No one really knows what’s beyond our little slice of the universe. Well, except NASA, of course, and the people that work at Area 51, but I digress. While they haven’t confirmed, or denied, if aliens actually do exist, filmmaker Wes Anderson gives us a glimpse of what life would be like if an alien did pay us a visit … but his film “Asteroid City” is nothing like “E.T.”
Tom Hanks (as Stanley Zak): “You’re not here.”
Jason Schwartzman (as Augie Steenbeck): “We’re not there. The car exploded.”
Writer and director Wes Anderson transports audiences to a desert town in the 1950s in his new movie “Asteroid City.”
Tom Hanks (as Stanley Zak): “Where are you?”
Jason Schwartzman (as Augie Steenbeck); “Asteroid City. Farm Route 6, Mile 75.”
A thousand years ago, the town got a visit from a UFO, and now another one has popped up.
Jason Schwartzman (as Augie Steenbeck): “I don’t like the way that guy looked at us. The alien.”
Scarlett Johansson (as Midge Campbell): “How did he – how did he look?”
Jason Schwartzman (as Augie Steenbeck): “Like we’re doomed.”
Scarlett Johansson (as Midge Campbell): “Maybe we are.”
Wes must have a lot of A-listers on speed dial, because Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Steve Carrell and Jason Schwartzman all star in the film.
Jason Schwartzman: “Every one of these characters I could watch more of.”
Steve Carell (as Motel Manager): “They’re strange, aren’t they? Your children. Compared to normal people.”
The cast felt a connection, not only to the story, but the world that it’s set in.
Rupert Friend: “He has his eye and ear on every aspect of the filmmaking. Just as soon as you step into that world, and you see the beautiful sets and the costumes, you start to assimilate into that.”
Jeffrey Wright: “We spend a lot of time together off-camera — we have dinner together, we stay in the same hotel together. That, too, is inviting. Not so – it’s not just the idea of the worlds that he creates and the films that he makes, but also the ways in which he does that.”
Maya Hawke (as June): “Some of our information about outer space may no longer be completely accurate. Anyway, there’s still only nine planets in the solar system, as far as we know. Billy?”
Billy: “Except now there’s a alien.”
“Stranger Things” actress Maya Hawke knows a thing or two about getting lost in a fictional world.
Maya Hawke: “When you enter a world, especially a world as enjoyable to exist in as ‘Asteroid City,’ you can kind of totally forget about the rest of your life and just exist and be present exactly where you are.”
ScarJo enjoyed the fun of filming a quirky flick.
Scarlett Johansson: “I felt very thankful every day to just go to bed and feel like we did good hard work, and still thinking about the scenes, still buzzing about the fun, unexpected stuff that happened. It was very exciting.”
Scarlett Johansson (as Midge Campbell): “I do a nude scene. You wanna see it?”
Jason Schwartzman (as Augie Steenbeck); “Huh? Did I say yes?”
Scarlett Johansson (as Midge Campbell): “You didn’t say anything.”
Jason Schwartzman (as Augie Steenbeck); “I meant yes. My mouth, my mouth didn’t speak.”
“Asteroid City” lands in theaters on Friday.
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