In an interview with Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, twee filmmaker Wes Anderson discusses his upcoming period comedy Asteroid City alongside an upcoming project based on a Roald Dahl short story anthology. From its core inspirations to his continued collaboration with Bill Murray, Anderson discusses how it all comes together to tell the story of 50’s disillusionment.

Asteroid City follows a company of Broadway actors as they put on a play to tell the film’s core story involving a Hollywood starlet (Scarlett Johannsen) and a widower (Jason Schwartzman) in a desolate desert town. The two form a connection as an ensemble of stories intersects and weaves with theirs as they attend the Little Stargazer science fair.

Anderson cites a variety of inspirations including East Coast actors’ lives, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s lives, and 50’s Hollywood cinema. When asked what kind of film he sought to make with Asteroid City, Anderson explains that he wants to highlight “the men who came back from the war and the women dealing with their mental illness.” Anderson drew inspiration for the town from his long drives between Texas and Los Angeles and the area’s landscape. “We built the desert in the middle of nowhere, which is an odd thing to do,” he quips. “We brought in a lot of sand.” 

Anderson also cleared up any speculation involving his future work with frequent collaborator Bill Murray, who has been the center of allegations of inappropriate behavior. Despite this, Anderson calls Murray family and plans on continuing to work on more films with him after Asteroid City. He explains that the only reason that Murray wasn’t in the film is due to his catching COVID, meaning he had to be replaced by Steve Carell.

According to Anderson, his next project will be a 37-minute adaptation of the Roald Dahl short story collection “The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar.” The film had been on the back burner for Anderson, who received Dahl’s widow’s blessing to adapt the collection years ago. By the time he found out what he wanted to do with it, the rights were already purchased by Netflix. Despite this, he is still excited to work with the streaming service since “it was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie.”

Asteroid City will premiere in New York and Los Angeles this Friday, followed by a wide release on Friday, June 23.