Wes Anderson provoked chatter at this year’s Oscar ceremony by not being there to accept his award for Best Live Action Short Film for The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar. But he had a good excuse — he was kicking off work on his next film. While some the cast included the predictable likes of regulars such as Bill Murray and Benicio Del Toro, we now also know that Riz Ahmed is among their number.

Anderson’s latest is still largely under wraps, with no official word on a plot yet. But the director has cameras cranking away in Berlin, working from a script he wrote with Roman Coppola. Production was supposed to kick off last year, until the dual strikes put paid to that plan. And while it has yet to be confirmed, the title for the new project is rumoured as The Phoenician Scheme. Michael Cera is also on the First-Time-Anderson-Actor list for this one, but again, details on his or Ahmed’s category remain on the mystery list.Ahmed, who was most recently seen in Apple TV+ film Fingernails, has worked on a new film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and David Mackenzie’s next thriller, Relay.