During the mid-20th century in America, a variety of factors converged to create a world with a very distinct stylistic and cultural point of view, one that filmmakers and other storytellers still draw from heavily today. The economy, and American optimism, boomed after the end of World War II in 1945. With an emphasis on the future, midcentury-modern architecture and furniture design was born, and eyes were on space. The Soviet Union launched the first-ever satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, and by 1969, the United States put a man on the moon.
That feeling of reverence and excitement for the final frontier is perfectly captured in the new Wes Anderson film Asteroid City. A matryoshka doll of storytelling, the film (in theaters now) begins in a tiny technicolor desert town with only a luncheonette (Deanna Dunagan is the waitress), a gas station (Matt Dillon is the mechanic), a motor court hotel (Steve Carell is the manager), and a giant crater left by the Arid Plains meteorite on September 27, 3007 BC.
It is 1955, and five teenage Junior Stargazers have arrived with their parents (among them: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, and Stephen Park) for a weekend celebrating Asteroid Day and honoring the budding scientists, who have each brought an invention of their own creation. Something about this town—with its red rocks and turquoise sky—looks strange, and, come to find out, that is not just because it is in a Wes Anderson movie. The film zooms out to reveal that Asteroid City is in fact a play (directed by Adrien Brody) that is the subject of a television program (hosted by Bryan Cranston).
This is why Asteroid City—like all Wes Anderson projects—looks a bit surreal, and the movie magic behind the project makes it feel all the more dreamlike. The entire production was filmed in and around the town of Chinchón, Spain, with Anderson’s longtime production designer Adam Stockhausen leading the charge.
Below, Stockhausen shares a behind-the-scenes look at how this production came to life.
