Mia Threapleton's debut lead role in Wes Anderson’s latest outing The Phoenician Scheme, is, in my opinion, the best thing about the film.
While I totally respect the power and significance of Anderson an auteur, I am not a massive fan of his work. And his latest caper set in 1950 following the assassin-dodging escapades of the morally bankrupt businessman Zsa Zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) in an attempt to secure his fortune for his eldest daughter, Liesel (Threapleton) is my least favourite of his films to date. It’s all a bit too Wes Anderson; too contrived, too confusing, too self-indulgent, too pleased with itself. Yes, it's stunningly beautiful in it's art direction, but at times the dialogue doesn’t even make actual sense and the jokes fall flat. And all this despite cameos from Hollywood titans (as per) including Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch and Bryan Cranston, who all just seem equally pleased to be there; a Wes Anderson luvvie love-in, if you will. I am aware this is the way that Anderson's films have been tracking for a while, and often they're regarded as mere exercises in aesthetics with phone-ins from as many A-listers as possible, but it's just not my jam.
However, while I may be in the minority in my opinion of the movie, I know I will not be alone in recognising the talent of 24-year-old Threapleton. Her performance playing the deadpan, blisteringly sharp nun, Liesel, resplendent in her bright green stockings, matching eyeshadow and red lipstick is a joy to watch. The oldest child and only daughter of Zsa-zsa’s brood of ten, Liesel deplores her father’s corrupt business practices and endeavours to bring some ethics to his quest to complete The Phoenician Scheme - a complicated, globe-trotting business venture involving shoeboxes, slavery and swindling everyone along the way. And what ensues is the evolution of a remarkably tender father-daughter relationship.
.jpg)
Threapleton has form when it comes to evoking the nuances of parent/child relationships on screen. And at just 24, she is already proving herself to be one of Britain’s leading up and coming acting talent, after her 2022 turn starring alongside her mother, the one and only Kate Winslet, in the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 film, I Am Ruth. The film saw the pair play an onscreen mother and daughter dealing with the teenager’s descent into social media addiction. And while I was firmly requested by her PR just moments ahead of our interview to not ask any questions about her famous mother (no doubt to avoid the whole nepo baby topic), it’s hard not to note their similarities, both on screen and in person. Since I Am Ruth, Mia’s enjoyed roles in Netflix’s Scoop and Apple TV's The Buccaneers. Here, as well as filming a ‘Girlhood Firsts’ video for us, GLAMOUR caught up with Threapleton about social media, anxiety and starring in her debut lead role in a feature film. And a Wes Anderson one at that.
How did you feel when you first landed the role of Liesl?
The first feeling that hit me was my arms went freezing cold and everything started shaking, and I was on a train, and it was the day after two days of screen tests that I'd had with Benicio and Wes, and I had been refreshing my emails again and again, and nothing. And then I was trying not to think about it, and my agent phoned me and said, "I think I might be speaking to Wes Anderson's new actress.” Immediately, everything went cold. I ran out of the train carriage and shut myself in a bike locker, which was probably not the best thing to do, but I just didn't know. I panicked, and I didn't believe her, and I made her hang up from me and go and call them back again. And she said, “They laughed me off the phone. No, this is not a mistake. I'm not kidding. I swear to God this is really happening.” And then I burst into tears and probably didn't stop crying for about a week.
Did you get any advice from any of your co-stars, like from Tom Hanks or from Benedict Cumberbatch or Scarlett Johansson?
Actually, the best piece of advice that I got wasn't from any of them. It was from Wes. He just said, "Trust me." And that stuck with me for the whole of the shoot. And it came about because I think it was in the first week of filming and there were so many moving parts to the thing that we were doing, and I was feeling really frustrated with myself because I just didn't feel like I was quite getting it. And Wes had come over to me and said, "Are you all right?" And I said, "Yeah, I just don't think I'm just nailing it for you." And he said, "No, you are. That's why you're here. We want you to be here and we're all here for you. Trust me, I know what I'm seeing, and what I'm seeing is exactly what I want. But trust me."
It's a great year for Hollywood women behind the camera.
When that happened, I thought, "Oh, okay. He's guiding," and he guides and leads with so much love and compassion and care because it's all come from his head and his heart. And that is the entire ethos of everything that he does. And it was so wonderful to feel like I was on the receiving end of that.
Liesel's style evolves pretty iconically as the film goes on. There's the red lipstick, the green eyeshadow, the green stockings. How would you describe your own style?
My own style is the opposite, because if I wore a white dress every day, it would be the filthiest thing going! The idea of dressing that cleanly makes me so nervous. Most of the time I'm wearing jeans and a T-shirt and trainers that are unspeakable. In fact, I have recently had to throw my trainers away because the sole of them inside had worn all the way through to the floor. I guess I would say practical and functional, or if I'm going out for dinner or something or it's a meeting or something like that, then, again, practical. I don't usually do very well in skirts. I never really know what to do with my legs or feet, really. Comfy.
And what about makeup?
I never wear any. Mainly because I don't think I'm any good at it. I don't. I mean, if I have to, then I'm happy with what it is that I do. But usually if I wear any at all, it's very simple.
What do you think the film's message was about generational differences is, given that Liesel was very much the moral compass of the film? And what do you think it's saying about the generational differences that play in the real world right now?
It's interesting because I think that every generation, it's sort of the same thing. It's always evolving. It's growing. Young people my age in the '70s had a very different kind of mindset from their elders. The same as it is sort of now. So I think it's this ever-changing evolution. Also, young people see things in such different ways, and I think that it's getting brighter and very, very colourful. And that feels very exciting to me.
And I think within the film, even though perhaps Liesel doesn't see things as bright and colourfully, she lays down the facts, and she lays those facts down to Zsa-zsa about what it is that he's doing. And I think her influence on him really impacts his entire journey throughout the film. And that was very interesting, actually, to watch that unfold on screen when I saw the film, because it was a very different thing actually doing that and then seeing how that came to fruition in the film itself, and doing that and acting alongside Benicio and Michael (Cera). But as the father-daughter relationship goes with Benicio, it was really, really fun. I really enjoyed bantering with him.
The Hollywood star appeared with her uprising star of a daughter at the TV BAFTAs.
Your generation, Gen Z, they are often seen as activists. Is that something that is important to you and that you feel like you have to use your platform for this?
See, that's the thing, I don't actually know if I have a platform becauseI don't have social media. I think from the outside looking at what is happening, people's opinions of things and the way that people are starting to stand up for more and more things is very admirable. It's very admirable that young people now feel more and more in a position where they can go, "I have something to say, actually. Let's all go on a march." I think that that's a really admirable, admirable thing. And again, I don't have social media, so I'm really looking at it from an outside perspective.
Obviously, you've never even been on social media, which is so unusual. Why is that, and do you think it'll ever change?
I really don't foresee an environment where I would do that. It's something that I've never had. It wasn't something that I was ever really warned off of. My conclusions about why I wanted to not be on social media came from me literally making a pros and cons list about what it would do for me, why I wanted it, and then also what it would maybe not actually bring to my life in such a positive way and why I didn't necessarily need it.
And the cons completely outweighed the pros. And I am not judgmental of people who do have it, but for me, it's just not something that I really feel like I want. And I'm so illiterate with it. Honestly, someone will hand it to me and it'll be like an Instagram post or something, and then the screen will change and I'll be like, "Oh, sorry. Wait, it's done a thing. How do I get back? I just don't know what I'm doing with it really at all.
You said that you have suffered with anxiety in the past. How do you deal with your mental health on a day-to-day basis?
Just as it comes, really. Yeah, I did have anxiety. I got it in the last year of school, and the second that I left school, it got a lot easier. I loved school. To be sure, I really did enjoy my time at school, but I think by the time that I left, I was so desperate to leave and go and see the world and try things and to make mistakes and to explore and live that it became very frustrating, and that kind of didn't help matters at all.
And I'm extremely dyslexic. And the idea of tests and assessment in a mathematical sense, in a writing sort of sense, in a time sense was very difficult for me. So that was quite difficult. And it comes and it goes in waves. Everybody's got their own little things, and you just sort of one step at a time, really, I suppose.
The Phoenician Scheme is out in cinemas nationwide.
