Jake Ryan says ‘Asteroid City’ was part of a decade-long journey for him as he features in Wes Anderson's flick

'I always remember how he made me feel, which was, he made me feel at home. He made me feel cozy,' Jake Ryan said, referring to Wes Anderson
UPDATED JUN 18, 2023
Bryan Cranston, Steve Park, Wes Anderson, Jake Ryan, Jeffrey Wright and Matt Dillon attend the 'Asteroid City' photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Bryan Cranston, Steve Park, Wes Anderson, Jake Ryan, Jeffrey Wright and Matt Dillon attend the 'Asteroid City' photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jake Ryan met his hero Wes Anderson as a child in 2012 during the ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ which was set at a summer camp. Now, the two after years have come together for ‘Asteroid City.' "I always remember how he made me feel, which was, he made me feel at home. He made me feel cozy. I guess that’s just how he is with most other actors, most other people that he works with. There’s this gravitational force, almost, that surrounds him, that he can use to bring people together,” said Ryan.

He adds, “We kept in touch mostly through emails, I guess. I would wish him happy birthday every year or so. It was nice.” On being asked about the audition process, the star said, “At first, it started out as a standard audition process. They gave us dummy lines to read, and eventually, you would work up to getting bits and pieces of the actual script. Near the end of the process, he actually sent over all of Woodrow’s dialogue in the entire movie, and asked me to recite them in one take, really keeping up the pace of someone from 1955.”

'This guy is so cool'

On being asked about his previous experience of workin with Anderson, which was ‘Moonrise Kingdon,’ the Austrialian actor said, “I did a promotional video for Moonrise Kingdom. He played cousin Ben. I didn’t end up reprising my role, I ended up playing a new character. We met then. My first initial impression was he was eating a bunch of Milk Duds or something. I also had to eat some Milk Duds for the actual video, I believe, and I was like, “Man, these suck. These are sticky.” He was like, “Right on kid,” and he spit one out. I was like, “Man, this guy is so cool.” It was the first time I met him,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

'I was very nervous'

Ryan who plays Woodrow in ‘Asteroid City’ was asked about his character, and playing opposite Scarlett Johansson, “Obviously, I was nervous, but I felt really good, because the last couple of days before that scene, I was getting little to no sleep, and the night of that scene, I finally got a full seven to eight hours, and I was feeling fantastic. Because I practiced and I prepared for that scene for the last three days, but obviously, I was very nervous. There was also the training for the actual running along the train."

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