Watch: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Desert Sets of ‘Asteroid City’

Watch: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Desert Sets of ‘Asteroid City’

by Alex Billington
June 12, 2023
Source: YouTube

“So we were a student film on an enormous, giant set in the middle of Spain.” Focus Features has debuted a new behind-the-scenes featurette for Wes Anderson’s latest film titled Asteroid City – opening in theaters starting this weekend. It already premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last month (to rather mixed reviews – here’s mine). The featurette takes a look at Anderson’s gigantic practical set built in the middle of the desert, which he constructed bring audiences right into his fictional “Asteroid City”, Population 87, in the 1950s. Most of the film takes place here, and it’s a gorgeous set, that’s for sure. They filmed this out in a very flat area of Spain in 2021, right during the middle of the pandemic a few years back. It was a “bubble” of actors & crew and Anderson sort of describes that experience in this video. The massive ensemble cast of Asteroid City includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Hanks, plus many others. Even if the film isn’t your jam, it’s impossible to not admire Anderson’s aesthetic and his dedication to building one-of-a-kind sets to shoot his films. I’d love to visit one sometime.

Here’s the “Desert Town” Making Of featurette for Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, direct from YouTube:

You can watch the first official trailer for Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City here, and read our Cannes review.

Wes Anderson’s latest film Asteroid City takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955. The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events. Asteroid City is directed by acclaimed American filmmaker Wes Anderson, of the films Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, and The French Dispatch previously. (He also has The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar next.) The screenplay is written by Roman Coppola and Wes Anderson. It’s produced by Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, and Steven Rales. The film is expected to initially premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival this May. Focus will then release Anderson’s Asteroid City in select US theaters starting on June 17th, 2023 this summer. View the official trailer here.

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