The Wes Anderson Collection

The official behind-the-scenes companion to "Asteroid City" and the latest volume in the bestselling Wes Anderson Collection series

“ASTEROID CITY”—the eleventh feature film from Academy Award–winning director WES ANDERSON—follows a group of teen geniuses and their families as they attend the 1955 Junior Stargazers convention in the eponymous dusty hamlet. The events of the film, a representation of a fictional play, also titled Asteroid City, unfold in a parallel narrative to a televised broadcast of the creation of a theatrical production. As the lines between reality and theater blur, the audience is treated to stunning technicolor vistas and stark black and white sets, all while the promise of an extraterrestrial visit hangs overhead.

In The Wes Anderson Collection: “Asteroid City,” the latest one-volume entry in The Wes Anderson Collection, cultural critic and New York Times bestselling author Matt Zoller Seitz presents the complete story behind the film’s conception via interviews with Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman and illuminating behind-the-scenes photos, ephemera, storyboards, models, miniatures, and artwork. Contributions from Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, and the Junior Stargazers themselves provide reflections on the film’s production and insight into the intricately layered characters.

About the Author

Matt Zoller Seitz is the editor in chief of RogerEbert.com; the TV critic for New York magazine; the author of The Wes Anderson Collection, The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Oliver Stone Experience, and Mad Men Carousel; and the coauthor of The Sopranos Sessions.

About the Illustrator

Wes Anderson is an Academy Award-winning writer and director of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, "Asteroid City", The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar and Three More, and the upcoming The Phoenician Scheme.