'Asteroid City' Trailer: Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and More Star in Wes Anderson's New Movie

By Daniel S. Levine

Wes Anderson has returned to the U.S. with his latest film, Asteroid City. Focus Features released the first trailer for the highly anticipated summer release on Wednesday, sending movie lovers on a wild goose chase (or should we say alien chase?) to spot as many of the A-list stars in the cast as possible. Anderson's fans were excited to see the first preview of the movie.

This marks Anderson's first collaboration with Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie, while his regular stock company of stars like Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody and more all have key parts. Scarlett Johansson also makes her on-camera debut in an Anderson movie after previously voicing a character in Isle of Dogs.

Asteroid City is set in 1955, with the Cold War Space Race still gripping the country. Students and parents from across the U.S. gather in the city for a scholarly competition during a Junior Stargazer competition. Anderson crafted the story with his frequent collaborator, Roman Coppola. He also produced with Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson. Alexandre Desplat wrote the score. Focus Features set June 16 as the film's release date.

The trailer provided much more information about the characters and confirmed that Hanks' role isn't just a cameo. He plays the father-in-law of Schwartzman's widower, who has four children. Johansson plays a mother who catches Schwarzman's eye. Amid all the personal drama unfolding within Schwartzman's family, it appears Asteroid City may actually be visited by aliens.

'The most Wes Anderson-y film yet'

The trailer also ends with a seemingly never-ending list of stars. Aside from those previously mentioned, the cast includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Steve Carell, Maya Hawke, Hong Chau, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Tony Revolori, and Jeff Goldblum. Hanks' wife Rita Wilson also has an unknown role.

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'This movie's aesthetic color palette is amazing looking'

One Anderson regular missing is Bill Murray. In July 2022, he dropped out of the film after he tested positive for COVID-19.

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'One hella cast lineup'

Asteroid City is the Houston-born Anderson's first film set in the U.S. since 2012's Moonrise Kingdom. Since then, he set both The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The French Dispatch (2021) in Europe and Isle of Dogs (2018) in Japan. He has already started work on his next film, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for Netflix. Anderson previously adapted Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009.

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'looks like it's made up entirely of '50s postcards from Arizona'

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'Beyond hyped'

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'Best ensemble cast ever?'

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