The Phoenician Scheme (2025) on Netflix
PG-1320251h 41mActionComedyCrimeDramaThriller
Arms dealer Zsa-zsa Korda has survived a sixth attempt on his life. He enrolls his only daughter, Sister Liesl, a Catholic novice, in his plan to rebuild Phoenicia.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.6/1073,515 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes77%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1950, Anatole Zsa-zsa Korda, an arms dealer and industrialist, has survived six attempts on his life and knows he cannot run forever. He tries to repair his relationship with his only daughter, Sister Liesl, a Catholic novice, and brings her into his plan: an overhaul of Phoenicia's infrastructure, built with slave labor. A consortium of governments, wanting to curb his habit of bending global conflict and peace to his own interests, conspires to raise the price of building materials and threatens to bankrupt him. With Liesl and Bjørn, a Norwegian entomologist who works as his administrative assistant, Korda sets out to meet the partners he means to swindle.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Phoenician Scheme (2025)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Zsa-Zsa Korda's lavish palazzo, art collecting and nickname "Mr. Five Percent" were borrowed from Armenian oil magnate Calouste Gulbenkian, and the name, look and British manner of his brother Nubar came from Gulbenkian's son Nubar Gulbenkian.
- When Anderson's father-in-law's health began failing, he showed Anderson's wife a series of shoeboxes he had used to organize his files and memories; Anderson adapted them for the film, where Zsa-Zsa Korda uses shoeboxes to organize his business plans.
- Benicio del Toro was the only actor considered for the role of Zsa-Zsa Korda, and Anderson said the film would feature him in every shot, in a dark espionage tale about a father and daughter.
- Mia Threapleton wrote in her journal at thirteen that she would love to work with Wes Anderson one day; she landed the role of Sister Liesl after a long audition process that began in May 2023, when she sent Anderson a self-shot tape without knowing anything about the character.
- The Phoenician Scheme was the first live-action Wes Anderson film not shot by his regular cinematographer Robert Yeoman; Bruno Delbonnel shot it on 35 mm, his first feature-length collaboration with Anderson.
- Anderson used real paintings as props, including Renoir's Enfant Assis en Robe Bleue, once owned by Greta Garbo, and Magritte's The Equator from the Berlin State Museums, while some paintings in the film, including a Rubens, were replicas.
- Because Anderson avoids using chroma key, the cloud footage outside the plane was created with an LED screen.
