Trailer watch: Wes Anderson encounters aliens in Asteroid City

Aliens have landed on Earth in Wes Anderson’s latest idiosyncratic visual fest, Asteroid City.

In the just-dropped trailer, a gaggle of random folks congregate at the fictional American desert town circa 1955. There, the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organised to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.

Everything you want in a Wes Anderson film is here: the oddball characters, droll humour, eclectic and eccentric soundtrack, striking colour palette, labelling fetish, and rectilinear framing.

And let’s not forget the amazing ensemble he’d rounded up to play in the sandbox, some are Wes Anderson regulars, some newbies: Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Hong Chau, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Tony Revolori, Rita Wilson, Jake Ryan, and Jeff Goldblum. (Wait, no Owen Wilson?)

Asteroid City, Anderson’s 11th film, is expected to make its world premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival in May, before its general release in June.

Anderson is also expected to release another film this year. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s short story collection of the same name, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley. This Netflix production is Anderson’s second Dahl adaptation; the first was the Oscar-nominated stop-motion anime The Fantastic Mr Fox.

Watch the Asteroid City trailer here:

Asteroid City opens in cinemas on June 22.

Photo: UIP

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

Watch exclusive 8 DAYS interviews on meWATCH and Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube.