“He doesn’t actually know what he wants out of the performance”: Scarlett Johansson opens up about Wes Anderson’s method in Asteroid City

There is both mystery and awe in the pastel-laden world of Wes Anderson, the auteur who managed to captivate viewers and critics for years with multiple films in both animated and live-action mediums. His latest, Asteroid City, brings back the familiarity of Wes Anderson, along with many A-list actors, in a dusty desert town called Asteroid City.

With big names like Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Maya Hawke, Steve Carrell, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Margot Robbie, and Willem Dafoe gracing the screen, there is even more mystique to this offbeat tale of stargazers.

While it may be impossible to decipher how Wes Anderson shapes these images in his mind, Scarlett Johansson, best known as Marvel's Black Widow, gave an insight into Anderson's work as she participated in her first live-action role for the director.

Speaking about how Anderson gets the exact kind of acting out of the actors, Scarlett Johansson said to Collider that he has a particular parameter that the actors have to reach.

"I don’t think Wes knows exactly… My experience is he doesn’t actually know what he wants out of the performance. There’s a certain… you know, the dialogue is the dialogue, and so those are the kind of parameters, or if you have to hit this specific mark, which is normal. His may be a little more particular, but really, everything else is up for grabs, so your whole interpretation of what this means, how it’s colored, the nuance of it, the prose, whatever," Johansson said.

Jason Schwartzman also shed some light on Wes Anderson's working methods and how he deals with his actors and directions on the sets.

---

"Wes has a very light, positive, excitable attitude on set"- Scarlett Johansson on Wes Anderson

When the director in question is Wes Anderson, an auteur with visual and stylistic statements in all his works, people are bound to wonder how he works in his films. Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson's interview reveals a side of Wes Anderson that was previously unknown.

Both the veteran actors revealed how Anderson's style of direction does not comply with the classic images of serious auteurs that most imagine. Instead, Anderson is a lively presence with a very positive attitude, something that may have helped him get the best out of his actors for all these years.

"I don’t know what their assumptions are about Wes, but Wes has a very light, positive, excitable attitude on set. You know, sometimes if you think of an auteur, they seem kind of, like, serious and concentrated, and very particular, and the set’s really quiet, or whatever. Wes is very lively on set, he makes noise while you’re working, you can hear him laughing and making noises," Scarlett Johansson said.

She added that the director is "invigorated by work."

"He’s so invigorated by work, and he just works constantly, and he comes off the set and he’s so excited about the work that you did that day, he’s already prepping for the next day. He’s so engaging and very funny and very vivacious," she added.

This attitude is surely the reason behind the positive acclaim his films gather. Wes Anderson has some other projects lined up, including a Roald Dahl adaptation for Netflix later this year.

Asteroid City is now playing in theaters.