Wes Anderson's creative process? Wait for inspiration to strike

Opening in Singapore cinemas on June 5, American writer-director Wes Anderson's (right) new film The Phoenician Scheme is a black comedy starring Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, a ruthless tycoon and arms dealer whose adversaries keep trying to kill him.

- Alison de Souza

NEW YORK Opening in Singapore cinemas on June 5, American writer-director Wes Anderson's (right) new film The Phoenician Scheme is a black comedy starring Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, a ruthless tycoon and arms dealer whose adversaries keep trying to kill him.

After narrowly escaping death, he sets out to convince his estranged daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a nun, to become his heir and, if need be, avenge his death.

But as the pair embark on a globetrotting journey to secure funding for Korda's infrastructure project in the fictional nation of Phoenicia, they are pursued by rivals determined to sabotage his plans.

Anderson, 56, brings his signature style — eccentric, stylized and ornate, with whimsical characters played by a large ensemble cast to a story about a dysfunctional family, one of his pet themes.

And as with movies such as comedy-drama The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) — which was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay Oscars — he directed this from an original screenplay he wrote.

But, asked how he comes up with these ideas, Anderson confesses it is a mystery even to him.

"I don't know the answer to that," the film-maker says at a recent New York screening of The Phoenician Scheme.