The Phoenecian Scheme, in addition to being a mouthful, is Wes Anderson’s latest. It’s about a mogul who appoints his daughter, also a nun to be his sole heir, and then they have to fight off bad guys — a synopsis that feels like he watched Mrs. Davis on Peacock and thought he could improve it. I might rather watch that show over again. It’s the first major leading role that I know of for Kate Winslet’s daughter, Mia Threapleton, who attended the premiere without her mother at her side. I assume they were hoping to avoid the whole Nepo Baby conversation, given that very few of them seem able to have it with any realism or nuance. Mia, indeed, told Vanity Fair of Kate, “She was incredibly supportive of my desire to do this on my own, because that’s how she did it—on her own.” Mind you, Mia’s arguable big break was a 2022 episode of I Am… that she starred in with.. her mother, who also cowrote it, won an award for it, and talked about working with her daughter in her acceptance speech. The point being, just because Kate didn’t knock on the doors or drag Mia into casting rooms, it doesn’t mean Mia did it on her own. You are never on your own when you are Kate Winslet’s child and the whole industry knows it. I never know why it’s so hard for people to acknowledge this. You have a leg up. It’s a fact, and it’s okay, it can’t be helped, so just act the shit out of it. I recall her being good in season one of The Buccaneers, so I’m cautiously hopeful.
