‘It was insane’: Sophia Lillis looks back on ‘fever dream’ that was filming ‘Asteroid City’

If there were ever a string of words that captured the essence of Asteroid City the way it deserves, we would offer it up without a moment’s hesitation, but anyone who was lucky enough to catch Wes Anderson‘s latest endeavor during its short theatrical run knows that such a wielding of the English language probably doesn’t exist.

Indeed, whatever clues you may have managed to gather from any trailers or synopses are all but worthless in preparing you for actually viewing the film for yourself; even after leaving, you may still not be fully aware of what Asteroid City is really about. But, one thing’s for sure; Anderson crafted a hell of a metatext.

And if just watching Asteroid City was akin to grabbing a powerline whilst downing a mug of horse tranquilizer, one can’t even begin to imagine how it felt to actually be on the set during filming, and we mean that in the most literal sense, seeing as one Sophia Lillis apparently couldn’t spare the proper space in her memory banks for the shoot.

In a recent interview with IndieWire, the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves star — who portrays the character Shelly in Anderson’s film — divulged the specifics of her first Wes Anderson experience as an actress, and given the almost eldritch nature of Asteroid City‘s subject matter, the specifics weren’t very specific at all.

“Honestly, I can’t really remember half of [making ‘Asteroid City’] because it was crazy. It was insane. It was like you never knew when you were working. There was so many people everywhere, it was kind of like revolving doors of just one person going in, one person going out, whispers of, ‘Oh, have you heard this dude’s here?’ That was a bit of a fever dream.”

Indeed, it sounds like the experience built a lot of character for the young actress, seeing as it’s unlikely that she or anyone else involved will experience a film set of that very particular breed or caliber ever again.

The same is true of Asteroid City as a whole, too, so if you’re looking to test your media literacy muscles, queue it up on Peacock where it’s currently streaming and test your might.