Wes Anderson’s Upcoming Film Sees a Shift In Cinematography Team as Robert Yeoman Takes a Break

When Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kamiński come together, magic is created on the screen. Just like the director-cinematographer duo, there is another duo in the film industry who had an extensive collaboration in modern cinema. It is the duo of Wes Anderson and Robert Yeoman. Yeoman has served as the cinematographer for all of Anderson’s live-action films, including his recent Oscar-winning short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. However, Robert Yeoman is taking a break from Wes Anderson’s upcoming project, The Phoenician Scheme.

Since Yeoman’s position is vacant, French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel will fill it. Like Yeoman, Delbonnel has collaborated with Anderson, and both have worked on projects like the H&M holiday ad “Come Together.” Delbonnel is prominently known for his work on films such as Amélie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. Considering Delbonnel’s resume, it can be said that his work in the upcoming Andreson film can bring a fresh perspective to the film. 

The upcoming film, titled The Phoenician Scheme, is co-written by Roman Coppola and Wes Anderson and features a stellar cast including Benicio Del Toro, Michael Cera, Bill Murray, and Mia Threapleton. Described as “the story of a family and a family business,” the cast and crew recently completed their seventh week of filming in Germany. Apart from this upcoming film, Delbonnel has also bagged his forthcoming projects. His next work will be seen later this year alongside Emmanuel Lubezki for Alfonso Cuarón’s Cate Blanchett-led Apple series Disclaimer.

Why did Robert Yeoman didn’t join Wes Anderson’s upcoming film?

Academy-nominated cinematographer Robert Yeoman is best known for his collaborations with director Wes Anderson. However, this time, when Anderson is all set with his upcoming project, what it misses is the involvement of Yeoman in it. While his previous collaborations with the filmmaker are enough to understand the prestige of the duo, the absence of Yeoman from Andreson’s upcoming film is because of Anderson’s relentless work ethic. 

During an interview, Yeoman said, “[Wes Anderson] a workaholic. I’ll give him that. We jumped right from Asteroid City into the Henry Sugar thing. We were in Spain, and then we went to England. He works harder than anybody; he’s just always got something going on. I’m a little more like: take some time off and enjoy my life. Wes really pushes everybody to work outside of the box and find new ways of doing things.

I don’t know if it’s human nature, but you kind of lapse into ways that you’ve done before, and you know that that’s going to work, but that’s not how we do things with Wes. [Laughs] It’s always that we have to find new ways of doing things with Wes. So like equipment or whatever––we can’t use the tools that we normally would do. We’re always being pushed to find new ways of doing it, so it gets you out of your comfort zone. But I think in the process of doing that, you kind of discover something new, and it becomes a much more creative way.”

The Phoenician Scheme is expected to mark its premiere next year in 2025.