Tagged: Directed by Wes Anderson
Asteroid City: Tom Hanks’ Colorful Golf Clothes and 1954 Cadillac
Tom Hanks in Asteroid City (2023)
Vitals
Tom Hanks as Stanley Zak, retired lawyer and grandfather but not a chauffeur
The Mojave Desert, Fall 1955
Film: Asteroid City
Release Date: June 16, 2023
Director: Wes Anderson
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 68th birthday to Tom Hanks, the two-time Academy Award-winning actor born July 9, 1956. Hanks’ most recent major screen credit was the retro-futuristic Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s sun-bleached reflection on “grief, love, and the creative process,” according to Tegenn Jeffrey for Slick.
Located near a nuclear testing site, the titular town is a fictional desert hamlet with a population of 87—at least until a group of young stargazers arrive with their parents arrive for a convention… unable to leave after an extraterrestrial sighting places them in a weeklong government quarantine.
Among these youths is the precocious Woodrow Steenbeck (Jake Ryan), accompanied by his father Augie (Jason Schwartzman) and three younger sisters. A recent widow, Augie had anticipated stopping in Asteroid City just long enough to drop Woodrow off before continuing on to deposit the three girls with their grandfather, wealthy retiree Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks), at his “beautiful house with a swimming pool” next to a golf course in Rancho Palms.
After the Steenbeck family station wagon breaks down in Asteroid City, Stanley’s resentment for his son-in-law only grows when Augie calls, asking Stanley to come pick up the girls while also revealing that he hasn’t yet told them yet about their mother’s death. Following the awkward exchange (“I’m not their chauffeur, I’m their grandfather,” Stanley reminds Augie), Stanley begrudgingly agrees to join his family in Asteroid City and gives the word to his valet:
Gas up the Cadillac.
Asteroid City: Jason Schwartzman’s Safari Jacket
Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenbeck in Asteroid City (2023)
Vitals
Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenbeck, widowed war photojournalist (portrayed in-universe by Jones Hall)
The Mojave Desert, Fall 1955
Film: Asteroid City
Release Date: June 16, 2023
Director: Wes Anderson
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“Each year, we celebrate Asteroid Day, commemorating September 23, 3007 B.C., when the Arid Plains Meteorite made Earth impact,” General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright) explains to the gathered crowd of Junior Stargazers and Space Cadets and their parents in Asteroid City, the latest from Wes Anderson—a colorful reflection of grief and loneliness in a delightfully surreal “cosmic wilderness”.
Vividly photographed in Anderson’s signature style, Asteroid City centers around a fictional play staged for live television in the 1950s, scored by a great early ’50s guitar soundtrack featuring contemporary hits by Les Paul & Mary Ford and cowboy singers like Slim Whitman and Tennessee Ernie Ford as well as Alexandre Desplat’s evocative original score. The play is set in a fictional town of 87 dwellers, located approximately “halfway between Parched Gulf and Arid Plains” near a nuclear testing site in the California/Arizona/Nevada region, according to the opening lines of playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton).
The ostensible protagonist among our ensemble cast is the Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a jaded war photojournalist and—initially unbeknownst to his “brainiac” son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and three younger daughters that he’s traveling with—a recent widow. “Let’s say she’s in Heaven… which doesn’t exist for me, of course, but you’re Episcopalian,” Augie reassures his children while grasping their mother’s ashes in a teal Tupperware bowl. Continue reading
Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum
Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Vitals
Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum, hedonistic patriarch
New York City, Fall to winter 2001
Film: The Royal Tenenbaums
Release Date: December 14, 2001
Director: Wes Anderson
Costume Designer: Karen Patch
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 93rd birthday to Gene Hackman, the versatile two-time Oscar-winning actor born January 30, 1930 in San Bernardino. Hackman’s prolific career began during the “New Hollywood” era with excellent performances in films like Bonnie & Clyde, The French Connection, and The Conversation, with many more hits in the decades to follow. Before he retired from acting in 2004, Hackman delivered one of his most memorable performances as the eponymous estranged patriarch in The Royal Tenenbaums. Continue reading
Steve Zissou
Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Vitals
Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, vengeful oceanographer and documentarian
Mediterranean Sea, Fall 2003
Film: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Release Date: December 25, 2004
Director: Wes Anderson
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Much as action movies through the ’90s were often pitched as “Die Hard on a…”, the plot for Wes Anderson’s cult classic The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou could be overly simplified as “what if Moby-Dick was about Jacques Cousteau?” though fans know there’s so much more to it than that!
With Bill Murray’s characterization weaving between homage and affectionate parody, Zissou was clearly Anderson’s ode to the iconic oceanographer and diving pioneer, right down to the red ribbed beanies worn by the crew of Zissou’s research ship Belafonte. Continue reading
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