously accrued fortune.
The wheels keep turning for the 56-year-old Anderson. But there are signs of time passing, too. The Cin茅math猫que in Paris is hosting an Anderson retrospective, as well as an exhibition of props, costumes and artifacts from his expansive personal archive.
Anderson, who has a 9-year-old daughter with his wife, the costume designer Juman Malouf, spoke about those things and others on his way to Cannes to unveil 鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme," a movie that adds yet another fitting mantra to the world of Wes: 鈥淲hat matters is the sincerity of your devotion.鈥
AP: How was it to dig through all the things you've saved from your movies?
ANDERSON: We鈥檝e been keeping this stuff for so long. The experience of doing it was kind of great. I鈥檇 sort of get pulled over there to approve things. And my reaction was, 鈥淲ell, we have more stuff.鈥 So we kept adding things. My daughter has lived with a lot of this stuff. The 鈥淔antastic Mr. Fox鈥 puppets have been in our apartment in New York ever since we made the movie in boxes. Over the years, she takes them out and plays with them.
AP: Jason Schwartzman once told me your movies aren't for kids but it's "like they鈥檙e for kids when they grow up." Do you agree?
ANDERSON: (Laughs) Jason, and Bill, have a way of catching you off guard with a turn of phrase. But I like that description. It鈥檚 kind of an amazing experience to have had that he was 17 when I met him. It鈥檚 fun and a strange feeling. The decades have to elapse for you to have had that much time together. And it鈥檚 quite shocking that they do. But there it is.
AP: The sweetest parts to 鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme鈥 are its father-daughter moments. Were you at all inspired by your own experience as a father?
ANDERSON: I didn鈥檛 have something I thought I wanted to communicate about what it鈥檚 like to be a father. The story really come out of an idea for Benicio and for this character. But I don鈥檛 think he would have had a daughter if I didn鈥檛. That鈥檚 my hunch. He鈥檚 a special kind of a father, in all the worst ways. But nevertheless, there鈥檚 something we related to. That鈥檚 probably somewhere in the DNA of the movie.
AP: What drew you to Del Toro?
ANDERSON: If I were to say what is the first idea of the movie, it is that face. It鈥檚 not an image of the setting, it鈥檚 an image of Benicio in a close-up as this character. His face is just so expressive and interesting. It鈥檚 a special advantage he has. He鈥檚 quite mesmerizing just looking at him on camera, his chemistry with the exposure of film. In 鈥淭he French Dispatch,鈥 there were electric moments on the set. But the electricity was amplified when we went back into the cutting room. The wheels started turning. When we showed 鈥淭he French Dispatch鈥 however many years ago in Cannes, I did mention to Benicio there, 鈥淛ust be aware, there鈥檚 something else coming."
AP: Is that a common way for you to start imagining a movie? I can see 鈥淩ushmore鈥 starting with Murray's face with a cigarette dropping from his mouth, 鈥淭he Royal Tenenbaums鈥 with Gene Hackman's smile and 鈥淭he Grand Budapest Hotel鈥 with Ralph Fiennes as a concierge.
ANDERSON: Essentially, you鈥檝e put your finger on the movies that were written for a specific actor, along with Jason in 鈥淎steroid City.鈥 Owen and I were talking about Gene Hackman by the time we had 10 pages of a script. Ralph was the idea for the character in 鈥淕rand Budapest鈥 before there was even one page. But I never had one where I thought of someone in such a tight close-up. With this movie, somehow it鈥檚 the face and the eyes and the closest close-up.
AP: After Gene Hackman's death, Bill Murray and others talked about the tough time he gave you while making 鈥淭he Grand Budapest Hotel.鈥
ANDERSON: First of all, , one of the greatest movie actors ever. He did enjoy the movie, I think, between action and cut. He said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I have a good time.鈥 But he really didn鈥檛 enjoy the parts in between, which is most of the time. He wasn鈥檛 wildly taken with the script in the first place. I don鈥檛 think he loved the idea of being that guy. I think he thought: 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of things I don鈥檛 like about this man and I鈥檓 not sure I want to live as him.鈥
Also, I was very young. He was shy and reserved, though he could also get quite explosive. We didn鈥檛 know each other well. Sometimes, when we had conflict, we often had open conversations about what just happened. And I felt like I learned so much about him in those times. And he would often become much more gentle.
I don鈥檛 want to assume a great friendship because I don鈥檛 think he would have ever have referred to our relationship (laughs) in those terms. But I really liked him. He just carried so much tension and he used in the work, but it was sometimes bordering on a little abusive, especially to me. (Laughs)
AP: Given how good he is in the film, it makes me wonder if the best parts for actors are the ones they resist.
ANDERSON: I think that鈥檚 the case sometimes. When he saw the movie, he told me, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 understand what we were making.鈥 But he totally understood it when he saw the movie. It worked for him. He liked it, and I think he liked what he had done it. I later thought: I wish I had paused for three days of shooting, edited some of the scenes carefully and then shown him: Here鈥檚 what you鈥檙e doing and here鈥檚 what we鈥檙e doing. I think maybe if I had done that, we might have had a gentler time.
AP: You've managed to continue making movies for adults at some scale when hardly anyone can do that. Are you happy to avoid the changes in the industry or do they concern you?
ANDERSON: The path that I鈥檝e had as a movie director, I don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 totally available right now. I don鈥檛 know if the kind of movies I started out making would have been made on the same scale or with the same support or with any audience available. To get to the point where I can make the movies I make I now, I just don鈥檛 know what route that would take. I think some things have changed fundamentally. But I鈥檓 not 25 years younger than myself, so I just do what I do.
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Jake Coyle has covered the Cannes Film Festival since 2012. He鈥檚 previously interviewed Wes Anderson in Cannes about 鈥淎steroid City鈥 and
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