‘ONE THING I CAN SAY ABOUT ALL THESE MOVIES… THEY’VE ALL BEEN LIKE AN ADVENTURE.’
How long do we have?’ asks Jason Schwartzman, breezing into Cannes’ J.W. Marriott hotel, looking very natty in navy suit and salmon pink shirt. ‘Sometimes I take too long and then I eat up the thing.’ First, it should be noted, Total Film has rarely met such concern from an actor ensuring that we have enough face time. Second, he does indeed give lovingly long, considered answers. But it all rather sums up this unique American actor-musicianwriter. Never mind that he belongs to one of the most famous filmmaking families in the history of Hollywood; he’s still eternally grateful to be working 25 years on from making his debut as the precocious, playwriting student Max Fischer in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore.
Schwartzman - who turns 43 at the end of June - is a major member of Anderson’s ever-expanding rep company, having either featured in or worked on the story for every film of the director’s since 2007’s India odyssey The Darjeeling Limited. This month sees him in Asteroid City, in arguably his biggest role(s) for Anderson since 1998’s Rushmore, in which he plays both a 1950s actor, Jones Hall, and Hall’s character in sci-fi-tinged teleplay Asteroid City - Augie Steenbeck, a father-of-four photographer grieving over the loss of his wife.
In a starry ensemble including Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson, all of whom will be touched by an alien encounter, Schwartzman is the emotional heart, although he’s too modest to say so. ‘Maybe I’m the pancreas!’ he quips. ‘A different organ.’ Once again, the film teams Schwartzman with his own cousin Roman Coppola, who co-wrote with Anderson and previously directed him in 2001’s CQ (which, curiously, was about a filmmaker directing a cheesy sci-fi).
Along the way, Schwartzman has worked with Roman’s younger sister, Sofia (on 2006’s Marie Antoinette, in which he played King Louis XVI), and their niece Gia Coppola (2019’s social-media satire Mainstream). Even more excitingly, he’ll soon be seen in Megalopolis, the longgestating sci-fi epic from his uncle, filmmaking titan Francis Ford Coppola. Keeping it in the family, he’ll be joined by his mother, Talia Shire, who famously featured in both Coppola’s The Godfather and in Rocky as the boxer’s wife, Adrian.
While directors such as David O. Russell Alex Ross Perry and Tim Burton have always recognised Schwartzman’s distinct vibe, now feels like his moment. Alongside Asteroid City, you And later in the year, he’s the moustachioed host/commentator ‘Lucky’ Flickerman in prequel
