RND interview: US director Wes Anderson on TikTok, Trump and nostalgia

Wes Anderson, would you like to live in your own fantasy worlds from the past?

That depends a bit on the film in question. But generally, I'd say: Yes, I'd love to.

Are you a nostalgic type at heart?

You know, I love looking at photos of places I know, like the street in New York where I once lived. The photos show what that place looked like 40, 75, or even 100 years ago. Images like that fascinate me. In my film "The French Dispatch," there's a shot like that of a place where time is reflected.

So did you just accidentally end up in 2025?

In fact, I don't really like the way we live today. There are some things I don't like at all. But when it comes to filmmaking, modern technology is incredibly useful. This applies to preparation, especially visual effects, editing, and fine-tuning. Although I tend to make historical films and use traditional equipment and methods, a lot of it is still done digitally.

Do you already have the typical Wes Anderson universe in mind when you start a new film?

In any case, I already have a lot of ingredients in mind. The more the story takes shape as I write, the more ideas flow into the script. What should the world look like? How should the details be designed? This involves discussions with the production designer, the costume designer, and the crew. But there's never a point where I ask: How do we make this my film? That's not my way of working. In a sense, I weave my film like a tapestry.

What is the focus of your current film “The Phoenician Masterstroke”?

The relationship between a father and his daughter. The father is a businessman who wants to make big deals. And yet, from the very beginning, he is more connected to his daughter than to money. I don't think he realizes this at first. But as soon as he comes into contact with her—a nun, by the way—he begins to change. The businessman has already been in six plane crashes by the time we meet him. And that has changed his way of thinking.

In your current film, Bill Murray plays a benign version of God. But imagine you had to appear before a particularly cruel heavenly ruler, and he forced you to choose: content or form. How would you decide?

Well, I don't really know what content is without style. Conversely, I don't know what style is without content either. Oh, you know, I'd tell that god he doesn't understand anything. Bill Murray would never ask me to make such a decision anyway.

The next plane crash is sure to come: Michael Cera as Bjorn and Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-Zsa Korda in a scene from the film "The Phoenician Masterpiece".

Source: Courtesy of Focus Features/Unive

There's been a trend on TikTok for years where your biggest fans upload videos designed to look like yours, with warm colors, symmetrical shots, and a distinct attention to detail. Do you like these videos?

I never watched these films.

Am I supposed to believe you?

I understand that you're asking that. After all, there are quite a few videos. I'm happy about anyone who's interested in my films and I certainly don't associate anything negative with this TikTok idea. But I don't want to watch the films.

Why not?

Put yourself in my shoes for a moment. If someone imitates you, you might say, "Okay, they saw me like this. But I see myself differently; that's not me." It's a bit like if someone imitates your voice and you say, "Great, but could you please stop that within my earshot?"

Do you use social media at all?

No. People use it to promote their work and other things. I've never felt like it's a good fit for me. What's the point? Sure, I write emails and stuff. But I don't want to watch what other people do. I don't need yellow thumbs-up either.

Your cast list for the current film is, as always, incredible. You call Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Willem Dafoe, and all the others, and they'll say, "Okay, Wes, I'm in." Or how should we imagine it?

Sometimes they say, "I can't." But many actually come. The trick is to always inquire as early as possible. We talk as soon as a project is on the horizon. I then offer them roles I think they'd enjoy. Often these are smaller roles, so the commitment is manageable and doesn't take up too much time. For this film, I'd say we basically had everyone we wanted on board.

Have you ever said to a top Hollywood actor: Sorry, we're full?

Well, sometimes people showed up who wanted to be part of the film and asked me to come up with something for them. Of course, I looked for ways to accommodate that person. But the casting has to make sense. And sometimes I just don't have anything to offer. Then I have to decline. It wouldn't do the film any good if you shot with the actor for a week, then cut out all the scenes and they ended up on the cutting room floor.

Is there a waiting list of stars who would like to be there?

What I've had for years is a list of all the actors I'd like to have in the cast. I wrote down the names at some point, but I don't even look at it anymore.

And the other list?

I don't have a list of actors who are lined up. But I'm working through my wish list little by little. I've been able to convince many actors to participate. For example, Benicio del Toro, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Riz Ahmed were on it—all of them are in the current film. Wait, I just mentioned only men. Why is that? Oh, Scarlett Johansson was also on the list. And Greta Gerwig already had a voice role in "Isle of Dogs."

Your regular actor Bill Murray as God: What more can you offer him in the next film?

Oh yeah, right, that's hard to top. Maybe we should go the other way? Bill Murray as a dark figure, as the devil? Let me think about it. And thanks for the idea.

When you make a film about a businessman who sees himself as a dealmaker, associations with US President Donald Trump inevitably arise. Were you aware of this from the beginning?

I only realized that later. We were inspired a lot by the past, not necessarily by the present. Besides, there are people I've spent time with who are very wealthy and high up in the food chain. I knew their qualities. Trump wasn't among them. Besides, our businessman Zsa-Zsa Korda is a completely different character than Trump, more of a European, more like someone like Aristotle Onassis.

Zsa-Zsa Korda even uses Trump's words. Before catapulting the pilot out of the plane, he says to him, "You are fired!" That's original Trump from his former show, "The Apprentice."

Yes, that's right, that's a very American expression. In fact, over time, more and more things appeared in the newspapers that were reminiscent of our film. "The Phoenician Masterpiece" has so much to do with aviation, and now Trump has suddenly been given the 747 from Qatar. That's really a bit like the film: a Boeing from the Middle East! It's a pretty old 747, by the way. I don't think they even make them anymore. So Trump is getting an old plane, but probably not as old as the one he already has.

You live with your family in Paris and Kent, England. How do you view your home country, the United States, from this side of the Atlantic?

I remember a man in Tuscany, in Lucca, whom I spoke to maybe 14 years ago. I asked him about Silvio Berlusconi, and he said: Please don't talk to me about Berlusconi. And that's how many Americans feel today: Don't talk to me about Trump!

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But everyone's always talking about Trump. We both are, too.

Yes, but if you tell Americans: "This is your man," then it's essentially saying: "Please don't talk to me about Berlusconi."

You shot your latest film at Studio Babelsberg. You're a regular there, and an entire building is named after you. What will you do if Trump goes ahead with his announcement to impose taxes on films produced outside the US?

Then I'll definitely think of something.

You claim that you have not yet dealt with this threatening situation?

No, not at all, and I'm not thinking about it now, but rather when the time comes. Let's not push it. Let's wait and see.

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A few weeks ago, Steven Soderbergh said in an interview here in Berlin that he wasn't sure if he would return to the US once he finished his new film in London. What are you doing?

Many people are saying that now. I have some friends who left America in the past three months. They sold their houses and left. My family and I did that a long time ago, though—but not because I wanted to leave America behind...

... rather?

I love traveling abroad. My wife, my daughter, and I live a little in England and a little in France. It's a completely different life traveling through Europe when you're from Texas. Texas is a small world by comparison.

But Texas is huge.

Yes, but anyone who grew up in Europe is surrounded by many languages ​​and cultures. All of this blends into something cosmopolitan. At least when I lived in Houston, it was mostly about the people of Houston and less about the world around them. In Texas, you get in the car and drive and drive and drive. You drive for a day and a half. And you're still in Texas.