The Stunning Star-Studded 'Asteroid City' Trailer Brings Wes Anderson and Aliens Together at Last
Otherworldly visitors descend upon a desert town hosting a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention in the symmetry-loving director's latest film.
Wes Anderson and symmetry are virtually synonymous. Wes Anderson and pastel hues, too. And, Wes Anderson and stars such as Jason Schwartzman (I Love That for You), Tilda Swinton (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio), Ed Norton (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Adrien Brody (See How They Run), Willem Dafoe (The Northman), Tony Revolori (Servant) and Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic World Dominion) are frequently (repeatedly, even) mentioned in the same breath. All of the above gets a big tick in the trailer for the filmmaker's latest film Asteroid City, but so is something else. If you've ever wondered what a Wes Anderson movie would look like with aliens descending on a desert town, you're about to find out.
Two years after The French Dispatch hit cinemas, Anderson is returning to the big screen, with his 11th feature hitting cinemas in 2023. And, that movie now has a trailer that is about as Wes Anderson as Wes Anderson gets — a description that every trailer for his flicks, and every picture itself, keeps earning because it keeps proving true.
Releasing on June 16 in the US, and August 10 in Australia and New Zealand, Asteroid City sports a Moonrise Kingdom-esque premise. The flick follows a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention in the titular (and fictional) American town in 1955. Students and their parents descend on the contest from around the country, all in the name of scholarly competition; however, then world-changing events shake things up.
Anderson isn't one for making the same thing twice, of course, with aliens invading Asteroid City's plot (which was penned by the filmmaker with his frequent writing partner Roman Coppola, who also co-wrote Moonrise Kingdom and The Darjeeling Limited, and has a story credit on Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch). The trailer for the film firmly gives it its own vibe, too. That's present in the imagery alone, which makes ample use of desert tones to stunning — and yes, sometimes symmetrical — effect.
Alongside Schwartzman, Swinton, Norton, Brody, Dafoe, Revolori and Goldblum, fellow Anderson regulars Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeffrey Wright (The Batman), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), Stephen Park (Warrior) and Bryan Cranston (Better Call Saul) help bring the story to life.
They're joined by Tom Hanks (A Man Called Otto), Margot Robbie (Babylon), Steve Carell (The Patient), Matt Dillon (Proxima), Hong Chau (The Whale), Hope Davis (Succession), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Maya Hawke (Stranger Things), Jake Ryan (Uncut Gems), Grace Edwards (Call Jane), Aristou Meehan (The Contractor), Sophia Lillis (IT: Chapter Two), Ethan Lee (Mr Robinson) and Rita Wilson (Kimi).
Check out the trailer for Asteroid City below:
Asteroid City will release in Australia and New Zealand on August 10, 2023.
Images: Focus Features.
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