Asteroid City: The stars of Wes Anderson’s new comedy on working with the esteemed director
Wes Anderson has gathered such a huge celebrity cast for his latest movie that it’s perhaps apt that Asteroid City is set around a stargazer convention – while the characters stare at the skies, the viewers are kept entranced by a different kind of star.
Among the vast cast are A-listers Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston… Known for his highly stylised movies, Anderson seems to have no issue attracting talent to work with him.
Set in the American southwest in 1955, this film saw a small functioning town built in Spain to serve as the titular Asteroid City, with the cast and crew living and working there throughout the production.
Shot while COVID protocols were in place, it also served as a bubble.
Speaking to Sky News’ Backstage Podcast, cast-members talked about their experiences working with Anderson on Asteroid City, which itself is a play within a TV special.
Bryan Cranston on playing the narrator of the TV special about the play Asteroid City:
“I started really looking and doing some research on the more famous newscasters of the fifties – Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite and things like that, and I settled in on someone who kept coming back to me and I was influenced by Ted Koppel, and I sort of love the way he delivered the news.
“And I also feel that those men fall in love with their own voices… So that sort of came to me that we would do it in this sort of registry and without any emotion and without any opinion on what I was saying, so that the actors in the group can supply that – I was just there to monitor and feed in exposition.
“So, I just figured out this is my role, this is what my job is and then, you know, Wes takes a look at it and shapes it and basically says: ‘Faster, faster, faster, faster’. And you do it faster, faster, faster!”
Pic: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
Jeffrey Wright on Anderson’s fast-paced script:
“He’s the conductor and he’s setting the rhythm and the tempo and that’s what he wants.
“I think he has a thing for early cinema, 40s, 50s style of stylised dialogue that no one really spoke in the world – it was just this dialect that existed in storytelling, and I kind of love that stuff, too, I love, melodrama and the old forms.
“It’s just a different take on telling the story, it doesn’t mean because it’s antique that it’s not effective – we’ve changed but I think there’s still something that can be moving about those styles, and it’s also a way of accepting that this is a performance – we understand it’s not real, it’s not a documentary and I think Wes likes to celebrate performance in that way.”
Pic: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
Scarlett Johansson on the preparation needed to play an actor who herself is playing a character who is preparing for a part:
“There were so many layers of the performance – I’m playing an actor who’s playing an actor who’s preparing something.
Scarlett Johansson in Asteroid City. Pic: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
“I had a lot of questions for Wes, and we talked a lot about all these different – like, What’s this play? What’s this movie that [Johansson’s character] Midge Campbell is preparing? Who is Midge Campbell? I think it was good to figure that stuff out.
“The prep was maybe more involved with this film because it had so many different layers – if I go into doing something, I try to come in with something to hang my hat on, so I have something to offer in the beginning and then it hopefully will evolve from there, but this needed a bit of thinking on it and discussion with Wes and a lot of questions and stuff like that.”
Pic: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
Jason Schwartzman on working on the film and with Scarlett Johansson:
“It was so fun. It was so interesting. I loved it.
“It wasn’t hard, I’ll tell you, because I felt like I was acting with – the movie was like, done, [Johansson]’s so amazing.”
Pic: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
Maya Hawke on the ‘impossible task’ she found herself trying:
“Getting to try something impossible is kind of freeing, you know? Versus having to sort of try to master – being asked to do something simple where you’re like, ‘Oh, no, I’m going to mess this up’.
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‘These people are all so intimidating’
“I felt that the impossible task that was asked of me was, you know, these people are all so intimidating and so talented, and to enter that environment as a new person, as a young person, as a person without that much experience, and to come in with confidence and to not worry that I was going to ruin the film, which very quickly I realised was actually impossible once I got there, because Wes is so masterful in the orchestra conduction of everything that you couldn’t ruin it if you tried your hardest.”
Rupert Friend on living and working together while making Asteroid City:
“One of the things that Wes not only encourages but really engenders is this spirit of community and what it means is that whether you are the main focus of a scene or not is completely immaterial.
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“You want to be there to support your colleagues, whether you’re in the deep, deep background out of focus, as many of us were, or you’re front and centre – that becomes immaterial, so you’re speaking about the egalitarian nature of it.
“I don’t know of a more genuine ensemble than what I saw on set and on the screen for this movie, I mean, any of these people could be the star and everyone gave it to everyone else.”
Asteroid City is out in cinemas now, hear more about it on the latest episode of Backstage – the film and TV podcast from Sky News.
Entertainment
Robin Kaye: American Idol TV executive and her husband shot dead inside their Los Angeles home
An American Idol TV executive and her husband have been found dead in their LA home.
Robin Kaye was a music supervisor on the long-running reality TV series.
The bodies of the 70-year-old and her husband Thomas were discovered after officers conducted a welfare check at their home.
Both had died from gunshot wounds.
Robin Kaye and her husband Thomas. Pic: Facebook
Detectives say Raymond Boodarian has been arrested in connection with their deaths.
It is alleged the 22-year-old had burgled their property while they were away on 10 July – killing the couple upon their return.
According to Los Angeles Police, there were “no signs of forced entry or trouble” at the property.
Ms Kaye was an industry veteran – and had previously worked on shows including Lip Sync Battle and The Singing Bee, as well as several Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants.
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Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles
In a statement, an American Idol spokesperson said: “Robin has been a cornerstone of the Idol family since 2009 and was truly loved and respected by all who came in contact with her.
“Robin will remain in our hearts forever and we share our deepest sympathy with her family and friends during this difficult time.”
Entertainment
Action taken to stop ticketless Oasis fans from watching this week’s shows in Manchester
Huge steel fences have been erected to prevent ticketless fans from watching the Oasis reunion tour in Manchester.
Liam and Noel Gallagher will resume their sold-out run of shows – their first since 2009 – with a performance at Heaton Park tonight, and two more on Saturday and Sunday.
While tens of thousands bought tickets for Oasis’s first two shows last weekend, crowds gathered to glimpse the large screens above the stage in the distance – in an area dubbed “Gallagher Hill” by some on social media.
People walk past a temporary security fence erected ahead of concerts by Oasis in Heaton Park on 1 July. Reuters file pic
Manchester City Council has now said more steel fences have been erected around parts of the park to prevent ticketless fans from watching the gigs, and to protect nature in the park.
“After taking stock of how the first two nights went, additional measures have now been deemed necessary and will be in place for the next three concerts,” it said.
“The erection of the fencing has a dual purpose – both to protect the environment from further damage and to dissuade people from gathering there.
“The necessary measure means the concert will no longer be visible from this area.”
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Friday: Excited fans at Oasis homecoming gig
The fences will cover a large area of the hill within the park’s cattle field, which is being developed as a new woodland area with around 300 young trees planted.
The council added that there would be no facilities for people without a ticket, and said the event area is “double-walled with solid high security fencing all the way round”.
More than 2,000 event security staff and police officers will also be on duty around the site “to ensure both the safety and wellbeing of ticket-holders and that only those who have tickets access the concert”, it said.
Read more:
What was Oasis’s first show in 16 years like?
Fans queue all day for Manchester homecoming gig
John Hacking, the council’s executive member for employment, skills and leisure, also said in a statement that “unfortunately our hand has been forced in having to put these additional measures in place”.
He added: “Our advice to music fans who don’t have tickets for the concerts is to head into the city centre instead.
“The whole city is going all out to celebrate and help everyone have a good time.
“We’ve got some fantastic things going on with a real party atmosphere for everyone to enjoy, whether they’ve got tickets for the Oasis gigs or not.”
MasterChef presenter John Torode will no longer work on the show after an allegation he used an “extremely offensive racist term” was upheld, the BBC has said.
His co-host Gregg Wallace was also sacked last week after claims of inappropriate behaviour.
On Monday, Torode said an allegation he used racist language was upheld in a report into the behaviour of Wallace. The report found more than half of 83 allegations against Wallace were substantiated.
Torode, 59, insisted he had “absolutely no recollection” of the alleged incident involving him and he “did not believe that it happened,” adding “racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment”.
John Torode and Gregg Wallace in 2008. Pic: PA
In a statement on Tuesday, a BBC spokesperson said the allegation “involves an extremely offensive racist term being used in the workplace”.
The claim was “investigated and substantiated by the independent investigation led by the law firm Lewis Silkin”, they added.
“The BBC takes this upheld finding extremely seriously,” the spokesperson said.
“We will not tolerate racist language of any kind… we told Banijay UK, the makers of MasterChef, that action must be taken.
“John Torode’s contract on MasterChef will not be renewed.”
Australian-born Torode started presenting MasterChef alongside Wallace, 60, in 2005.
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Why Gregg Wallace says he ‘will not go quietly’
A statement from Banijay UK said it “takes this matter incredibly seriously” and Lewis Silkin “substantiated an accusation of highly offensive racist language against John Torode which occurred in 2018”.
“This matter has been formally discussed with John Torode by Banijay UK, and whilst we note that John says he does not recall the incident, Lewis Silkin have upheld the very serious complaint,” the TV production company added.
“Banijay UK and the BBC are agreed that we will not renew his contract on MasterChef.”
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Earlier, as the BBC released its annual report, its director-general Tim Davie addressed MasterChef’s future, saying it can survive as it is “much bigger than individuals”.
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BBC annual report findings
Speaking to BBC News after Torode was sacked, Mr Davie said a decision is yet to be taken over whether an unseen MasterChef series – filmed with both Wallace and Torode last year – will be aired.
“It’s a difficult one because… those amateur chefs gave a lot to take part – it means a lot, it can be an enormous break if you come through the show,” he added.
“I want to just reflect on that with the team and make a decision, and we’ll communicate that in due course.”
Mr Davie refused to say what the “seriously racist term” Torode was alleged to have used but said: “I certainly think we’ve drawn a line in the sand.”
In 2022, Torode was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to food and charity.
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