Wes Anderson goes retro space with 'Asteroid City' trailer starring Tom Hanks, Maya Hawke & more

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The trademark quirkiness of Wes Anderson meets the sci-fi wonder of Steven Spielberg in the first retro trailer for Anderson's upcoming period piece: Asteroid City.

Opening exclusively in theaters this summer, the Focus Features film leans into the atomic testing and outer space craze of the 1950s with a story about the inhabitants of a remote desert town whose quiet existence is suddenly rocked by world-changing events. Family, love, and, most important of all, existentialism seem to be the thematic underpinnings of the film, which rocks the diorama aesthetic and wry humor of its writer-director. On the casting front, Anderson has truly outdone himself with an insanely talented ensemble that includes:

Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit), Tom Hanks (Elvis), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Edward Norton (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), Hope Davis (Perry Mason), Stephen Park (The French Dispatch), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Maya Hawke (Stranger Things), Steve Carell (The Office), Matt Dillon (Crash), Hong Chau (The Whale), Willem Dafoe (The Northman), Margot Robbie (Babylon), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Jake Ryan (Wolf Like Me), and Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic World Dominion).

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The cast is so large, in fact, that most of the actors listed above don't even appear in the first round of footage. "Working for Wes is not easy," Cranston admitted during an interview with Far Out Magazine last year. "It’s very detailed and very specific, and so you really have to concentrate hard. What offsets that is the congeniality and the togetherness of the experience."

Check out the Asteroid City trailer, which resembles a postcard plucked straight out of the '50s:

Anderson — who wrote the screenplay — came up with the screen story with Roman Coppola (son of The Godfather director, Francis Ford Coppola) and produced the feature alongside Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson.

The full plot synopsis is as follows:

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 will enjoy a limited rollout Friday, June 16 before hitting theaters nationwide Friday, June 23.

The poster for Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City (2023)
The poster for Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City (2023)

Asteroid City (2023) Poster Photo: Focus Features

Want to travel back in time to the 1950s? The Back to the Future trilogy is now streaming on Peacock.

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