Wes Anderson directs out-of-this-world story with new ensemble-driven film 'Asteroid City'

HOLLYWOOD -- Director Wes Anderson's new movie, "Asteroid City" is a bit tough to describe.

The all-star ensemble is part sci-fi story involving a Junior Stargazer convention, a televised play about the convention and a drama about the troubled playwright.

"It's really profound, I think, and it's definitely something I would recommend to see more than one time because it's - -there's so much in there, you know? It doesn't fit into a soundbite," said Scarlett Johansson. "It kind of has to be absorbed."

Johansson plays movie star Midge Campbell in "Asteroid City." Jason Schwartzman plays a photographer in the film. It's his seventh project with Anderson.

"You know, I've been through so much with him professionally and personally that it changes the way you work. I think it makes it almost more fun but also more challenging because they know you as like a family member. You cannot hide anything," said Schwartzman.

"It's a movie about the process of making art and what tools art has to help us understand our life and our experience. And what tools it lacks," said Maya Hawke.

"On some level, it's a film about a TV show of a play about a group of people in a place who are quarantined because an alien comes down, on one level," said Rupert Friend. "But everything Maya said is also in the film."

"Asteroid City" is rated PG 13 and is limited release now.