Wes Anderson talks 'The Phoenician Scheme,' Gene Hackman and his Cannes bus

CANNES, France (AP) — Wes Anderson isn’t driving the bus. Laurent is. That’s the name of the driver who’s bringing Anderson, and his bus, to the Cannes Film Festival.

As they drive from his home in Paris to the South of France, Anderson explains by phone: “I don’t drive the bus. You have to have, like, four years of training and an EU bus driver’s license. The thing is, if you’re going to drive a bus like this, you’ve got to be able to drive it in reverse, too.”

For years, Anderson has, in favor of the normal festival cars that shuttle guests, brought his own bus to Cannes so his whole cast can arrive together at the premiere. On Sunday, Anderson and company (including Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson and Bryan Cranston) will pile in for the premiere of Anderson’s latest, “The Phoenician Scheme.”

It’s another example of how Anderson has made something quite unusual into a regular tradition.

With remarkable regularity, Anderson has been crafting movies uniquely his own since his 1996 debut, “Bottle Rocket.” There are variations. Some are expansive family dramas ("The Royal Tenenbaums"). Some are more intimate ("Rushmore"). Some are more densely layered ("Asteroid City").

“The Phoenician Scheme,” a leaner tale which Focus Features will release May 30, is Anderson working in high comic gear. A playful and poignant kind of thriller, it stars Del Toro as the tycoon Zsa-Zsa Korda, who decides to name his daughter, a novitiate (Threapleton) heir to his dubiously accrued fortune.

The wheels keep turning for the 56-year-old Anderson. But there are signs of time passing, too. The Cinémathèque in Paris is hosting an Anderson retrospective, as well as an exhibition of props, costumes and artifacts from his expansive personal archive.

Anderson, who has a 9-year-old daughter with his wife, the costume designer Juman Malouf, spoke about those things and others on his way to Cannes to unveil “The Phoenician Scheme," a movie that adds yet another fitting mantra to the world of Wes: “What matters is the sincerity of your devotion.”

ANDERSON: We’ve been keeping this stuff for so long. The experience of doing it was kind of great. I’d sort of get pulled over there to approve things. And my reaction was, “Well, we have more stuff.” So we kept adding things. My daughter has lived with a lot of this stuff. The “Fantastic Mr. Fox” puppets have been in our apartment in New York ever since we made the movie in boxes. Over the years, she takes them out and plays with them.

ANDERSON: (Laughs) Jason, and Bill, have a way of catching you off guard with a turn of phrase. But I like that description. It’s kind of an amazing experience to have had Jason involved in our movies for so long given that he was 17 when I met him. It’s fun and a strange feeling. The decades have to elapse for you to have had that much time together. And it’s quite shocking that they do. But there it is.

ANDERSON: I didn’t have something I thought I wanted to communicate about what it’s like to be a father. The story really come out of an idea for Benicio and for this character. But I don’t think he would have had a daughter if I didn’t. That’s my hunch. He’s a special kind of a father, in all the worst ways. But nevertheless, there’s something we related to. That’s probably somewhere in the DNA of the movie.

ANDERSON: If I were to say what is the first idea of the movie, it is that face. It’s not an image of the setting, it’s an image of Benicio in a close-up as this character. His face is just so expressive and interesting. It’s a special advantage he has. He’s quite mesmerizing just looking at him on camera, his chemistry with the exposure of film. In “The French Dispatch,” there were electric moments on the set. But the electricity was amplified when we went back into the cutting room. The wheels started turning. When we showed “The French Dispatch” however many years ago in Cannes, I did mention to Benicio there, “Just be aware, there’s something else coming."

ANDERSON: Essentially, you’ve put your finger on the movies that were written for a specific actor, along with Jason in “Asteroid City.” Owen and I were talking about Gene Hackman by the time we had 10 pages of a script. Ralph was the idea for the character in “Grand Budapest” before there was even one page. But I never had one where I thought of someone in such a tight close-up. With this movie, somehow it’s the face and the eyes and the closest close-up.

ANDERSON: First of all, Gene Hackman, one of the greatest movie actors ever. He did enjoy the movie, I think, between action and cut. He said, “That’s when I have a good time.” But he really didn’t enjoy the parts in between, which is most of the time. He wasn’t wildly taken with the script in the first place. I don’t think he loved the idea of being that guy. I think he thought: “There’s a lot of things I don’t like about this man and I’m not sure I want to live as him.”

Also, I was very young. He was shy and reserved, though he could also get quite explosive. We didn’t know each other well. Sometimes, when we had conflict, we often had open conversations about what just happened. And I felt like I learned so much about him in those times. And he would often become much more gentle.

I don’t want to assume a great friendship because I don’t think he would have ever have referred to our relationship (laughs) in those terms. But I really liked him. He just carried so much tension and he used in the work, but it was sometimes bordering on a little abusive, especially to me. (Laughs)

ANDERSON: I think that’s the case sometimes. When he saw the movie, he told me, “I didn’t understand what we were making.” But he totally understood it when he saw the movie. It worked for him. He liked it, and I think he liked what he had done it. I later thought: I wish I had paused for three days of shooting, edited some of the scenes carefully and then shown him: Here’s what you’re doing and here’s what we’re doing. I think maybe if I had done that, we might have had a gentler time.

ANDERSON: The path that I’ve had as a movie director, I don’t know if that’s totally available right now. I don’t know if the kind of movies I started out making would have been made on the same scale or with the same support or with any audience available. To get to the point where I can make the movies I make I now, I just don’t know what route that would take. I think some things have changed fundamentally. But I’m not 25 years younger than myself, so I just do what I do.

Jake Coyle has covered the Cannes Film Festival since 2012. He’s previously interviewed Wes Anderson in Cannes about “Asteroid City” and “The French Dispatch.”

For more coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival

Director Wes Anderson, left, and Benicio del Toro pose for photographers upon departure from the premiere of the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Mia Threapleton, from left, director Wes Anderson, Benicio del Toro and Michael Cera pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Sunday, May 18, 2025. (Photo by Lewis Joly/Invision/AP)

Mia Threapleton, from left, director Wes Anderson, Benicio del Toro and Michael Cera pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Sunday, May 18, 2025. (Photo by Lewis Joly/Invision/AP)

Bill Murray, from left, Mia Threapleton, director Wes Anderson, Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Jeffrey Wright and Benedict Cumberbatch pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Director Wes Anderson poses for portrait photographs for the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Director Wes Anderson poses for portrait photographs for the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Director Wes Anderson poses for portrait photographs for the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — Colombians milled into voting stations on Sunday in the first round of the South American nation’s presidential election, choosing between candidates with radically diverging visions for the future of peace in a country haunted by decades of armed conflict.

The vote, seen as a referendum on outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s policies, comes 10 years after Colombia signed an historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

That agreement offered hope to break the nation out of a vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government but violence has roared back since then, coming to a head in the lead-up to the presidential vote. Criminal groups have increasingly launched drone strikes, armed attacks have plagued the race and last June, 39-year-old politician and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was fatally shot at a political rally.

In a country where the fight for peace has long been a part of the political ethos, the question of how to address the conflict is once again dividing the country.

The vote is slated to send a message to Latin America at a time voters are increasingly ditching leaders that pitched progressive policies, like providing opportunities to youths and rooting out corruption, to solve security ails, turning instead to heavy-handed security crackdowns like El Salvador's. It also comes as the Trump administration is placing renewed pressure on the region.

“Today's election isn't just important for us, it's important for all of Latin America,” said Juan Acevedo, a 62-year-old sociologist walking out of a voting station in Colombia's capital on Sunday morning. “Whoever wins here will suggest to the region if progressive policies will continue or if things are going to return to the right.”

There are 11 candidates running for president, but the election has basically turned into a three-horse race.

Senator and peace-builder Ivan Cepeda — a Petro ally — has led the polls and promises to carry on with Petro's “total peace” initiative to negotiate with the country’s remaining rebel groups and sign peace agreements with them in an effort to resolve the persistent crisis.

While the peace plan has largely failed as criminals have taken advantage of ceasefires with the government, Cepeda and Petro have maintained strong support among many because of progressive policies pushed forward under Petro, such as boosting the minimum wage.

Running against Cepeda are Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia, who have vowed to come down on armed groups with a heavier hand.

De la Espriella — a bombastic lawyer known as “The Tiger” — has particularly gained traction among voters in recent weeks for pitching himself as an outsider keen on emulating the heavy-handed tactics used in El Salvador’s war on gangs, which sharply reduced gang violence but fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

Valencia is considered the political protege of Colombia's former president and strongman Álvaro Uribe, who governed from 2002 to 2010 with strong support from the United States and whose government beat back FARC rebels in an offensive that took a massive civilian toll.

Both de la Espriella and Valencia have touted their affinity for U.S. President Donald Trump even as he has taken a more aggressive stance toward Latin America than any U.S. president in decades and has pressured nations like Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico to more forcefully crack down on criminal groups.

If no candidate wins at least 50% of the vote — something extremely rare in Colombia — the two top vote-getters will face a runoff in June.

Maria Eugenia, a 57-year-old seamstress who was stitching a pair of jeans on Friday in downtown Bogotá, Colombia's capital, said she welcomed an all-out offensive on an expanding slate of criminal groups, regardless of the human cost.

While she approved of Petro’s pushes to improve the country's medical infrastructure, she said she was voting for de la Espriella because violence in rural areas of the country has gotten out of hand. She said negotiating peace pacts was simply “rewarding” armed groups.

“Of course, whenever you come down with a heavy hand, there’s always going to be debate,” she said. “But some people are going to have to fall to clean up what needs to be cleaned.”

Others, like Acevedo, the sociologist strolling out of a polling station on Sunday with packs of other voters, said a security crackdown like the one promoted by de la Espriella would only be returning to past military campaigns that he said only reinforced Colombia's cycle of violence.

He said he planned to vote for Cepeda, adding that while the government hasn't done a perfect job — failing to pass ambitious reforms and follow through on promises to reduce violence — it was better to continue pushing forward with their political coalition's efforts to take a different approach in addressing the country's violence.

He added that his main critique of Petro's administration was the power grabs made by criminal groups as they negotiated with the government. He said he hoped that if Cepeda won, he would strike a better balance between negotiating peace and maintaining control over those groups.

“We're a country that has lived through 60 years of conflict,” Acevedo said. “The danger here is that we return to the times where everyone is saying that the only way to solve our problems is with bullets and more war.”

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A voter marks a ballot during the presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Supporters of presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda of the ruling Historic Pact coalition gather outside the polling station where he voted during the presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda of the ruling Historic Pact coalition gestures to supporters after voting during the presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Voters check polling information during the presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

President Gustavo Petro shows a ballot during the presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Voters line up at a polling station during the presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the Defenders of the Motherland movement depart a polling station after voting during the presidential election in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Soldiers patrol as voters arrive at a polling station during the presidential election in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Electoral workers set up a voting center in preparation for Sunday's presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A man rides his motorcycle past the ruins of homes destroyed five months earlier in an attack by dissidents of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in Buenos Aires, Cauca, Colombia, Wednesday, May 20, 2026.(AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Presidential candidate Sen. Paloma Valencia of the Democratic Center party waves supporters during a campaign rally in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the Defenders of the Motherland movement and his running mate Jose Manuel Restrepo, left, raise their fit from behind a bullet proof booth during a campaign rally in Barranquilla, Colombia, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Sen. Ivan Cepeda, presidential candidate of the ruling Historic Pact coalition, speaks to supporters during a campaign rally in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)