Can You Guess the Actor Who's Been in the Most Wes Anderson Movies?

Asteroid City, director Wes Anderson’s upcoming science-fiction romantic comedy, features a massive ensemble cast, even by Anderson’s standards. The star power includes some actors who have never worked with Anderson before, including Tom Hanks, Steve Carrell, and Margot Robbie.

But many other Asteroid City cast members are are frequent collaborators with Anderson, a famously colorful and idiosyncratic director who regularly works with the same actors. Regular Anderson alums returning for Asteroid City include Jason Schwartzman, Bryan Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, and more.

Set in a 1955 desert town disrupted by otherworldly events, Asteroid City will be released on June 16. It is the 11th feature film by Anderson, who began his career with Bottle Rocket (1996), and went on to make such acclaimed films as Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), and The French Dispatch (2021).

With many familiar faces returning for Asteroid City, here are the actors who have appeared in the most Anderson films.

Bill Murray

9 Movies: Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch

With the exception of Anderson’s debut film Bottle Rocket, Bill Murray has appeared in every film Anderson has made to date. Though he starred as the titular oceanographer in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, most of his performances have been memorable supporting turns, from a lonely industrialist in Rushmore to a newspaper editor in The French Dispatch.

However, the streak will end with Asteroid City. Murray was originally supposed to play a motel manager in the new film, but he came down with COVID-19 just four days before filming, so Steve Carell stepped into the role at the last minute.

Jason Schwartzman

8 Movies: Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City

Anderson had trouble finding the right actor for the eccentric and snobbish Max Fischer in Rushmore. He considered about 1,800 teens for the role, and even child actor Macaulay Culkin was in the running.

An aspiring musician, Schwartzman didn’t plan to become an actor, but his cousin Sofia Coppola—a film director and daughter of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola—recommended him for the part. Schwartzman joined the cast just one month before filming began, kicking off a long-standing collaboration between Anderson and the actor.

Owen Wilson

7 Movies: Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch

Anderson and Wilson met in college, both attending the same sophomore play-writing class at the University of Texas in Austin. They became fast friends and roommates, living in an apartment so shabby that they staged a break-in just to try to trick the landlord into making improvements.

Wilson became Anderson’s arguably most important collaborator, not only starring in seven of his films, by co-writing the director’s first three films with him: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums. After Bottle Rocket received poor audience test screenings, Wilson considered joining the U.S. Marines, but ultimately stuck with filmmaking instead.

Anjelica Huston

5 Films: The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch

Like Schwartzman, Huston comes from a famous movie family as the daughter of legendary director Jack Huston. Anderson was a long-time fan of the actress—particularly her performances in films like Prizzi’s Honor (1985), The Dead (1987), and The Grifters (1990)— which led him to write the part of the Etheline Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums specifically for her.

Willem Dafoe

5 Films: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City

Dafoe made his first Anderson film appearance as the German first mate Klaus Daimler in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and was drawn to Anderson’s “deeply personal and weirdly artisanal” style of filmmaking. He said of working with the director: “It would go back and forth. He would take my role. I would take his role. We'd go back and forth. We'd copy each other. I'd throw him a curve ball. It's playful.”

Adrien Brody

5 Films: The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City

Brody’s first Anderson performance was a starring role in The Darjeeling Limited with long-time Anderson alums Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman. “It felt very much like being let into a family, and it was such an intimate experience, with all of us in such an exotic place working in such a confined space,” Brody said of shooting the film in India. In Asteroid City, he will portray a film director that some believed is based on Anderson himself, though Brody denies it.

Tilda Swinton

5 Films: Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City

Anderson and Swinton first met at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, but she didn’t join his stable of regular actors until Moonrise Kingdom was released 18 years later. Anderson said during filming that Swinton isn’t “only playing her part, but she’s a collaborator in the whole project … That’s sort of a rare thing. She’s not just thinking about what she’s got to do. She’s also there to enjoy the whole experience.”

Edward Norton

5 Films: Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City

Norton made his Anderson debut in Moonrise Kingdom, in which he played a dedicated Scout Master who leads a summer camp for young children. Though it was their first film together, Anderson said he had corresponded with Norton regularly over the years, and he wanted him for the part because “he was somebody who I thought of as a scoutmaster. He looks like he has been painted by Norman Rockwell.”

Other Frequent Anderson Actors

• Four films: Jeff Goldblum, Kumar Pallana, Fisher Stevens, Bob Balaban

• Three films: Frances McDormand, Luke Wilson, Harvey Keitel, Liev Schreiber, Tony Revolori

• Two films: Scarlet Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Rupert Friend

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