20 Brilliant Sci-Fi & Fantasy Films Where Actors Play Opposite Themselves

Wes Anderson has gotten somewhat lost in his own style in recent years, producing films that look and feel evermore like someone imitating the hallmarks and quirks of the director’s style. Amongst these is Asteroid City, which manages a balancing act between overindulgent tweeness and carefully crafted metafiction, before thankfully making it out in one piece.

Set in a retro-futuristic 1950s, the movie fictionally documents the creation and production of Asteroid City, a fictional play by fictional playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), alongside a depiction of the play itself, switching between technicolour widescreen and black-and-white 4:3. Many cast members play dual roles, as both their primary characters and characters within the play, but of particular note are Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson, who play war photojournalist Augie Steenbeck and disillusioned actress Midge Campbell, and the actors hired to play them, Jones Hall and Mercedes Ford.

The double casting makes it clear for us as an audience who we are watching take on what role, but at the same time, muddies the waters further regarding the distinctions between realities in the film. This is a trick and technique Anderson uses to further complicate the lines he spends the picture drawing between the depiction of real life vs. the depiction of art. And if it leaves us scratching our heads at the end, well, it’s meant to.