Exclusive: A Jetpack Joyride for Hope Davis and Stephen Park in Asteroid City

Hope Davis and Stephen Park have an otherworldly experience in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. The plot takes place in a remote 1955 desert town where teens, their parents, and the military are attending a Junior Stargazer competition at a meteor crater. But that’s just one part of a very complex plot. The characters are actually actors performing the play on stage. There’s also another perspective from a TV narrator (Bryan Cranston) who documents the play’s production behind the scenes with the playwright (Edward Norton) and director (Adrien Brody). So Asteroid City is a film…within a film…within a film.

Davis and Park are the parents of geniuses. One kid invents a ‘smores-tosium.’ The other has an awesome jetpack that wasn’t quite as fun for the actors. Park “passed out” from “being too high for too long.” The jetpack “cut off the circulation to his legs.” He woke up surrounded by the cast, a doctor, and Anderson. Park comically told Anderson he “would die for him.” Davis assures he’s definitely now “part of the ensemble.”

The actors admit to being initially confused after reading the script, and both agree that multiple viewings are needed. Asteroid City is Anderson’s most abstract film yet, but Park comments that Asteroid City has a better “consistent emotional arc” than the French Dispatch. There’s really one story staged from different viewpoints.

UFOs play a hilarious part in the film’s climax. They’re back in the news as the government declassifies top secret files. Davis saw a UFO as a teenager, and she’d be “excited” to learn “there’s something else out there.” Park adds a humorous thought — we are all assuming aliens are “more intelligent than us.”

Asteroid City Is a Russian Doll

MovieWeb: Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s most abstract film yet. It’s a film, within a film, within a film. Talk about the reaction when you first read the script and saw your characters.

Hope Davis: When I first read the switch between Asteroid City and the play, I was like, ‘Wait a minute.’ So I always just hand it over to my husband who loves to read scripts, and he read it, and he explained it to me [makes ‘mind-blown’ expression]. Then I read it again. We were just saying, it’s really wonderful to see the movie more than once. Because once you piece together everything that’s happening, you get to kind of just give over to the movie in a different way, and the second viewing is really extraordinary.

Stephen Park: I love the fact that it’s like Russian dolls. Like in the French Dispatch, it was three separate stories. I think some people had a difficult time just staying with the movie because it was following different stories, different emotional arcs, where this one had more of a consistent, overall emotional arc. I think it’ll maybe be easier for certain people to stay with us because of the way it’s structured.

Related: Asteroid City Review: Wes Anderson Delights and Confounds with His Most Abstract Film

Intelligent Life?

MW: There’s a lot of stuff in the news about UFOs. Right? I had to laugh during one of the movie’s climactic scenes. What would you guys do if you saw a UFO in real life?

Hope Davis: I did see a UFO when I was a teenager! Everyone in my town saw it. My kids are watching for UFOs and following that news. I’d be really, really excited just knowing that there’s something else out there.

Stephen Park: We’re all assuming it’s more intelligent than us. We definitely need something more intelligent than we are [laughs].

Related: Exclusive: Maya Hawke and Rupert Friend Frolic in Asteroid City

Dying for Wes Anderson

MW: What’s the best and worst day on the set of Asteroid City?

Hope Davis: The best day was shooting a scene with Tom Hanks and Liev Schreiber. One of the actors was late, and we were trying to rehearse, so Wes played all the parts and jumped around. It was like playing when we were all kids. We had a day where we shot this poster. It was about 112 degrees outside. We were melting. It was very hot in Spain where we shot. There weren’t any other downsides.

Stephen Park: The best day … it’s so hard to answer that question. But actually the jetpack, going up and down, I’ll say that was my worst. I passed out because I was up too high for too long. And this thing was cutting off the circulation in my legs. Then, when I came to, I passed out, and Wes was there, the doctor was there, everybody was surrounding me. I’m like, oh my god, what happened? I told him I would die for him [laughs].

Hope Davis: I think that you’re in the ensemble now because you said that.

Stephen Park: I said that because it’s true. I have no problem passing out for Wes [laughs].

The Best Invention

MW: Which kid had the best invention at the Junior Stargazer competition?

Hope Davis: I have to say the jetpack. My kid had the smores-tosium. What is a smores-tosium? Nobody ever really found out. The jetpack is pretty cool.

Stephen Park: Jake [Ryan, who plays Woodrow] using his invention for advertising. I don’t know the usefulness of advertising on the moon. But I do think the jetpack is very cool to be able to fly around. And they do exist right? I’ve seen the wind and water pack. I don’t want to go [laughs].

Asteroid City will have a June 16th limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles followed by national distribution from Focus Features.