Jeffrey Wright Reveals the Tiny Moment From ‘Asteroid City’ That Took Four Hours to Film

Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to a Wes Anderson film. Jeffrey Wright, who stars in the upcoming sci-fi comedy Asteroid City, revealed the small moment that took copious takes and multiple hours to nail down.

Wright explained during a virtual press conference on Tuesday that he was tasked with performing an insert shot, which involved his hand touching the holster, flipping up the flap and gripping a weapon. It took about 60 takes and four hours to get right.

"We had a prop guy standing to my left, the lens here to my right, my body hiding him. So, I flip up the flap on the holster and the prop guy puts his finger on it, keeps it up. Frame is below his finger," Wright recounted. "And then I slide my hand down and it worked. But it was really like kind of an equation that we had to figure out. It was the wildest, strangest thing and I kind of loved finding the answer."

That moment, Wright's co-star Jason Schwartzman noted, is a testament to the collaborative on-set dynamic of an Anderson film.

"Sometimes there are many things going on and many things [have] to be in place for it to work," he explained. "The crew is doing lots. They have to hit the marks exactly as much as [the actors]. I remember after one take the crew hugging because they got a good one."

Wright agreed, noting that everybody is "in it together," adding, "they're just trying to find this little thing that might be magical. And then in this case, we had a pretty good laugh about it."

Asteroid City debuts in theaters June 16.