Asteroid City is a film that is difficult to define outside of saying that it is, without a doubt, a Wes Anderson movie. It’s funny, smart, heartbreaking, dry, and full of Anderson’s inimitable touch. While its surprises are best left unspoiled, the aesthetic of Asteroid City is one of Anderson’s most interesting yet. The titular small American town, which was actually built in Spain, serves as a surreal backdrop for the story’s events.
As with other Wes Anderson films, Asteroid City features a huge cast of new and returning collaborators. Two actors who have worked with the director in the past are Jeffrey Wright and Adrien Brody. Wright’s first appearance in a Wes Anderson movie was recently with The French Dispatch, and Brody is one of Anderson’s most frequent collaborators.
Jeffrey Wright and Adrien Brody spoke with Screen Rant about working with the director and drawing inspiration for a character.
Jeffrey Wright & Adrien Brody on Asteroid City
Screen Rant: Jeffrey, I know this is your second film with Wes after The French Dispatch. how different was this experience from that one?
Jeffrey Wright: Well, Wes has certain consistent constructs that he uses in his filmmaking, this kind of Wes Anderson signature that we’ve come to know, but his worlds are really disparate. The world of The French Dispatch is totally dissimilar to this place, this desert town in the middle of America in 1955. [The stories take place in] similar time periods, but on the other side of the world from one another.
But at the same time, there are some similarities in that like The French Dispatch, this is, in some ways, a celebration of artists on one level; a celebration of story. Also woven into that is a kind of meditation on America, and on an America that was lost, and on community, and love, and grieving. There’s an entire world in this film that has elements, I think, that the audience as individuals will perceive in their own personal ways and take something unique from. I think it’s a beautiful film, a complex film in the best way, and I think audiences will take a lot away from it.
Adrien, I don’t want to get spoilers or anything, but when you approached your character in this film, was there anybody that you kind of modeled him after, or any experiences that you pulled from in playing him?
Adrien Brody: I feel like there’s such a palpable love of storytelling and performance art, and of that era in particular in this film. There are aspects of honoring the theater, and television work, and acting, and direction. Elia Kazan was one of the people that spoke to me in this era; that was someone that really had those qualities that I felt my character possessed. There’s Brando, and Dean, and Montgomery Clift, and all the actors of that era that really changed our expectation of what performance should be and acting should be, and Kazan also led that charge and that shift. Stylistically as well, that ’50s work in the theater and stage and on film really spoke to me and to Wes, and so we infused elements of that as well.
About Asteroid City
Asteroid City is a dot-on-the-map desert town in the American Southwest. The year is 1955. The town’s most famous attraction is a gigantic meteor crater and celestial observatory nearby. This weekend, the military and astronomers are welcoming five science award-winning children to display their inventions. What begins as a celebration to honor the achievements of the Junior Stargazers receives an unexpected visitor.
Check back soon for our other Asteroid City interviews:
- Maya Hawke & Rupert Friend
- Hope Davis & Stephen Park
Asteroid City will release in select LA and NYC theaters on June 16, with a wide release on June 23.
Key Release Date
Asteroid City
Release Date:2023-06-16
