Focus Features’ press conference for Asteroid City began with writer/director Wes Anderson describing the inspiration for his most recent weirdly wonderful film. Asteroid City is one of the most Wes Anderson-ish of all Wes Anderson films, ranking right up there with The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom, and Anderson admitted that no one has specifically asked him where the idea came from.
Joining 10 of his film’s stars – Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Rupert Friend, Stephen Park, Hope Davis, Bryan Cranston, and Maya Hawke – for the virtual conference, Anderson revealed that he normally starts writing a script with a couple of ideas.
”I would say this one the three ideas were, one, Roman Coppola and I created this thing together. We wanted to write a part for Jason Schwartzman at the center of a movie that would be something he hadn’t done before. That was number one. That’s the beginning. And we didn’t really know what it was, but we sort of had a few notions about what this character was going through.
The second thing was we were interested in the setting of 1950s kind of New York theatre. One or other golden age of Broadway-ish thing. In this case, sort of the Actors Studio variety of it.
And the other thing was, we thought we’d tell a story of the play they’re putting on. And the original thing was it was a play called Automat and was going to all be in this automat. And then we sort of decided, you know, automat, it’s too small. So, we expanded it just to the desert.”
Anderson continued: “And I guess it then became something like this interaction of a black and white New York stage and a color cinemascope-ish Western cinema kind of story. And everybody’s both an actor and the role they’re playing, but there’s sort of one thing, too, and they kind of mix together. And that is how I got the idea for Asteroid City.”
Two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump) makes his debut in a Wes Anderson film with Asteroid City, though he admits he’s wanted to work with the filmmaker for years. “Asteroid City” is the name of the play within a play in Asteroid City the film, as well as the name of the setting of the play – a small town in the middle of the desert in the American Southwest circa 1955. (Trust me, it all makes sense on screen.) Hanks stars as Stanley Zak in the play, wealthy father-in-law of Jason Schwartzman’s character.
”This came about literally because of a lovely email that said, ‘Would you like to come and join us?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. Sure,’” recalled Hanks.
”What is odd is he sends you a version of the movie that doesn’t really need you – the animatic of the film that he put together, which I thought was your voice [indicating Schwartzman], part of it, because I know you collaborate so much, but it was all just Wes. So, you see a complete animatic version of the movie, which I saw, and I called you up and said, ‘Well, I’m in, but I don’t see how you need anybody to do this now,’” explained Hanks.
Hanks added: “It looked like Beauty and the Beast to us. And all this stuff that you hear about turned out to be true. And I haven’t seen a Wes Anderson movie that I didn’t wish that I was in. So, it was great to be a part of this. And the role was great. I think you used the reference of, ‘We’re looking for a retired Ronald Reagan type.’ And I go, ‘I’m your man. I can do that.’”
Six-time Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) guides the audience’s journey as Host, which is both his job and the character’s name. Host helps set up the story while backstage at the play, explaining that what we’re about to see is the first-hand creation of a new play mounted on the American stage.
Cranston also referenced the animatic in describing his experience on Asteroid City.
“I think it’s the animatic that really allows us to see where it’s going and the types of characters that he is imagining in his head. We can only take a glimpse into the head of Wes Anderson. We can’t live there. That’s his domain. So, we can only visit.”
Asked if he had any major questions after reading the script, Cranston laughed and replied, “Yeah. What does it mean? It’s so specific and so dense with detail that it is sometimes…I have to read it a couple times to really get a sense of what we’re doing. This is a movie about a television show that’s doing an expose on a theater piece. That in itself is kind of a Russian doll sort of thing. And then there’s the actors who are also playing. So, when you read that in script form, it can be a little daunting. So, it was illuminating to see the cartoon, and extremely helpful.”
Cranston said he approached the part of Host by figuring out what his character’s contribution to the story ultimately was meant to be.
“And in this expositional dialogue, it’s to set up the structure of what the audience is about to see. Mention all the names…there were a lot of names. Lot of interesting names that I had to get straight in my head. But I also thought I should be the one without any emotion. I should just be a blank slate so that people just listen and then follow along and try to key in, and then hand off. Just open up, introduce, and hand off.
I thought that was probably the best thing I could do. You know, something like, almost like a Rod Serling. Ted Koppel’s voice kept coming, popping into my head and I think you hear it – I hear it, anyway – when I watch the movie for some reason. But some kind of established journalistic presence is what I was going for,” said Cranston.
The fictional town of Asteroid City is home to a diner, a gas station, and a motel. Just outside of town sits an observatory and a massive crater. The action picks up with a group of Junior Stargazers arriving in town to celebrate Asteroid Day, commemorating the asteroid’s impact with Earth.
Three-time Emmy nominee Hope Davis plays Sandy, mother of Shelly (Sophia Lillis), one of the five Junior Stargazers set to accept an award during the Asteroid Day celebration.
Davis shared how she felt about the vibe on the set.
“You know, moviemaking can be very slow and dull, and this just felt so alive and so playful,” said Davis. “And it reminds you why you got into it in the first place for me.”
Davis compared the experience to the start of working on a play. “You’re finding it in the moment. I mean, some people come in and they know all their lines, and they know where they want to go. But most of us, you’re finding it as you go. And I feel like we had the freedom to do that. But we had the animatic in our heads, so we knew what the frames were going to end up being.”
Two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson stars as actress Mercedes Ford playing actress Midge Campbell in the play. Johansson and Anderson talked about finding Midge and if there was any particular classic actress who came to mind as a model for the character.
”We kind of shared some ideas about what type of a person this could be, or what kind of career she could’ve had. And did she come through the Actors Studio? And what did she sound like? And, you know, I mean, I liked Betty Davis because I thought her career was a good shape, and she felt like, you know, Betty Davis feels,” offered Johansson.
Johansson continued: “When you watch her, she seems comfortable in the space she takes up. And so, I felt like that could be a good beginning. And also, her voice, actually. She has a little bit of that Mid-Atlantic thing. And understanding where that came from and all that stuff was helpful.”
Johansson sums up the Wes Anderson experience as evoking a sense of comradery.
”I think one of the things that really touches me about the movie […] was how supportive all the performances are of one another in this way that’s just, I don’t know, it’s very noticeable in a way. You know, something about it feels – and maybe because we’re all inside it but, of course, every performance stands out – but they make this beautiful sort of orchestra, you know, the pieces all together. And that’s how it feels on the set.
You know, when I got there, my work was sort of truncated into a short period of time. And I could not have done it without having my scene partner, Jason, there. And he was immediately completely available, present, I don’t know, rehearsed. It was just like falling into this comfortable pocket, you know? And I think that feeling is just very unusual.
And also as Hope has said, a lot of time you’re on set and it’s a lot of – you hear all the time – it’s all that waiting and downtime, and you lose momentum. It makes you question what you’re doing with your life and everything. And this doesn’t have that at all. It’s so vivacious and it feels so exciting. And even just to be a new actress coming on the set just to watch other actors performing. And it’s just a very unique experience for a film, I think,” said Johansson.
Emmy nominee Rupert Friend (Homeland) plays Montana the singing cowboy, and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) stars as June Douglas, a schoolteacher charged with watching over 10 eight-year-olds amidst the chaos in Asteroid City.
Friend’s and Hawke’s characters’ storylines are intertwined, and both actors credited Anderson with allowing them the freedom to explore that dynamic.
”You know, one of the things we’ve talked about a lot is that Wes wrote one of his more succinct stage directions in the scene where we have our musical number, and it just said, ‘They dance.’ That was it,” said Friend. “We kept saying, ‘When’s the choreographer coming? When’s the rehearsal?’ And it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, another time, another time.’ And we got there and we hadn’t had any of that. And it was just a kind of go for it.
And that feeling of exuberance… I remember it was actually an amazing moment. I don’t know if you saw this, Wes, but when we did that thing [where] I threw my hat in the air, and behind the camera that day, Bill Murray had come to visit set, and he just caught it at the exact moment. And it was just perfect.”
”Yeah, and I feel like everyone’s sort of saying this, but Wes has just sort of cut all the fat and ridiculousness out of the moviemaking process,” added Hawke. “And in so many times when you have a scene partner, you have to establish a bond. You have these, like, chemistry reads. And it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re all going to meet, and we’re going to talk, and you guys are going to get to know each other.’ And instead, Wes is like, ‘Why don’t we just have dinner every night together?’ You know, ‘Wouldn’t that be fine? And actually, you guys are off tomorrow, and you should go for a walk.’
And we just did. And we went for a bicycle ride. And then, you know, so often you’re on hold when you’re doing a movie. And you get brought in and you sit in your trailer, and you wait. And Wes has fixed that by you’re just always on hold 100% of the time. But you don’t feel like you are because he’s taken you out to this magical, wonderful place where you get to be kind of engaged in other people doing their work.”
Maya Hawke continued: “Like, I remember sitting and watching Scarlett and Jason do those incredible scenes between that window. And I would come and sit next to Roman at his little monitor and watch them. And then, after a little while, Adrien would come over and he’d be sitting there, too. We were all engaged in the movie as a whole. And so, it never felt like, ‘Oh, this is my part, this is your part.’ It always felt like everyone was lifting each other up. And that built chemistry really quickly and easily, I think.”
Asteroid City was shot under strict Covid-19 protocols. Anderson joked that because of the way he works, his productions have been in Covid-like bubbles for the past 15+ years.
Oscar-winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist), who plays the director of the play, noted that they all stayed in the same hotel. “And then Wes will say, ‘Oh, we got to go,’ and several of us will hop on a golf cart with Wes fully dressed in character. And so, they’ll be alien and a cowboy and a [showgirl] or some children hanging off the back. And then we just kind of make our way with a golf cart on the edge of this road through town, through Spain, and arrive upon this magnificent set.
Like, that is just mind-blowing. That is just as spectacular as it looks in the movie. And show up fully ready to roll and jump right into the scene, and let’s get cracking,” said Brody.
Brody admitted it’s weird to actually play a director in a film.
”The actor always knows his place. There’s always the director. And it just was really a special moment of the film because, you know, part of what’s so beautiful about the storytelling is, for me at least, there’s a bit of nostalgia for this time and place in ’50s Americana. And also, the West and cinema and also a love for theater and the performances and the art of that. And the love for that and which is something that we’re all a part of.
And that time in history was a big shift for the way acting and directing, you know, actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean and directors and actors like Elia Kazan. And so there was a chance to infuse some of that and a love for that and appreciation for that, which is, I’m sure, something that Wes appreciates very much as well. And so, it was really lovely to infuse all of that as a part of this. This vast storytelling.”
Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee Jason Schwartzman (The Grand Budapest Hotel) stars as actor Jones Hall as well as the character Hall plays in “Asteroid City,” Augie Steenbeck. Augie’s the father of four – Junior Stargazer award winner Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and three little girls – none of whom realize their mother’s deceased and her remains are being kept by their father in a Tupperware bowl. Augie’s having a difficult time coping with the fact he’s now a widower, and he hasn’t quite figured out how to break the news as we meet the Steenbeck family in the opening moments of the “Asteroid City” play.
Asked about playing someone who’s coping with grief, Schwartzman explained that he believes there’s no wrong way to grieve. “If you don’t feel sad when everyone else is sad, that’s okay. It’s worse to feel bad about not feeling a certain way that everyone else is feeling. So, you just feel the way you feel. And that’ll be okay. Just trust that,” said Schwartzman. “And to me, I didn’t think about that while we were doing it. But when I saw the movie and Adrian’s character says, ‘Just keep doing it,’ to me, that’s what it is like. Don’t feel bad about it, don’t worry about how you’re feeling. Just feel it. It’s okay. Just keep going. This movement really kind of hit me when he said that.”
Jason Schwartzman frequently collaborates with Wes Anderson, and he believes knowing Anderson for so long and working with him is a rare and special thing.
”I think the one thing I value the most about our relationship is that it seems like it’s sort of as it was when we first met. Which was like, the second we met we started talking about music. And it’s about sharing. Things that we were interested in.
I think that over the years, we’ve been through so many different things. But it’s fun to come back and to share the things that you’ve experienced with someone that you know and love. It’s about going off and having adventures,” said Schwartzman.
Schwartzman added: “I think fundamentally, the idea of just enthusiasm and curiosity about something else being out there, that’s, like, that’s the fundamental thing of our relationship. And I think any good relationship, I guess, is let the other person grow and then bring it back.”
* * * * * * *
Asteroid City opened in LA and NY on June 16, 2023. The PG-13 film expands everywhere on June 23rd.
The Plot: The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
