The Diéguez Theatre was built in the mid-19th century on the site of the former Hospital de la Caridad consisted of two floors built around a central courtyard with arcades on the ground floor and a corridor or galleries on the main floor Towards the middle of the 1889th century the hospital fell into decline and was finally converted into a school and theatre in 1904 The theatre was renamed Diéguez in memory of Antonio Diéguez Cruz born in Colmenar de Oreja in 1936 and died in XNUMX during the first moments of the Civil War the roof was raised to make room for the second amphitheatre its layout was redesigned and decorated by a set designer following models by Ulpiano Checa who painted the coat of arms above the entrance architect Miguel Medina García drew up the project for the structural reform of the stage pit furniture and construction of a new emergency staircase the two roofs over the body of the stalls were restored The purpose of this intervention was to repair the poor state of conservation of the roofs over the stage box which were showing sliding tiles and support plates The fixings (spirals and nails) of prefabricated plates were poorly anchored in some cases The following interventions have been carried out: General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Spanish Office especially when seen together with the primary colour palette of the city’s architecture constructed specifically for the production actually sits on the outskirts of the small Spanish farming town of Chinchón There is a long tradition in Hollywood of shooting Spain for the American West–Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns including Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good Asteroid City production designer Adam Stockhausen and producer Jeremy Dawson join us to break down why they plus what it was like to build a small American roadside town from the ground up Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson stare at each other from their respective cabins in Asteroid City Adam Stockhausen: The movie was shot outside of Madrid Asteroid City itself is in a farm field about halfway between the little town of Chinchón and the next town over Jeremy Dawson: In fact, when we’re not there, chickpeas and watermelons are the two main crops that they grow there. It isn’t natively a desert but it is very flat which is why we picked it There’s this nice orange colour of the dirt If you go three miles in the other direction AS: We actually brought all of the dirt in from a quarry that’s also right in between these two towns It’s what you get when you dig into the ground The actual field we were working with started with topsoil and we took samples from all these different parts of the quarry to get the colour that we wanted—because we’d be spreading it all over the ground it was important that it be from right nearby It’s kind of amazing that it turned out to be this Southwestern red colour that pops JD: One thing that was appealing about the area, as opposed to [Anderson’s last film] The French Dispatch, where we needed the verticality of a French town was that we needed the big sky feeling that you get in the American West for big bright blue skies to contrast the earth We also had some beautiful shots getting into magic hour and into dusk It’s great to be out there in the middle of the desert in America but if you need to put people up or you need a piece of wood or a new prop you don’t want to be driving 200 miles in either direction So our goal was to find a flat piece of land with the big skies and the horizons that was also near enough to a place where we could live together and where we could get the resources and things we needed And there's a long history of shooting the American West in Spain which was one of these old Spanish historic buildings that the government has taken over and turned into a really nice hotel that has a lot of historic detail It was an old convent just on the edge of this little town and then we could walk whatever out into Asteroid City where we’d be from dawn to dusk who plays the motel manager of Asteroid City played by Aristou Meehan and Liev Schreiber What were you trying to capture about the American West AS: There were literal photographs of Utah but also old Burton Frasher postcard collections what you're looking at is a big gesture–the way the carnival comes to town in Ace in the Hole look at the way the sign that says “Steaks” sits on top of this building with a tin roof this movie has a kind of humour to it as well the actual part that takes place in the West is an imagination of a play that's being theoretically performed There is something kind of fantastical about it even cartoon-y sometimes in the colour palette and [with references like] the little on ramp to nowhere that have a real sense of humour AS: It’s important to note that even in the film we wondered about using a real town and looked at the sites where they shot all of these Westerns in Spain what if our luncheonette and our gas station and all our pieces were in some of those existing sites It didn't quite work the same way as making our own town We just released a big package celebrating roadside Americana and so the motor court motel is on my mind—have you ever stayed in one I've stayed in a million little strip motels where it's one row of 20 rooms and they're attached The conversation about it started with It Happened One Night in terms of the feeling of the place and the feeling of walking in amongst these buildings and going to the communal showers and the sort of trellises attached to the buildings and greenery growing around And then we looked at hundreds of photographs of the real places that don’t really exist anymore Look at the way there's no siding on the inside of the building JD: My partner and I just watched Niagara last night with a better view than ours.AS: Amazing diner too.Were you at all able to enjoy Spain during your off-time maybe people got to spend a moment in a hammock Chincón is this kind of medieval town—it's a completely different reality that you're walking through you could sit outside a cafe and have a beer or something But we were really immersed in Asteroid City because you’d go down this dusty farm road and it was right there Maybe I would have felt differently if we had to drive 20 minutes out of town to get to it such as the one pictured here with Hong Chau and Adrien Brody were shot in whichever usable location production could find—including a garlic warehouse There is a black-and-white portion of the film that is not set in Asteroid City–where did you shoot these parts AS: We found every usable location that we could we found this garlic warehouse on our little strip It was really just an empty room where they were storing a couple tons of garlic that were drying and chilling and getting ready for eating We returned it to the farmers back there—I think you can probably get some good melons around there now First published on CNT US All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission. Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service (updated April 1 2021) and Policy and Cookie Statement (updated April 1 The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast Wes Anderson takes viewers to the 1950s American desert Asteroid City from director Wes Anderson boasts another impressive ensemble cast Set during a junior stargazer convention in 1950s America, the film stars a mix of new and frequent collaborators from Anderson’s past works, including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks The comedy-drama had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023 where it competed for the Palme d’Or prize It was later released in cinemas on June 23 Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks in ‘Asteroid City’ Despite being set in western America, Asteroid City was filmed between two small towns outside of Madrid, Spain. “Asteroid City itself is in a farm field about halfway between the little town of Chinchón and the next town over, Colmenar de Oreja,” production designer Adam Stockhausen told Conde Nast Traveller producer Jeremy Dawson said: “We needed the big sky feeling that you get in the American West And there’s a long history of shooting the American West in Spain.” In a four-star review of Asteroid City NME wrote: “The Anderson faithful will certainly be rewarded by a lush-looking film and a cast so big there hasn’t even been time to mention Margot Robbie Anderson has swelled the ranks of his rep company even more Jason Schwartzman – now on his seventh Anderson movie – gets a juicy role for his favourite director Seeing the two of them together again feels like perfect harmony.” The world’s defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking what’s new and what’s next since 1952 Published: Invalid Date TWO large French mastiffs have mauled a mum and daughter to death in Spain The women’s husbands made the grisly discovery upon returning to a chalet in Colmenar de Oreja Murcia Today reports that the victims, aged 57 and 41, were attacked and partially “devoured” by their normally tranquil Bordeaux mastiffs. One woman died from blood loss after having her neck mauled. By the time paramedics arrived, the pets were reported to have been perfectly docile – “almost playful”, according to one witness. The dogs were raised at the family home from pups. Four other dogs of unspecified breeds were also at the chalet, but did not participate in Wednesday's attack. The mum and daughter were found by their husbands, who had returned home after being unable to contact the pair by mobile. They called the emergency services and locked the dogs away until help arrived. Both victims were found with multiple bite wounds all over their bodies that even shocked attending paramedics, the Civil Guard said. The Olive Press reported that the women were discovered lying on the patio, and were pronounced dead at the scene. A family friend, Raquel, told local media: "The dogs were raised by them and we have no idea why they attacked them like this." The animals will stay at a Madrid-based animal shelter while a police investigation into the fatal mauling takes place. President of the neighbourhood association Francisco Garcia said: "We are shocked. "There are dangerous dogs that will attack if a stranger enters their territory, but these animals were living with the family." is not widely considered a dangerous breed some Spanish boroughs include them on their blacklist with one wondering whether “the mother and daughter must have done something different for the dogs to act like they did” Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/