After years of indie classics from The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic to The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson is back yet again with Asteroid City. Following his signature formula of combining endearingly cringe characters with eclectic storylines and pleasing aesthetics, Asteroid City features one of his most stacked casts yet.
It’s the first of two films Anderson will release this year, the other being the Roald Dahl adaptation The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Here’s what you need to know about Asteroid City.
What’s Asteroid City about?
Based on a story written by Anderson and his frequent collaborator Roman Coppola, it’s described as a “poetic meditation on the meaning of life.” Vague? Sure. True to Anderson’s fashion? Definitely.
The film is set in a fictional desert town in 1955, where the citizens gather annually to commemorate a small asteroid that crash landed eras before. The town also hosts a Junior Stargazer convention, where students and their parents flock to admire the clear skies above. A life changing event happens during the convention, bonding curious and confused minds in the process.
Who’s in the Asteroid City cast?
Anderson is known for having some of Hollywood’s most esteemed talent in his movies, and the cast of this one is as good as it gets. Many familiar Anderson faces are returning, like Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum, but Asteroid City also debuts some fresh ones.
Jarvis Cocker, who was animated into The French Dispatch, will actually be on the screen this time playing a cowboy, while Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, and Steve Carell make their Anderson debuts. Carell’s character was originally slated for Anderson vet Bill Murray, who had to drop out of the role due to contracting COVID-19.
Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Maya Hawke, Liev Schreiber, Matt Dillon, Stephen Park, Hope Davis, Rupert Friend, Hong Chau, Tony Revolori, and Jake Ryan are also in the cast.
When is the film out?
As Deadline reports, Asteroid City will premiere at Cannes Film Festival in May. The film hits select theaters on June 16 of this year and is widely released on June 23rd. On top of adding to the list of Anderson-Coppola projects, it also marks Anderson’s return to Focus Features. The film giant last worked with the director on Moonrise Kingdom, while subsequent films were homed by Searchlight Pictures.
“We are beyond thrilled to be the global home for Asteroid City, bringing Focus back in business with Wes and his producing partners,” said Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski to Indiewire. “Wes is a generational talent whose films delight audiences around the world; and we’re sure that the combination of his incredibly emotional story and vision combined with the insanely talented group of actors he has assembled, will mean that Asteroid City will be no different.”
Is there an Asteroid City trailer?
You bet! Check it out below.
