Asteroid City’s Strange Wyoming Connection
If you've already hit the theater to see director Wes Anderson's new film Astroid City, you may have spotted its connection to The Cowboy State.
At the beginning of the movie Astroid City, we are told that the fictional author of the play we are about to watch is from North Western Wyoming.
No mention of where that would be. One might assume the town of Cody.
Cody is where the famed artist Jackson Pollock was born and raised
The author then moves to a seaside town that looks like it might be Maine.
But while living by the ocean he still dresses and decorates his home in Western style, with cowboy paintings and clothing.
Even his pajamas have images of cowboys on them.
That's the only mention of Wyoming in the movie, sorry to say.
The actual writer of the movie, and its fictional play, is Wes Anderson.
Like all Wes Anderson movies, if you love his style, you love this movie.
If you don't get Wes Anderson, nobody can help you with that.
The film features an ensemble cast that includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Sophia Lillis, and Jeff Goldblum.
The film plays with storytelling through the lens of a stage play. So, you are watching a movie that is a stage play at the same time.
You'll be on stage, outside, and backstage at times.
The story has weird extraterrestrials and UFOs witnessed in the Southwestern desert in close proximity to atomic test sites during the postwar period.
As with all Wes Anderson movies it is visually unique with bigger-than-life characters and dialogue.