Back in July, Focus Features bought Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” for domestic distribution. Now we finally have a release date.
Focus has announced a June 16th, 2023 theatrical launch for “Asteroid City.” It’s obviously going to Cannes. Probably in competition. A plot synopsis has also been revealed and it sounds delightfully Anderson-esque:
ASTEROID CITY is a poetic meditation on the meaning of life. It tells the story of a fictional American desert town circa 1955 and its Junior Stargazer convention, which brings together students and parents from across the country for scholarly competition, rest/recreation, comedy, drama, romance, and more.
The star-studded cast features Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie in their Anderson film debuts, plus Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, 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, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Lee, Jeff Goldblum and Rita Wilson.
How many of these are we thinking will be cameos?
Bill Murray is obviously nowhere to be found. Did his scenes get snipped after the #MeToo incident on the set of “Being Mortal”?
Murray was livestreamed at the 2021 NYFF alongside Anderson, Adrian Brody, and others from the set of “Asteroid City”. He was clearly in the movie, right? Not only that, he’s the person who revealed the title of the film during a BFI Q&A that November.
Apparently, the excuse is that Murray got COVID as he was just about to shoot his “Asteroid City” scenes and that, in the process, his character was just scratched off the story. I presume he wasn’t an integral part of the movie to begin with, but who really knows …
Zeller’s feature debut, “The Father,” was an acclaimed and Oscar-winning film. Many believe he struck out with his sophomore effort, 2022’s critically maligned “The Son.” This is another miss.