EXCLUSIVE: Hope Davis and Stephen Park Talks New Film, ‘Asteroid City’

Asteroid City is set to be released this coming Friday, June 23 and we got the chance to hear from two of the stars of the new film, Hope Davis and Stephen Park.

During the chat, the two talked their costumes, seeing the final film, how they developed their characters, and so much more. Check out what they had to say below.

What was it like seeing the final film?
Park: “It’s just a beautiful realization of everything that Wes Anderson has prepared us. Wes started by sending pictures and images and the soundtrack, ‘Train to San Fernando’, then the animatic. Then to actually see the film, it’s mind-blowing. I saw it first with my wife. And then I saw it again at Cannes the second time, and I felt like I hadn’t seen it before. I was really struck emotionally the second time in a way that I wasn’t the first time. There’s so much to savor in this movie.”

Does this film has a more theatrical feel to it compared to your past projects?
Davis: “The piece that feels theatrical is that it feels very loose, the way my early days in the theater felt. Especially when we were rehearsing, we were all jumping around in the desert with air guns in our hands. And it had that kind of looseness. Movie making can be very slow and dull. And this just felt so alive and so playful. And it reminds you why you got into it in the first place for me.

How did you develop your characters?
Davis: “You’re finding it in the moment. Some people come in and they know all their lines and they know where they want to go, but most of us, you’re finding it as you go. And I feel like we had the freedom to do that. But we had the animatic in our heads, so we knew what the frames were gonna end up being, and had the idea of already knowing where to go.”

What about you Stephen? Did your sketch comedy past help you create your character? “There’s no competition here. Sketch comedy tends to be much more manic. Everybody’s trying to push the envelope. And because Wes has kind of set the parameters, and we’ve seen the animatic and the script and everything. it’s cozy. We had so much fun and we definitely are going for something that is light, fun, and funny. But I don’t know if I would completely compare it to sketch comedy. It’s different.”

Let’s talk the costumes? Can you shed some light on your costumes?
Davis: “My costume was everything. When Milena Canonero [costume designer] put me in that costume, everything was decided. I just had to walk around in that costume. And there you see a housewife from the ’50s who is supposed to get all hot and bothered over getting a new washing machine. That’s the most excitement she’s ever had in her life. And all she has is this costume. But she wears it with pride. So the costume and my wig, it did all the work.”

Park: “I have to say I had a simple Hawaiian shirt. But Milena must have looked at it for three or four hours making sure that the hems were correct and that it was exactly what she wanted. That kind of attention to detail made this simple Hawaiian shirt like I was wearing some kind of gold. She just elevated it just by her attention to it.”

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Photo credit: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features