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Beyond Benicio del Toro\u2019s magnetic turn as Anatole \u2018Zsa-zsa\u2019 Korda, a 1950s tycoon who survives his sixth plane crash, the movie is a love letter to craftsmanship, practical effects, and the immersive possibilities of set design<\/strong><\/a>. Shot almost entirely at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam, Germany, Wes Anderson\u2019s tenth feature film transforms its soundstage locations into a total cinematic spectacle. \u2018It was going to be a movie made on a soundstage,\u2019 he explains.<\/strong> \u2018I knew the stages.\u2019 This is Anderson\u2019s most extensive use of studio environments yet, and his collaboration with production designer Adam Stockhausen delivers a visual world inspired by illusory marble walls and columns, found in Venetian palazzos and Berlin villas.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Adam Stockhausen\u2019s set design draws from venetian palazzos<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Adam Stockhausen, Anderson\u2019s longtime collaborator on Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City, and the short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, returns to the filmmaker\u2019s signature world of symmetry, theatricality, and obsessive detail. For this film<\/a><\/strong>, titled The Phoenician Scheme, the American production designer orchestrated an ever-shifting mosaic of spaces to house Zsa-zsa\u2019s sprawling ambitions and inner contradictions. \u2018There were several key references,\u2019 recalls Stockhausen.<\/strong> \u2018Probably the most important were inspired by Calouste Gulbenkian\u2019s Paris house and a palazzo in Venice. There are actually a couple of locations, of course, but mostly just as a basis for builds.\u2019 For the grand entrance gallery, the team visited castles and villas around Berlin. \u2018Many had trompe l\u2019oeil marble walls and columns of remarkable craftsmanship,\u2019 adds producer Jeremy Dawson.<\/strong> \u2018So we decided to replicate that, not as a fake version of the process, but in the same real hand-painted way it had been done originally, back then.\u2019<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The interior of Zsa-zsa\u2019s grand residence sets the tone with its marble walls, burnished brass, and priceless art, curating the life of a collector-king. Anderson and art curator Jasper Sharp secured loans from institutions including the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Nahmad and Pietzsch collections. Renoirs and Magrittes sit alongside 14th-century wood carvings, brought in under strict white-glove supervision. \u2018Several people that I approached hung up the phone laughing,\u2019 recalls\u00a0art curator Jasper Sharp.<\/strong> \u2018But a combination of curiosity and the sense of adventure won out.\u2019 One standout piece, a Renoir once owned by actress Greta Garbo, now sits above Liesl\u2019s bed, the character portrayed by Mia Threapleton, described as \u2018the perfect foil to the madness going on around it.\u2019<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n custom props by cartier, dunhill, and prada<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The production\u2019s approach extends far beyond wall treatments. The infrastructure model of Korda\u2019s land-and-sea scheme is designed by Simon Weisse, who previously built the miniatures of Wes Anderson\u2019s The Grand Budapest Hotel. This time, the model had to be strong enough for Benedict Cumberbatch to scale and fragile enough to be blown apart. \u2018We practiced in the parking lot,\u2019 remembers producer Jeremy Dawson.<\/strong> \u2018Simon and his model-making team spent the entire shoot building the thing and we blew it up on nearly the last day.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Design details sneak into every frame. Erica Dorn and Lucile Gauvain lead the graphics team behind the hieroglyphics in the Egyptian Revival ballroom, while Milena Canonero\u2019s costumes carry Anderson\u2019s signature stylization from hat to shoelace. \u2018Working with Wes on the costume design, one has to enter into a special frame of mind,\u2019 observes\u00a0Canonero.<\/strong> \u2018It\u2019s a very sophisticated concept that has to fit together with the art direction and photography and performances like a hyperreal jigsaw puzzle.\u2019 Del Toro agrees.<\/strong> \u2018Wes\u2019s writing, a little bit of me, and Milena\u2019s wardrobe,\u2019 he comments.<\/strong> The practical effects team (Nefzer Special Effects) grounds the visuals in physical texture, using a puppet for the dragonfly on the window, cotton balls for clouds, and rear projection skies. \u2018Adam\u2019s production is just crazy,\u2019 remarks del Toro.<\/strong> Even Liesl\u2019s Cartier-crafted gift, her Dunhill corncob pipe, and her Prada rucksack were custom-made, drawing on Zsa-zsa\u2019s obsession with bespoke legacy. \u2018What would Zsa-zsa get for Liesl? He would have Cartier do it, so we asked, and they did it for us,\u2019 says Anderson.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n haus 5 renamed in tribute to the filmmaker\u2019s visual legacy<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Studio Babelsberg, already legendary for hosting Fritz Lang\u2019s Metropolis, fully embraced the production. After The Phoenician Scheme\u2019s filming, the Haus 5 building, which hosts costume and production design offices, was officially renamed The Wes Anderson Building. \u2018Walking around the spaces for the first time, I don\u2019t think I will ever, ever forget that feeling,\u2019 admits Mia Threapleton<\/strong>. \u2018I don\u2019t know how [Adam] did what he did. I don\u2019t know how his brain does what it does.\u2019<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Through physical design, The Phoenician Scheme is a maximalist opera of control and collapse, where every detail reveals something about Zsa-zsa\u2019s inner workings. As Anderson puts it: \u2018Our film is about a man who is like a mountain.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n project info:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n name:<\/strong> The Phoenician Scheme<\/a> | @thephoenicianscheme<\/a><\/p>\n director:<\/strong> Wes Anderson<\/p>\n producer:<\/strong> Jeremy Dawson<\/p>\n production designer:<\/strong> Adam Stockhausen<\/p>\n costume designer:<\/strong> Milena Canonero<\/p>\n graphic design:<\/strong> Erica Dorn, Lucile Gauvain<\/p>\n miniature & model effects:<\/strong> Simon Weisse<\/p>\n visual effects:<\/strong> Nefzer Special Effects<\/p>\n studio:<\/strong> Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Germany<\/p>\n release:<\/strong> select theaters from May 30, 2025, wide release June 6, 2025<\/p>\n distributor:<\/strong> Focus Features\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0@focusfeatures<\/a><\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-05.jp.jpeg\")
images courtesy of Focus Features\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-06.jp.jpeg\")
Benicio del Toro and Mia Threapleton as Anatole \u2018Zsa-zsa\u2019 Korda and Sister Liesl<\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-08.jp.jpeg\")
Adam Stockhausen delivers a visual world inspired by illusion marble walls<\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-04.jp.jpeg\")
the interior of Zsa-zsa\u2019s grand residence sets the tone<\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-07.jp.jpeg\")
Michael Cera as Bj\u00f8rn Lund<\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-01.jp.jpeg\")
Milena Canonero\u2019s costumes carried Anderson\u2019s signature stylization from<\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-02.jp.jpeg\")
The Phoenician Scheme is a maximalist opera of control and collapse<\/p>\n![\"wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wes-anderson-venetian-palazzos-painted-illusions-phoenician-scheme-adam-stockhausen-designboom-03.jp.jpeg\")
Wes Anderson unveils an opulent fever dream of mid-century European power, industry, and family dysfunction<\/p>\n