“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 an even greater specificity…. It's just really great. He's upping the game.”
Once again headlines read, “Adrien Brody Featured in New Wes Anderson Film.” The two have been collaborating since 2007 when Brody (Specialized Training 1993) was cast in Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited. This time Brody plays Schubert Green, the director of the play within the movie in Asteroid City.
Asteroid City follows a writer as he pieces together and premiers his fictional world-famous play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to the small town of Asteroid City to compete in the stargazing event. During which they are visited by something not of this world - disrupting what they thought they understood of this world.
A visual feast, Anderson uses contrasting color pallets to delineate the real world from the stage one - leaving us in black and white and the staged world in vibrant color. Schubert Green is going through a rough patch personally but is determined to get this play on its feet while guiding actors to revelations about their performances.“ I referenced Kazan in a lot of ways, and Marlon Brando as well, but mostly Kazan just at that era,” Brody discussed on how he found his character. “...Kazan really changed a lot of our expectations of what filmmaking and performance is, the expectations of that performance.”
This marks Brody’s fifth collaboration with Wes Anderson. Following The Darjeeling Limited, he appeared in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The French Dispatch. He has kept very busy outside of that as well in recent years appearing in Apple TV+’s Ghosted, Rian Johnson’s Poker Face, and playing famed basketball coach Pat Riley in HBO’s hit sports drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
Asteroid City premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and opened in select theaters on June 16th. It has received favorable reviews from many publications including; The Independent, Empire, and The Guardian. In theaters everywhere on June 23rd. Watch the trailer below: