Imitators (and AI-generated pantomimes) be damned: Wes Anderson is American cinema’s most inimitable and irreplaceable writer, a director whose idiosyncratic personality pervades his films’ impeccably symmetrical imagery, period-specific musical cues, and whimsical wit. Anderson’s signature aesthetic is so unique that it’s instantly recognizable, whether he’s working in live-action or, as in the case of 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and 2018’s Isle of Dogs, stop-motion animation .
Whimsical, humorous and imbued with a bittersweet yearning for love, family and a meaningful connection (to others and the world), Anderson’s comedic dramas are sources of sensual wonder, characterized by impeccable formal compositions, vibrant colour, retro pop songs, meticulous production and costume design as well as novelistic narrative and graphic flourishes. It is a genre in itself and the rarest and most valuable: a true original.
And his latest film, Asteroid City (in theaters June 16), is one of his true masterpieces.
Like so much of Anderson’s work, Asteroid City is a hilarious and harrowing multi-character affair about a cast of characters – led by war photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) as he mourns the death of his wife while grieving his four children takes care. In 1955, they all gather in the remote titular desert town for the annual Junior Stargazer Convention, where friendships are made, friends made, awards won, and alien visitors met.
Starring Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Steve Carell, Hope Davis, Live Schreiber, Rupert Friend, Hong Chau, Maya Hawk, Stephen Park, Willem Dafoe and Margot Robbie. Anderson’s cast is as gargantuan as it is typically impressive. But it is his story (created together with Roman Coppola) that represents the real miracle: a hodgepodge of longings, fears and adult regrets, but also of childhood fears, courage, curiosity and genius. All of this speaks to our chaotic human condition and also to the ability of art, however imperfect, to convey purpose and meaning.
Conceived as a television show about a playwright whose latest production is at the heart of the plot, Asteroid City is a multi-layered vision of storytelling and storytelling that is both touching and hilarious, the latter thanks to the sight of a martinis-dispensing vending machine, to the eccentric Mannerisms of a passing alien.
Filled with retro-futuristic grandeur, offbeat absurdity and heartbreaking poignancy, it’s a film that feels like a summation of its maker’s interests, and one that – particularly in a contemporary film climate that’s increasingly at odds with individuality – affirms that nobody makes films quite the same perfect, delightfully peculiar.
Ahead of Asteroid City’s theatrical release (after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival last month), we spoke to the unique writer/director about his signature style, his family’s Star Wars fandom, his views on the sequel, and their longstanding relationship Bill Murray.
First of all I would like to say that the only people who enjoy this chat more than I do are my teenage daughters who grew up watching your films – especially Fantastic Mr Fox.
I am an elderly father [laughs]. My daughter is only 7 and doesn’t like Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Really?
No. She liked the new thing. She joined us for the premiere in Cannes and she’s never been anything like it before. She hasn’t been to a cinema anyway and seen a lot of films. But she told me it was her #2 film.
According to what?
war of stars [laughs]. A new hope, the first.
You’re not the only person you take a backseat to war of stars.
She also gave me an explanation for that: “I’m just really into aliens right now.” I think because of Star Wars, it’s all about space and things like that. So I was working in the right area, so to speak…
Anderson at a screening of Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Portal
Was your daughter’s fandom one of the reasons you decided to get into science fiction? asteroid city?
No, she hadn’t seen Star Wars and didn’t know about it when we were shooting the movie. This is really new. Star Wars is maybe in the last two months. But she’s been through some of them.
Asteroid City was just something that Roman Coppola and I had talked about. For a long time I’ve had the thought of doing something that has something to do with the theater here [in New York City] when it reached its final climax – its last golden moment or something like that. The Actors Studio Era and Broadway. I had something like that in mind, but obviously it went in a different direction. I feel like you usually start with something, then it takes its own direction and you just follow it.
So exploring a new genre wasn’t the impetus for it asteroid city?
It definitely didn’t start with us saying let’s do some sci-fi. We kind of had two things. We wanted to do something with Jason Schwartzman at the center. We had the idea of writing a role for Jason. I guess we had a feeling that it would be this father who would handle this moment of extreme sadness. Then we had the idea of doing something on stage and then also telling the story of the play they were doing and that would be a big part of the film.
That mixed with the idea of doing something… The name that came to mind was Sam Shepard. We were thinking something like Sam Shepard somewhere out west. Then it swirled together and became this ’50s thing.
It’s a very unique ’50s thing.
There’s a lot of desert movies from the ’50s (and earlier) – it’s kind of American. I revisited some of these and saw some I had never heard of before and it was interesting. With Cinemascope, a new type of cinema was created in the 1950s. There’s a kind of widescreen film, David Lean, that has something epic about it. And there’s another kind that I tend to associate, not necessarily B-pictures, but also not those prestige pictures that have something wild about them and have a different energy. They don’t have the pacing of the 1930’s movies, but they do have a wildness that partly derives from the Kazan world. But I also think that maybe it has something to do with this new form of image and where it’s taking filmmakers.
Do you think you have a distinctive “style”? Or does such a consideration impair the creative process?
I’m thinking about how I want to direct a scene and I might have some ideas as to what we’re going to do for that particular film, but that’s probably not what you’re talking about. They speak of the thing that is the same, or at least recognizable – that is, “I think I know who might have done that.” [laughs]. That may be something I have control over, but I don’t have control over what I want. I have no control over how I want to do it.
At a certain point I realized that I have a recognizable signature that takes shape in these films and that’s because I’m learning something here and I find something I like to do and it’s a lot of different things mixed together are . It’s changing, but it’s still kind of the same [similar].
“At some point I realized I have a recognizable signature that takes shape in these films…”
Is it difficult to be true to yourself in this way?
I say to myself: do I want to do this? Do I want to force myself to do things in a way I don’t want to do, or can I make my films my way and accept this idiosyncrasy of my own voice? I felt like it was right for my stories and the way I was making them. That’s how I want to make them. I didn’t consciously choose to continue. I just do what I want.
I think the more someone develops their voice, the more natural and spontaneous it becomes.
I would say that I know some of my own parameters that I like. And I’m aware of the things I don’t want to do. I’m perhaps aware of a way to photograph something that goes almost unnoticed. And then there’s my way of shooting, where you’re like, “Oh, I see, that’s how we do it.” OK.” [laughs] I’m aware of it, but for some reason I just feel drawn to it. I’m sure one day they’ll be able to do a neural analysis and say, “That’s why you like doing it that way.”
Given the homogeneity of so many mainstream movies in the US, does it pose a challenge to be unique, professionally? Or is it still an advantage since there is only one?
It doesn’t do you much good to take criticism of your work unless you use it. If you don’t really want to use it – if you have the thing you want to make – then it’s not. But I’m well aware, for example, that a film director should be able to do things in very different ways. Why do you only work in this lane? Why not do Howard Hawks or Billy Wilder, one that’s mystery and one that’s comedy?
Well, every time I start a film I feel like I’m doing something completely different. I’ve never made a film like this for myself. But people see the continuation of a thread. For me I think: Why do I have to do the other things? You have a lot of people! You have so many to choose from! [laughs]
I wish there were more people whose approach was just as strange as my approach, who would do completely different things than me and also develop their approach like a painter who might have a very recognizable path – at this time he’s working on that way, and maybe it shifts a bit, and then maybe it goes somewhere else — but it’s not like things are going in all different directions every step of the way. In cinema, it’s more expected to happen that way.
However, there are exceptions – right?
Brian De Palma, for example – his work, like Hitchcock, is actually based on a certain type of filmmaking.
There have been a few AI-generated trailers lately introducing classic movies (war of stars, Lord of the rings, dune) in “your” style. Have you seen her?
I only experienced it verbally. I haven’t seen any of this. Of course, it’s easy for me to go to the right website and look at it. I choose not to really get involved. I guess that’s because I don’t want to get distracted by it. It’s a bit like saying, “Your boyfriend makes a great version of you.” You might say I’d really like to see it, and you might say I don’t want to see a version of me, even if I do she is good. It can be like, “Is that me?” That’s not necessarily what you want.
I’m sure I’ll go in there and check it out at some point. But I’ve never seen a TikTok of anything, for example. I won’t start with me. [laughs]
They have a regular acting roster, but also frequently work with new stars like Tom Hanks and Steve Carell asteroid city. Is this balance important?
In the case of this film, there are new people that I haven’t worked with before, like Tom or Scarlett (whom I’ve only worked with as a voice actor). But I have to say it was a very gentle, encouraging group. A really cozy group. There’s no one there that I went on set with who said, “I’m going to have to fight, and this is going to be very special.”
Not only is it good to have new people, but sometimes it’s good to have someone who makes you really uncomfortable, even if it’s someone who’s going to be your friend — or who is already your friend. There are a few people I’ve worked with, and even worked with more than once, who will disagree a bit. Or they’re fighting themselves. But their way of doing their best isn’t just, “Where do you want us?” That’s interesting. The comfort zone is not necessarily the best place to be all the time.
Steve Carrell replaced Bill Murray in the film. Was it frustrating to hear people mingling? Murray’s troubles on another project his farewell to asteroid city?
No, no, Aziz’s [Ansari] The film was later because Bill hadn’t been with Aziz when we finished the film. Bill was with us. Bill got COVID but after he got better we kept shooting. Then he came to us and at the end of the film he and I drove from Spain to France. On the last day of the film I said OK [claps hands], let’s go. He was with us.
Bill doesn’t belong in that category [the difficult actor]. Bill is a bit different because Bill and I spend too much time together for that. There are more methodical actors that I love and I don’t want to name them, but it’s exciting to work with someone who struggles with you for control. Because you’re going to come together and they’re going to force something, and I won’t settle for something I don’t like better than what I’ve been looking for.
Are there any actors you would still like to work with? You have Tom Hanks with you asteroid city…
Tom Hanks, I’ve met him a few times over the years. It would have been one thing to work with him in 1998 or something. It’s a different thing to work with him now because now he’s reached true legend status. When he entered the set as a character – and we wrote this guy, but now there’s this guy in front of us played by Tom Hanks – I was like, ‘Wow, look at that!’ It was really something. It’s almost like stepping out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
I can well imagine that.
But who am I targeting? I have a physical list of people I want to work with. Ralph Fiennes was on the list. Jeffrey Wright was on the list. Benicio del Toro was on the list. Meryl Streep was on the list – and I only got Meryl Streep to vote [in Fantastic Mr. Fox]but I had Meryl Streep in a movie and she was great!
In addition to the people I’ve sought out, people like Willem Dafoe and Jeff Goldblum have come to me over the years. Both Willem and Jeff are people I absolutely loved and followed from day one of their careers. Jeff from back when he was on TV with Ben Vereen I think – Tenspeed and Brown Shoe. I got a call that Jeff Goldblum would like to meet me, so I had dinner with Jeff, and the next thing I know, “What are you doing this summer?” I’ve got something cooking up here.”
Tilda, I kind of felt the same way, in the sense that she wrote to me and said she’d just seen my new film – which was The Darjeeling Limited – and “I’m here.” [laughs] Well that’s good to know! I will write you a part.
Frances McDormand too. Roman Coppola and I wrote this role for Fran, and in part it was because I knew her and thought if I wrote this role I could lure her over here.
your next movieThe Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar) is coming to Netflix this fall…
This isn’t a real movie. I adapted some Roald Dahl short stories. They are separated from each other; You are not one thing. But the first one is longer, about 36 to 38 minutes, so it’s a whole story – it’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. We have Ralph as Roald Dahl and Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel and Richard Ayoade and Ben Kingsley who is great. It’s a bit of an unusual form of storytelling that we do because when I got into it I realized I liked his words. The way the stories are told in Roald Dahl’s words.
By and large, if you make a movie out of this, you can lose your words. We decided not to lose his words. When you see it you will understand what I mean. We use the words.
Anderson with Ralph Fiennes at an event at the Grand Budapest Hotel.
Portal
Have you ever thought about making a sequel – or at least revisiting an earlier character or setting?
In a way, I did it by saying to the actor, “Let’s go to a slightly different place now.” The line from Jason Schwartzman in “Rushmore” to Jason Schwartzman in this book is convoluted, but we really have three main tracks together: Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited and this one. He has a great role in Fantastic Mr. Fox, he has a good role in Moonrise Kingdom, but basically these three films. I kinda feel like it’s kind of a way he’s growing up and now he’s a father of three. He is an adult.
I told someone that at your own age there is a relief to see Jason transform from student to father on screen.
When we were doing Rushmore I also thought of Bill Murray – he was quite a bit younger than I am now [laughs]. He was the absolute statesman guru. Now I would have said, “Yeah, I’ve been watching you since you started – you’re getting good.” [laughs]
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