With the release of the latest Wes Anderson movie just a few months away, Focus Features has dropped the first teaser poster for Asteroid City. The star-studded film takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955, and we’ll get a better look at the film tomorrow with the release of the first trailer.
Written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Asteroid City is said to be a “poetic meditation on the meaning of life.” Set in a fictional American desert town circa 1955 and its Junior Stargazer convention, the film brings together students and parents from across the country for scholarly competition, rest and recreation, comedy, drama, romance and more, before being spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events. As you can see in the poster, the stacked cast of Asteroid City includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Lee, Jeff Goldblum, Rita Wilson and many more.
You might notice that Bill Murray isn’t included in that cast list. As the actor has appeared in every single Wes Anderson movie since 1998’s Rushmore, this came as a bit of a surprise when the Asteroid City cast was first announced. Some have believed that Bill Murray’s absence from Asteroid City was the result of a complaint made against the actor on the set of Aziz Ansari’s Being Mortal this past April. However, the Wes Anderson movie started shooting before the complaint was made. According to Variety, Bill Murray was originally included in the cast of Asteroid City but contracted COVID-19 shortly before production began, and his role had to be recast. It’s believed that Steve Carell stepped in to replace him. Asteroid City won’t be the only Wes Anderson movie of 2023, as it’s expected that The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar will debut on Netflix later this year as well.
Asteroid City will be released in select theaters on June 16th, before a wide release on June 23rd.