- Star-Studded Cast Shines in Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City”
- Filming in a Constructed Town: Behind the Scenes of “Asteroid City”
- Layers of Performance: Scarlett Johansson’s Preparation and Jason Schwartzman’s Collaboration
Asteroid City stars Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, and Bryan Cranston, and its plot revolves around a junior stargazer convention.
Wes Anderson has assembled such a star-studded cast for his latest film that it is perhaps fitting that the plot of Asteroid City revolves around a stargazer convention; while the characters gaze at the sky, the audience is captivated by a different kind of star.
The extensive cast includes A-list actors Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, and Bryan Cranston… Anderson, renowned for his highly stylized films, appears to have no trouble attracting talent to collaborate with him.
Set in the American southwest in 1955, a small functioning town was constructed in Spain to serve as the film’s titular Asteroid City, with the actors and crew living and working there during filming.
It was captured while COVID protocols were in effect and also served as a buffer.
“I began searching for and researching the most well-known newsreaders of the 1950s, such as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, and I settled on Ted Koppel, whose style of delivering the news influenced me.
“I also have the impression that these men fell in love with their voices… So it occurred to me that we would do it in a registry and without any emotion or opinion on what I was saying so that the actors in the group could provide that – I was simply there to monitor and provide explication.
“So, I’ve just realized that this is my function, what my job entails. And then Wes takes a look at it, shapes it, and essentially says, ‘Faster, faster, faster, faster’. And you do it faster, faster, faster!”
Jeffrey Wright on the fast-paced script by Wes Anderson:
“He is the conductor and he sets the cadence and tempo, which is what he desires.
“I believe he has a thing for early cinema, the 1940s and 1950s style of stylized dialogue that no one spoke in the real world – it was just a dialect that existed in storytelling – and I kind of adore that stuff, too, melodrama and the old forms.
“It’s just a different approach to telling the story, but that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective just because it’s old – we’ve changed, but I think there’s still something moving about those styles, and it’s also a way of accepting that this is a performance – we know it’s not real, it’s not a documentary, and I believe Wes likes to celebrate performance in that way.”
Scarlett Johansson on the preparation required to portray an actor who is preparing to perform a role:
“The performance had so many layers; I am playing an actor who is acting an actor who is preparing something”.
I had several questions for Wes, and we talked extensively about all these various topics, such as, What is this play? What is this film that Midge Campbell (Johansson’s character) is preparing? Who exactly is Midge Campbell? I believe it was beneficial to acquire this knowledge.
“Preparation was perhaps more involved with this film because it had so many different layers – if I go into something, I try to come in with something to hang my hat on, so I have something to offer in the beginning and then it will hopefully evolve from there, but this required some thought, discussion with Wes, and a lot of questions and other such things.”
Jason Schwartzman on collaborating with Scarlett Johansson and on the film:
“It was so entertaining. It was so fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“It wasn’t difficult, I’ll tell you that because I felt like I was acting alongside [Johansson], who is so phenomenal.”
Maya Hawke reflects on the ‘impossible undertaking’ she attempted:
“Getting to attempt the impossible is sort of liberating, you know? As opposed to having to attempt to master – being asked to do something straightforward where you think, “Oh no, I’m going to mess this up.”
I felt that the impossible task that was asked of me was, you know, to enter that environment as a new person, a young person, a person without that much experience, and to come in with confidence and not worry about ruining the film, which very quickly I realized was impossible.
