Young scientists and audiences everywhere, get ready for the Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention in Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City! The first trailer has just dropped and it’s full of Anderson’s signature quirky picture book-inspired style. But, this time it includes an Americana soundtrack and some surprising sci-fi vibes.
Asteroid City marks Anderson’s return to the U.S after spending the previous decade with films set in Europe with his famous The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The French Dispatch (2021) and a brief stop in Japan with the intriguing stop-motion film Isle of Dogs (2019), and it seems like he’s delving into the extraterrestrial realm with this one. The official synopsis teases some truly world-changing events throwing off a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention.
The trailer shows Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman as a widowed dad who finds himself stranded in Asteroid City, a small Western town with his four kids. Schwartzman’ s character develops a bond with a famous actress played by Scarlett Johansson and his son becomes close with an Asteroid City resident. This initial glimpse is full of Anderson’s deadpan dialogue, vibrant color gradings and compositions that resemble Hopper paintings. However, the seeming arrival of extraterrestrials upends the small town and challenges how the town, and humanity as a whole, sees itself.
Written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Asteroid City features a star-studded cast of both Anderson regulars and newcomers! Besides the titulars Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, it also includes, Tom Hanks, Maya Hawke, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Carell, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, and Jeff Goldblum, among others.
We have to wait to see how this adventure plays out when it hits select theaters on June 16 and nationwide on June 23. Watch the trailer here.
Image courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
