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April 27, 2025 11:51 AM subscribe
Wes Anderson has had many creative partners. But have any stimulated the juices of anticipation more than his most recent? Richard Ayoade will feature in The Phoenician scheme (also Hanks, Del Toro, Ahmed, Johansson, Cumberbatch etc.). This is the trailer.
A bit more on what it's about.
A bit more on what it's about.
While I've enjoyed several Wes Anderson movies since he last worked with the Wilsons, it's become increasingly clear over the past (oh lord) twenty years that a very substantial amount of what I found affecting about those first movies had come from the Wilsons.
posted by eschatfische at 12:18 PM on April 27 [4 favorites]
posted by eschatfische at 12:18 PM on April 27 [4 favorites]
I was a fan of Richard Ayoade, but based on his defense of Glinner I'm kind of disappointed to see Wes continue to work with him.
posted by pxe2000 at 12:31 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
posted by pxe2000 at 12:31 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
Richard Ayoade is someone who has plenty of chances to support trans women and hasn't. The silence makes it very hard for me to enjoy his work either past or present, due to his association with a super vocal anti-trans activist, and his blurb for that person's book. As the partner of a trans woman, I can't deal with it so I don't support it - I haven't loved any recent Wes Anderson movies so this isn't a hard choice particularly.
"For all the ‘what has Ayoade said that’s transphobic’ people out there, the answer is nadda. He’s said nothing transphobic. He’s just lent his name and praise to a person who has said overtly, openly, horribly transphobic things — repeatedly — and more specifically, has lent that praise to that person’s own biased version of events, one that frames posting pictures of people to your rabid army of fans, calling people peadophiles and groomers, and being so disgustingly horrible that you were outright banned from twitter as simply choosing the hill of women and girls’ rights to die on." https://medium.com/@transylvania/is-richard-ayoade-a-terf-95dc22c9a753
posted by lizard music at 12:37 PM on April 27 [8 favorites]
"For all the ‘what has Ayoade said that’s transphobic’ people out there, the answer is nadda. He’s said nothing transphobic. He’s just lent his name and praise to a person who has said overtly, openly, horribly transphobic things — repeatedly — and more specifically, has lent that praise to that person’s own biased version of events, one that frames posting pictures of people to your rabid army of fans, calling people peadophiles and groomers, and being so disgustingly horrible that you were outright banned from twitter as simply choosing the hill of women and girls’ rights to die on." https://medium.com/@transylvania/is-richard-ayoade-a-terf-95dc22c9a753
posted by lizard music at 12:37 PM on April 27 [8 favorites]
There seems to be a line for me with Wes Anderson that depends on how male the cast leans and how masculine/straight the plot seems. I watched this trailer and know this one isn't for me, as with the India movie. It's kind of a gut feeling thing.
posted by kokaku at 12:44 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
posted by kokaku at 12:44 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
ayoade is a transphobe who is too chickenshit to be clear about it because he doesn't want what happened to his buddy glinner to happen to him:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13676191/richard-ayoade-graham-linehan-trans-views-book.html
posted by secret about box at 12:51 PM on April 27 [6 favorites]
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13676191/richard-ayoade-graham-linehan-trans-views-book.html
posted by secret about box at 12:51 PM on April 27 [6 favorites]
Asking us to root for the twee industrialists as they attempt to destabilize the twee Ché-coded revolutionary played by Ayoade may be a bit of a stretch in 20fucking25.
But I guess we can’t expect Anderson to stray too far from his formula. Or his gender politics. Or his views on race and caste.
Personally, I think I’ve finally put him in the same category as Richard Dawkins and the West Wing — things I enjoyed in college but am deeply embarrassed by now.
posted by turbowombat at 3:10 PM on April 27
But I guess we can’t expect Anderson to stray too far from his formula. Or his gender politics. Or his views on race and caste.
Personally, I think I’ve finally put him in the same category as Richard Dawkins and the West Wing — things I enjoyed in college but am deeply embarrassed by now.
posted by turbowombat at 3:10 PM on April 27
I do not know the actor Mia Threapleton's work and from the trailer she seems perfect for this production but I have the most linguistically philologistic sugestion that her name is the true drawing card, that she did not need to audition but just the word 'threapleton' sticking out from a huge stack of one-sheets cinched her case.
posted by sammyo at 3:48 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 3:48 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
I'll defend Wes Anderson against the charge of being insufficiently inclusive on the matter of race.
Take this very movie. He's given a starring role - the main one - to a Latino man, Puerto Rican, Benicio Del Toro. If we don't count the very white-passing Pedro Pascal, I'm actually having a hard time thinking of the last major movie with one (male), which goes double if the plot wasn't explicitly about a Latin American setting.
Let's put it this way. Anderson seems to think about these matters more than his peers. In that sense he's like a student which maybe didn't do great objectively but still did all the homework and showed up for the tests. Like sure, this guy has problems, but he's better than the alternatives, so he 'wins' by default. Another example: Jeffery Wright.
A great example of that is Apocalytpo: basically the only significant fantasy movie set in Mesoamerica with a Mesoamerican theme, ever. If I banish that movie the number of movies that brought that setting with a big budget to the American public is 0.
And certainly Wes Anderson on his worst day is a lot more appealing than Mel Gibson on his best.
so I'll appreciate Anderson's efforts publicly and hope he continues the good work he's been doing. Grading on the curve of The Casting situation As It Currently Is, he scores very well.
posted by julianeon at 3:50 PM on April 27
Take this very movie. He's given a starring role - the main one - to a Latino man, Puerto Rican, Benicio Del Toro. If we don't count the very white-passing Pedro Pascal, I'm actually having a hard time thinking of the last major movie with one (male), which goes double if the plot wasn't explicitly about a Latin American setting.
Let's put it this way. Anderson seems to think about these matters more than his peers. In that sense he's like a student which maybe didn't do great objectively but still did all the homework and showed up for the tests. Like sure, this guy has problems, but he's better than the alternatives, so he 'wins' by default. Another example: Jeffery Wright.
A great example of that is Apocalytpo: basically the only significant fantasy movie set in Mesoamerica with a Mesoamerican theme, ever. If I banish that movie the number of movies that brought that setting with a big budget to the American public is 0.
And certainly Wes Anderson on his worst day is a lot more appealing than Mel Gibson on his best.
so I'll appreciate Anderson's efforts publicly and hope he continues the good work he's been doing. Grading on the curve of The Casting situation As It Currently Is, he scores very well.
posted by julianeon at 3:50 PM on April 27
it's become increasingly clear over the past (oh lord) twenty years that a very substantial amount of what I found affecting about those first movies had come from the Wilsons.
I feel EXACTLY the same way, eschatfische
posted by jordantwodelta at 4:01 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
I feel EXACTLY the same way, eschatfische
posted by jordantwodelta at 4:01 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
I feel EXACTLY the same way, eschatfische.
It took me a while to articulate what I dislike about Anderson’s movies, but it was clarified by listening to the commentary track from ‘The Life Aquatic’. He goes into great detail about the significance of many of the design decisions, and how they reflect things from his personal experience, childhood, etc. But none of this is ever telegraphed to the audience, and it obviously wouldn’t resonate in the same way even if he did. It just comes across as set dressing or a design sensibility without any deeper meaning. To the extent that there is any real feeling in his movies at all, it comes solely from the actors - the Wilsons, Bill Murray etc. I was left thinking they are fundamentally solipsistic exercises, that he’s essentially a very talented designer vs. a storyteller, and I think it explains what feels like a kind of unsatisfying insubstantiality to me.
posted by reedbird_hill at 4:23 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
It took me a while to articulate what I dislike about Anderson’s movies, but it was clarified by listening to the commentary track from ‘The Life Aquatic’. He goes into great detail about the significance of many of the design decisions, and how they reflect things from his personal experience, childhood, etc. But none of this is ever telegraphed to the audience, and it obviously wouldn’t resonate in the same way even if he did. It just comes across as set dressing or a design sensibility without any deeper meaning. To the extent that there is any real feeling in his movies at all, it comes solely from the actors - the Wilsons, Bill Murray etc. I was left thinking they are fundamentally solipsistic exercises, that he’s essentially a very talented designer vs. a storyteller, and I think it explains what feels like a kind of unsatisfying insubstantiality to me.
posted by reedbird_hill at 4:23 PM on April 27 [1 favorite]
I went to go see the new The Wedding Banquet yesterday (I liked it) and I was given this trailer and the trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another and I just heavy sighed. Because tiresome men making movies above the non-tiresome people making movies or something.
Look, I loved Wes Anderson up to a point. I love Rushmore even now. I did watch Asteroid City, which I also said was "This is Barbie for insufferable indie dudes" because I call it like I see it. (I do think Margot Robbie saved Asteroid City because she's just that good.)
If you like Anderson, I'm not taking anything away from you. Continue to love him! I just think he continues to rely on his tropes. That's fine! He's good at it. He likes it! Other people like it! I've just stopped finding it interesting.
(To be fair, I will still likely watch this once it's streaming or a cheap enough rental.)
posted by edencosmic at 4:58 PM on April 27
Look, I loved Wes Anderson up to a point. I love Rushmore even now. I did watch Asteroid City, which I also said was "This is Barbie for insufferable indie dudes" because I call it like I see it. (I do think Margot Robbie saved Asteroid City because she's just that good.)
If you like Anderson, I'm not taking anything away from you. Continue to love him! I just think he continues to rely on his tropes. That's fine! He's good at it. He likes it! Other people like it! I've just stopped finding it interesting.
(To be fair, I will still likely watch this once it's streaming or a cheap enough rental.)
posted by edencosmic at 4:58 PM on April 27
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posted by indexy at 12:15 PM on April 27 [2 favorites]