When I meet Mia Threapleton in a hotel room high above the Croisette, I get a strong sense of déjà vu. The London-born actor’s handshake is firm, and her voice and face distinctly familiar. We haven’t met before, though—it’s only because she’s the spitting image of her mother, Oscar winner Kate Winslet, and has the same warm, brisk, no-nonsense, quintessentially British, let’s-just-get-on-with-it-shall-we friendliness that has long been the latter’s Hollywood signature.
Threapleton may look every inch the glamorous young starlet making her Cannes Film Festival debut—she’s wearing the ankle-length black Alexander McQueen corset dress, peep-toe mules, oxblood-red nails, knuckle duster-style ring, and hoop earrings from the morning photo call and press conference she’s just rushed over from—but she’s as far from haughty as it’s possible to be, perched on the edge of an armchair and sipping water (still, not sparkling, because, she tells me, “I worry about bubbles expansion in this look”).
She’s got a lot to process at the moment. At just 24, and with only a handful of onscreen parts under her belt—on British television’s blistering I Am Ruth, opposite her mother; Starz’s Dangerous Liaisons reboot; Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers; and a blink-and-you-miss-it role in Netflix’s Scoop—she’s now doing something even Winslet has never done, in her illustrious, more-than-three-decade-long career: taking center stage in a splashy, star-studded Wes Anderson movie.
In The Phoenician Scheme, the auteur’s latest madcap romp, which just premiered at the glittering French Riviera showcase, she plays a typically idiosyncratic Andersonian heroine: Liesl, a ’50s-era nun on the cusp of taking her vows, whose plans are upended by the arrival of her estranged father, Zsa-zsa Korda (a formidable Benicio Del Toro), an embattled mogul who appoints her his successor. What follows is a frantic dash across land and sea, dusty deserts and lush jungles, to meet with business associates, while also dodging constant assassination attempts on Korda and attempting to solve the mystery that still surrounds the death of his first wife and Liesl’s mother.
Far steelier than Gwyneth Paltrow’s Margot Tenenbaum or Saoirse Ronan’s Agatha in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Liesl is a snarky, deadpan delight, a dab hand with a knife who verbally eviscerates everyone she encounters and is openly hostile towards her father, too. In the role, Threapleton is totally magnetic, with such sublime comic timing that she walks away with the film entirely—no mean feat, given her scene partners include not just Del Toro and Michael Cera (as an eccentric, bespectacled tutor and love interest to Liesl), but also Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright, Richard Ayoade, Scarlett Johansson, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Once The Phoenician Scheme hits theaters on May 30, her life is sure to change forever. Before then, Threapleton discusses tearing up during the film’s Cannes standing ovation, accidentally paying tribute to her mother with her red-carpet look, and Winslet’s (very concise) festival advice.
Vogue: First of all, it was lovely to see you getting so emotional during your standing ovation. What was going through your mind?
Mia Threapleton: Well, I was quite pleased with myself, because I’d managed to keep it together up to that point… and then suddenly the camera was in my face during the standing ovation, I looked up at the screen, and thought, Hang on. They’re clapping at me. Now I’m fucked. [Laughs.] It was really overwhelming and I didn’t really know what to do with my face. Bless Michael [Cera], he was standing next to me and put his hand on my back and said, “Let it out.” And I thought, No! I don’t want to! Thank God for waterproof mascara.
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You’ve described Liesl as being like an onion. What were the layers you were most interested in pulling back?
There’s so much—she’s really complex. She hasn’t seen her father in six years and has all these burning, unanswered questions about the death of her mother, who passed away when she was very young. She was essentially an orphan sent to a convent, and she probably thought, of her dad, He’s just not that interested in me. Then, suddenly, she’s presented with an opportunity to confront him. Throughout the course of this film, she goes on a journey of self-discovery.
It’s a huge part to land, which Wes saw hundreds of auditions for. How did you feel when you got the job?
I was on a train when I found out, surrounded by people. I’d spent that whole day refreshing my emails and I was terrified. When I got the call, I had to just sit on the floor and cry, and then call everyone I know. From the age of 13, this is something that I’ve wanted to do—this specifically. I was going through some old boxes at home last week and I found my old journals. There was an entry that literally said: “Watching Moonrise Kingdom again, bloody love this film. Would love to work with Wes Anderson one day.” I’d totally forgotten that I’d written that.
And once you came onto Wes’s set, what was most challenging?
Honestly, the whole experience was completely unlike anything else. On Wes’s sets, there is no division between cast and crew, no trailers, and you won’t see monitors everywhere. He’s not hierarchical at all and we were all in it together, so that made everything feel sturdy and stable as a newbie walking into his world. I was completely terrified on day one, so nervous and going over every single line in the script in my head, but Wes literally guided me by the shoulders. I felt so welcomed and I genuinely miss that sense of camaraderie now. I mean, I’m 24, I’ve never done this before, I’ve never done Cannes before. I’m usually wearing jeans that are ripped at the knees and old T-shirts with sweat stains [laughs]. I’m learning every day.
What has been your most surreal Cannes moment so far?
Everything on the night of the premiere. The big, red, scary stairs! I was just thinking, don’t trip, don’t trip…the entire time, going up in that big skirt. And also, I hope no one treads on it. But then we did the big red carpet group photo and went inside, and it literally felt like the room was vibrating. I couldn’t hear anything, my heart was beating so loudly in my ears. Then I realized that I couldn’t sit down in my dress because it was corseted, so I sort of had to fold myself in half in order to sit.
We all had dinner together afterwards, too. I’d changed out of the green dress and didn’t have shoes on because I couldn’t deal with heels anymore. There was a little balcony bit where we were, so I went out onto it. It was deadly quiet outside, but the stars were up and you could just hear frogs, and I could see everybody sitting together and it was the first moment that I actually had just for myself, to absorb it all. Then I had another little cry.
Tell me more about that green Oscar de la Renta gown. People have been speculating that you were paying tribute to your mum’s 1998 Givenchy by Alexander McQueen Oscars dress, the year she was nominated for Titanic?
It’s so funny, because I didn’t know that she’d worn this dress. It wasn’t intentional at all. As soon as the film wrapped, I thought, if this goes on a red carpet, I have to wear green, because that color is important to Liesl—she has these green stockings and green eyeshadow, which are her signature. This Oscar de la Renta dress was gorgeous and it made me so happy, but yeah, I had no idea that she’d worn something similar. Someone mentioned it to me the morning after and I thought it was hilarious.
And you’re wearing McQueen today as well.
I’ve always loved this stuff for as long as I can remember. I must have been about 11 when I went to see “Savage Beauty,” and I became completely obsessed with McQueen.
I think your mum was also very young, just 20, when she first came to Cannes. Did she give you any advice for your first time here?
She said, “Try not to be sick out of your nose. Just breathe!” I’ve been so busy while I’ve been here, I haven’t really spoken to her at all.
Has she, or the rest of your family, seen the film yet?
No one who is close to me has seen it yet, but I can’t wait for them to see it. That’s another reason why the premiere felt so big—I was suddenly like, oh, wow, everyone’s going to watch this. The cat’s out of the bag now. And it comes out in cinemas so soon. I keep seeing the posters everywhere, and I just want to take a dive. I don’t really know what to do.
How are you coping with this moment? It will be pretty life-changing.
I don’t know, because in my mind, I haven’t really got that far yet. My normal life is just dog walks and being in the countryside.
Is that what you’ll be doing after all the promotional stuff?
That’s exactly it. I just really want to go on a very long walk and camp somewhere.
And, before that, do you have more Cannes promo to do today?
No, I just need to zip myself out of this dress now and go get a croissant!
The Phoenician Scheme is in theaters from May 30.
