If this were a tabloid magazine from the 90s, we’d be making some wild, unfounded proclamation right now about how Scarlett Johansson has seen UFOs. But since it’s not, we’re just going to leave this right here: Scarlett Johansson doesn’t not believe in aliens.
Johansson stars in Wes Anderson’s new movie Asteroid City (in theaters June 16), in which she plays a famous actress taking her daughter to a “Junior Star Gazer’s” event when the two get an unexpected visit from an extraterrestrial. (The story is a play within the movie, though, because nothing Wes Anderson creates is ever straightforward.)
So when we chatted with Johansson and her co-star Jason Schwartzman (who plays a father in a similarly improbable scenario), we had to ask if they believe in life on other planets.
“I think so,” Johansson said. “I haven’t really thought about it that much.” Maybe her experience in the Marvel universe or playing an alien in the 2013 movie Under Her Skin influenced her, or it’s possible she’s always believed we’ve got company out there. “The universe is vast: It would be impossible that we’re the only living creatures in all of the universe,” she says. “There’s gotta be somebody out there.”
While Schwartzman agrees and is “hopeful” there’s life beyond us, he also hopes those life forms will stay far away from him. “I’m afraid of something when I’m walking around by myself in the woods, and I think it’s alien abduction.” (When Johansson asked him if that was his greatest fear, he clarified that it was his second, but wouldn’t reveal his first because it was “too embarrassing,” though clowns, he explained, definitely come in third.)
In the film, Schwartzman plays a war photographer accompanying his precocious teen son to the stargazing event with his three younger daughters, and a Tupperware housing their mother’s ashes, in tow. (His character’s wife died a few weeks prior but he hasn’t told their kids yet.) His father-in-law, played by Tom Hanks, meets them in Asteroid City, named for an asteroid that once hit the area. No one in the unlikely group of parents (filled out by Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, and Steve Park) seems particularly happy to be in Asteroid City. And unfortunately, everything devolves into chaos when a Slenderman-esque alien makes an appearance on night one.
“The alien in this movie represents the whole story, in a way,” Schwartzman said. “All these characters are brought to this place, and they’re all sort of different. They’re going through grief, happiness, different phases of love, and they would maybe not be together in one place at the same time typically, but they’re all instantly unified when this one alien comes down. And they’re all in awe. I love that the alien does that to all of these people and represents that maybe there’s something more.”
The event gets extended when the government finds out about the intruder and quarantines the group, which also consists of kooky locals (Matt Dillon, Steve Carell) and officials (Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright). During this time, Schwartzman and Johansson’s characters develop an intimate bond.
“I think people do come together in chaotic moments,” Johansson said of the relationship’s legitimacy. “That’s when you see the best of humanity — and the worst of humanity, but hopefully, more of the good stuff.” She added, “When everything is kind of in a state of crisis or chaos, oftentimes things are really pared down and the essential things float to the top. And I think that’s why people connect deeply on a profound level when they’re in a moment of uncertainty. I don’t know that the relationships you build in those moments are ones that survive beyond that moment. But sometimes they do; I know people who are in relationships or have kept friendships alive that were born out of extenuating circumstances.”
While untangling an Anderson film is no easy feat, it’s possible this — the power of connections made in times of strife — is the message of the movie, and it’s one Schwartzman appreciates deeply. “I love the feeling of an audience all laughing at something or cheering for a band. I love when people can come together and find something in common. And I love that the arts bring people together and give hope.”
