Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright Lead a Veteran Ensemble in Asteroid City

Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright return as veteran ensemble players in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Brody, first featured in The Darjeeling Limited, and Wright, a standout in The French Dispatch, co-star here as the heavyweights running the show on two different fronts. Brody plays Schubert Green. He’s seen in black and white as the director of the titular play. Wright portrays General Grif Gibson in color. He’s actually performing as an actor on stage. Gibson leads a motley collection of parents, teachers, and students in a remote 1955 desert town for the Junior Stargazer competition.

Asteroid City is Anderson’s most abstract film. Three settings with the same actors take place at once. You see the actors in character and outside the play as they struggle to understand its scope. Bryan Cranston co-stars as a TV narrator documenting the entire process for the audience at home. Edward Norton also joins the fray as Conrad Earp, the playwright who isn’t quite sure where his story is going. There’s a lot to digest in a boldly creative and sometimes perplexing narrative.

Brody acknowledges Asteroid City’s “layers of storytelling.” He was especially impressed by the use of “black and white for reality” and “color for the play.” Wright believes that Anderson sees “artists and the artistic” as “heroic.” He didn’t comprehend everything about the “first time” but learns more after repeat viewings. Anderson “adores storytelling” and makes the process “vivid” for everyone involved.

Brody and Wright have gained a “shorthand” working with Anderson. They understand “the mark” he’s aiming to hit. Brody complimented his director with “upping the game” on the “elaborate sets” that were built in Spain. The cast of Asteroid City filmed during the pandemic under strict COVID protocols. Brody did share a personal life experience in regard to the film’s climax. He saw a UFO “over a lake” that was “reported to the police.” That was “back in the day” before “drones”, so certainly adds credence to recent UFO speculation. Although, it’s doubtful any extraterrestrial life would be nearly as funny as Anderson’s hilarious visitor.

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Layers of Storytelling

MovieWeb: Asteroid City is a film, within a film, within a film. Talk about your reaction when you read the script?

Adrien Brody: Yeah, it was a lot to take in as it’s pretty intricate storytelling. I mean, the beauty of Wes’ work is you know a lot of the visual stuff that’s going to come is going to be mind-blowing. The layers within the storytelling were fantastic. Even the use of black and white for reality, and color for the play, and actors playing characters within the story. This was pretty amazing.

Jeffrey Wright: I think that Wes adores storytelling, and the process of storytelling, whether it be theater or cinema, and

I think the artistic and artists are heroic to him. So there’s certainly that in the script, when I read it, this kind of celebration of story, but he uses that to layer in all kinds of considerations about society, and family, and community, and loss. It becomes a construct for him just to meditate on large things and small things. It’s all in that script. Now, when I read it the first time I see something, and some things, but I don’t see everything until I see it on the screen. And then it becomes, you know, everything becomes vivid.

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MW: Let’s follow up on that. You guys are part of the gangster ensemble and have worked with Wes Anderson on multiple films. Now on Asteroid City, is there just a go-to thing where you are all copacetic? Are you all on the same page? Or are you still learning? Is it still a process of getting through with him?

Adrien Brody: I think there’s definitely a shorthand of communication and knowing what Wes, what the mark is that we’re all aiming to hit. I think that that comes from experience of working with him, but I think there was a there was an even greater specificity. I think now, it was so elaborate this set that was built, and all of these details, and how they’re all infused into it. It’s just really great. He’s upping the game. Yeah, I think that we’re all in there together.

An Otherworldly Experience

MW: Here’s a fun question. What would you do if you actually saw a UFO?

Adrien Brody: Take a picture (laughs).

Jeffrey Wright: Probably stare and wonder… I don’t know.

Adrien Brody: I saw a UFO. That’s a whole other thing…

Jeffrey Wright: You saw a UFO?

MW: No running or screaming?

Adrien Brody: It was documented. No, I saw a red orb glowing. It was over a lake, and then moved to the other side. This was back in the day. There were no drones or anything. It was reported to the police. Yeah, so I saw it.

Jeffrey Wright: Wow, that’s pretty cool.

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