Asteroid City: French actors are hiding in a Wes Anderson movie you probably haven’t seen

It is not for nothing that Wes Anderson is often called the most Parisian American director. In addition to occasionally living in the capital, the Texas-born filmmaker cultivates a cool look that wouldn’t be out of place in a New Wave film and regularly directs French actors.

Like Mathé Amalric and Léa Seydoux, who were seen in The Grand Budapest Hotel before the actor returned to The French Dispatch, shot in Angoulême with several French actors. Hitting our theaters this Wednesday, June 21st, Asteroid City looks to break what has become tradition for the director. Just at a glance.

While it’s hard to miss Tom Hanks, Steve Carell or Scarlett Johansson, the latter’s defense may look familiar. And for good reason: it’s Damien Bonnard. The latter, notably seen in Les Misérables, is not his first American experience since we were able to see him in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.

So in Asteroid City he plays the bodyguard of an actress played by Scarlett Johansson. And his appearance is quiet and in the background, which means that at first you may be suspicious of the identity of his translator. Until this scene, which shows the actors of the play at the center of the story and which confirms up close that it was indeed a Frenchman who climbed the stairs with the choir at the last Festival de Canes.

Even more difficult: seeing Stephane Buck and Pablo Paul (already in French Dispatch) in the same character-rich scene. Named in the end credits, the two actors aren’t really allowed a close-up shot, and there’s some detail that might jump out at us on a second viewing.