Ok, there are so many and there were so many Asteroid City artists who attended the world premiere of Wes Anderson's film at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night, that the question was which of them were going to be at today's press conference at noon.
They had climbed the 28 steps of the Lumière Hall Jason Schwartzman -a historical in the cinema of the director of The eccentric Tenenbaums-, Scarlett Johansson, Adrien Brody, Tom Hanks (with his wife Rita Wilson, who does not act in the film), Bryan Cranston, Maya Hawk, Matt Dillon, Steve Carell, Jeffrey Wright, composer Alexandre Desplat, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend and Jake Ryan, also, of course, Anderson.
In the conference room there were eight chairs, in addition to the presenter's, who this time asked more questions than usual, which angered more than one of those we wanted to ask. In short, there were no Hanks, no Brody, no Dillon, no Carell, no Ryan...
Scarlett Johansson arriving at the premiere of "Asteroid City" in Cannes. AFP Photo
Yes, there was Alexandre Desplat, winner of two Oscars, for the music of The Grand Budapest Hotel, by Anderson, and The Shape of Water, whom the director pointed out in the audience, sitting in the front row, to the side.
And there was also Scarlett Johansson, who before so many talents sitting there did not have many opportunities to open her mouth, and also Cranston, the actor of Breaking Bad, with whom Clarín had an exclusive interview yesterday, which we will publish near the premiere of the film, in the month of June.
Scarlett Johansson, period star
The film is set in the 1950s, where a group of precocious genius children and their parents go to a small desert town (Asteroid City), to a stargazing convention and awards reception, and have a close encounter of the third kind with an alien. Already in the titles of the beginning of the film it reads that it is Jeff Goldblum, so it is not a spoiler.
Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and director Wes Anderson. Hanks had no contact with the press. AFP Photo
Scarlett plays a movie star of the time, named Midge Campbell, and reflected on Wes Anderson's unique communal way of working, openly comparing it to a stage production.
"It's not the process we're used to, of being on a movie set and then going through your trailer and having all this downtime," he said of the shoot, which was done entirely on a set in Spain. "It feels very vibrant, like you're working in the theater."
Scarlett has a huge tattoo on her back. Photo Reuters
And Cranston, who plays a TV host, tried to be something more comprehensive. "It's a movie about a TV show that tells a story that happens in a theater. And I think it's Wes's love letter to performing art. He's wrapped his arms around the three main media outlets we're involved in."
He noted that, for the actors, they just feel like that's how they live in Wes Anderson's world.
Rita Wilson, her husband Tom Hanks, composer Alexandre Desplat, Bryan Cranston and Maya Hawke, on the red carpet. AP Photo
"It looks like Wes Anderson is a conductor. And we are all musicians of our particular instrument. We focus a lot on our instrument and we just do it without knowing exactly how everything is going to be assembled. And he directs: a little less Bryan, a little more Scarlett, or whatever, making adjustments as he goes.
There's a part in Asteroid City where Auggie (his character) comes in and talks to the director of the play (Edward Norton, absent from everything, the premiere and the conference) and says, 'I just don't think he understands the play.' And the director says, 'Well, you don't have to, I just kept telling the story.' And I think, in a nutshell, that's what the film meant to me.
Steve Carell, another who skipped contact with reporters, and Branston, who spoke up to his elbows. AP Photo
We go through life. We don't know exactly what's going to happen, how long our life will last, who will be in our life, how everything will unfold. We just have to keep telling the story. I just kept moving forward and being a storyteller." And to widespread applause, he rose from his chair and headed for the exit. But the Breaking Bad actor returned to the panel.
Anderson, who here is more loved than by the Academy of Hollywood, which nominated him for seven Oscars and won none, clarified that yes, that perhaps the theater can save us from all evils, and that if he never directed a play "it is because I am afraid of having to premiere on a certain date, and not being able to do anything. In the cinema, I can sit down and edit the material...", and said that once, yes, he had acted.
Wes Anderson, Adrien Brody, Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson, seconds away from entering the Sala Lumière. AFP Photo
In what, they asked. "In an American Express commercial," he said, and laughter erupted.
After thinking about dreaming and acting, Scarlett replied: "I've been working in film for so long, that making films and acting is like an extension of my subconscious and consciousness." And he said he uses dreams for his work.
Scarlett compared the climate of the shoot to doing a play. AFP Photo
And there he looked at Anderson, who was sitting next to him, telling him "I once sent you messages with my dreams." The director was able to recognize that "sometimes I find solutions to my script problems in my dreams, but in the end they do not usually work."
The first question to Wes Anderson had been whether he really believed in extraterrestrial life.
"Well, you know... I wouldn't trust my opinions on that in any meaningful way," Anderson said with a laugh. "The research that went into this, as extensive as it was, was not something you could find in any academy."
Maya Hawke, Jason Schwartzman -actor fetish of the director-, Wes Anderson and Scarlett Johansson, before the press. Photo EFE
And he concluded: "Stephen Hawking insisted that it was numerically unlikely that there is no extraterrestrial life", to close that "I really do not" believe in aliens.
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