Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” Trailer Reveals Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Aliens & More
One of life’s certainties, along with death and taxes, is that a Wes Anderson movie will boast a phenomenal cast. It’s been the case with Anderson over his long, perfectly framed career, as stars have aligned again and again to follow him wherever his latest whimsy has taken him. Such is the case with Asteroid City, a gorgeous-looking retro sci-fi film that boasts Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody— catch your breath, there’s a lot more— Hong Chau, Margot Robbie, Willem Dafoe, Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, Ed Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Tony Revolori, Liev Schreiber, Maya Hawke, Matt Dillon, and Hope Davis.
It’ll be interesting to see Anderson channel his immense gifts toward a sci-fi film. Asteroid City is set in the titular fictional desert town in 1955 and finds Hanks as the grandfather to Schwartzman’s four kids, the latter of whom is stuck in Asteroid City after their car broke down. The family is coming off a tragedy—the loss of Hanks’s daughter and Schwartzman’s wife—and as they end jup Asteroid City, weird happenings start taking place. We’re talking aliens, of course.
The trailer reveals a brief glimpse of an intricately designed alien craft that could have only been conceived by Anderson. Schwartzman’s widower got a look at the creature and didn’t like the way it looked back. “Like we’re doomed,” he says. Uh oh.
The official synopsis for Asteroid City gives us a barebones assessment of what’s going on here: “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.”
The trailer is short on plot specifics and long on Andersonian atmospherics. With a cast this good and Anderson’s legendary attention to detail, Asteroid City is definitely on our must-see list for 2023.
Check out the trailer below. Asteroid City lands in theaters on June 16 (limited), with a wide release on June 23.
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Featured image: Scarlett Johansson in director Wes Anderson’s ASTEROID CITY, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
