Wes Anderson names actor he’s tried and failed to cast the most: ‘It used to be every movie’

Wes Anderson has revealed that he has tried to cast multiple Oscar-winner Jodie Foster for his films several times, but failed.

The Royal Tenenbaums director opened up in a recent interview about his admiration for the actor.

“Over the years, I had so many movies that I tried to get Jodie Foster to be in,” he told Collider. “It used to be every movie, we went to Jodie Foster for a part. And I think I did it three movies in a row, maybe four. And I met her, and I liked her. And I thought it was going to get her. And I think she’s just great, Jodie Foster. And I loved her.”

He went on to talk about Foster’s directorial debut Little Man Tate and described her as having a “real sparkle” and a “lightness,” adding that he would still like to work with her.

“I still would like to get Jodie Foster. But I guess after asking few times, I thought maybe I'm not... I think sometimes somebody has an idea of the kind of work they want to do at that time in his or her life, and we weren't right.”

“Anyway, she's pretty amazing, Jodie Foster,” he said.

Anderson’s recent feature, The Phoenician Scheme, premiered at the Cannes film festival this year. The film stars Benicio del Toro as business magnate Zsa-zsa Korda who appoints his daughter Sister Liesl, played by Mia Threapleton, his sole heir. The two soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins played by a storied cast of Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Mathieu Amalric, Bryan Cranston, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Hope Davis.

Geoffrey Macnab gave the new film four stars in his review for The Independent. “Whenever one of his new features appears,” he wrote of Anderson, “it provokes near-allergic reactions among detractors who simply can’t stomach the director’s whimsy and very arch storytelling style”.

To his admirers, however, “he’s a unique filmmaker, one who combines wit and brittle sophistication with child-like naivety”.

The Phoenician Scheme, Macnab noted, was one of Anderson’s “most enrapturing works of recent times, witty, packed with arcane literary and artistic references, but also full of plenty of refreshingly juvenile humour”.

At the festival, the director made fun of Donald Trump’s plan to impose steep tariffs on films made outside America.

“Tariffs are fascinating. I’ve never heard of a 100 per cent tariff before. I’m not an expert in that area of economics, but I feel that means he’s saying he’s going to take all the money. And then what do we get? So it’s complicated to me,” he said.

“Does that mean you can hold up the movie in customs? I feel it doesn’t ship that way. I’m not sure I want to know the details so I’ll hold off on my official answer.”

The Phoenician Scheme is in theatres now.