Asteroid City @ 180 Studios

I was fortunate enough to be invited to 180 Studios, which currently has an exhibition of props and costumes from Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. It’s been difficult to avoid the excitement around this film, which features a lot of Anderson regulars as well as the introduction of new young actors and the nicest man on the planet(?), Tom Hanks. It’s a film about quarantine, about loss and about recognising your place in the world. Of course I was going to love it.

After descending the stairs to the caves beneath the studios, we found the phone booth, backdrops and vending machines from the film as well as a row of mailboxes. Everything is designed with such intricate detail and is so beautifully presented. It’s worth a visit just to understand the work done by the prop and costume teams behind the project.

Further through the basement levels, prop cabins and tents are surrounded by props that we quickly discovered you are very much not allowed to touch. There’s so much branding and detail to letters written between characters and the items that they use. I could have sat and read everything through if it wasn’t for the attention deficit that dragged me onto the next thing.

At the top of the slope were two models of The Alien (who art in heaven), played by Jeff Goldblum. There’s a short model, which I imagine was used for stop-motion, and the full suit worn by the actor in the backstage scenes in the latter half of the film. There’s something adorable about those long legs and terrified eyes that made this a favourite moment. Around the corner is a model of the spacecraft which silently signals the alien’s arrival.

Back in the studios are costumes from the Stargazers event as well as the cowboys and school group before the full-length of the train used in the opening shot. Because of my limited knowledge of the magic of film-making, I had assumed this was an actual train so to see the three-foot high model, complete with compartments loaded up with produce was really something.

One of the last displays is a collection of Augie Steenbeck’s photography, as seen in the film. I wanted the full collection as well as a tote and tee from the shop.

Back at surface level, there’s a working diner, designed like that shown in the film, complete with blackboard menu, screen door and views of the desert. We had a beer and contemplated the wonder of Wes.