Interview: Hope Davis and Stephen Park Discuss Being Part of the ‘Asteroid City’ Ensemble

There’s a reason why actors and actresses flock to a Wes Anderson film. More than any other filmmaker, even more so than Woody Allen, performers want to be in one of his movies, regardless of the role. The upshot is, Anderson almost always has a quirky role for his cast members. That’s certainly the case in Asteroid City, his latest flick and one of his best cast ones in some time. We’ll be featuring several interviews this week with the players in the work, starting today with Hope Davis and Stephen Park.

In my review of Asteroid City (here), I said the following about the cast:

Part of why Anderson’s latest effort doesn’t fully bounce off of me is this cast. In particular, newcomers to his troupe like Tom Hanks and especially Scarlett Johansson shine, while Jason Schwartzman has never been better. Hanks is relishing just being a small part of the crew, that’s for sure. Johansson and Schwartzman have lovely chemistry, with the former tapping into her old-school starlet charms, while the latter gets to be brooding yet lovable. Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright are certainly making the most of their limited screen time, as are Bryan Cranston, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, and Liev Schreiber, There’s also Hope Davis and Stephen Park as parents at the convention (both very enjoyable), as well as Steve Carell getting laughs as a Hotel Manager with some interesting ways to make a buck. The rest of the stacked ensemble includes Hong Chau, Matt Dillon, Grace Edwards, Rupert Friend, Jeff Goldblum, Maya Hawke, Tony Revolori, Margot Robbie, Jake Ryan, Liev Schreiber, Tilda Swinton, and more. Overall, it’s one of the more consistent ensembles for this particular auteur.

Below, you can see my brief chat with Davis and Park. We didn’t have a lot of time together, but I tried to make it count. Mainly, I wanted to know what spoke to them about this project. Davis especially has been in so much over the years, it’s fascinating to hear about what she gravitates towards. Both make the most of their brief screen time in the film, so be sure to check it out, and stay tuned for more Asteroid City conversations to come this week…

Here now is my interview with Asteroid City cast members Hope Davis and Stephen Park. Enjoy:

Asteroid City is in theaters now!