>> funding for "overheard" with evan smith is provided in part by mfi foundation, improving the quality of life within our and from the texas board of legal specialization, board certified attorneys in your community, experienced, respected, and tested. also by hillco partners. texas government affairs consultancy, and its global health care consulting business unit, hillco health. and by the alice kleberg reynolds foundation, and viewers like you. thank you. >> i'm evan smith, he's an actor and musician whose credits include the hbo series bored to death, rushmore, funny people, scott pilgrim verse the world. he's jason schwartzman, this is

overheard. >> there are not two sides to every issue. >> i guess we can't fire him now. >> i guess we can't fire him now. >> the night that i win the emmy. >> being on the supreme court was an improbable dream. >> it's hard work and it's controversial. >> without information there is no freedom and it's journalists who provide that information. >> window rolls down, this guy says, hey, goes to 11. [ laughter ] >> jason schwartzman welcome. >> thank you,. >> so nice to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to ask you about wes anderson and the grand budapest hotel. i was trying to think of this as a sa. the question. jason schwartzman is to west as peschi is to scorsese. if we see a wes anderson movie and you're not in it, that's a surprise. >> well, i mean --

>> although you're in it less time than that question took for me to ask. >> yeah. [ chuckling ] i was waiting for a see all of the above, i realize -- i was trying to pick. but, i, well, i met wes when he cast me in the film rushmore. >> you were 17. >> i was 17 years old. and we became great friends. >> yeah. >> and he really is like a mentor to me. and he's like truly like my -- one of my closest friends in the entire world and we've worked together and collaborated, but i don't feel like it's a -- i think that wes takes such care in the movies and writing them and thinking of them that he wouldn't -- i mean i think he puts -- puts me and casts in a film if he feels like it will help the movie. i don't think -- you know, he

really does it for the right reasons and there was a little period where i wasn't working, i wasn't in his movies because i don't think that there was a part that was-- >> didn't fit. >> yes. >> you seem artistically in sync. it's not the peripheral relationship which i'll grant you, you seem artistically to come from the same place. >> i hope so. i think he's incredible. >> not a bad place to come from. >> yeah. i know that when i'm with him we have the greatest time together. >> yeah. >> you know, personally we have the greatest time, we laugh and it's -- it's always been a relationship based on sharing, i find. like it's always talking about music. in fact when i first wes at the audition for rushmore, i was quite nervous. you know, you read about people that think they're going to die and they go to a place that's past freaking out about it, they just surrender. i was there for the audition. [ laughter ] we ended up speaking and we talked about a word serieser

album that was out for about a year called pinkerton, the album meant a lot to me and him and instantly -- >> the glue of your relationship is word word weezer. we can stop right now. >> i think it's still that kind of a relationship and i think that's why it's fun to work together, because now we've worked together for so long and we share so much with each other, i find that it makes going to set more exciting and also harder because you -- you know, i get nervous when i go to work for the first time, i'm nervous right now. and i think a lot of it has to do with saying the wrong thing, or making a miss take, but the thing about with wes is that now i've known him for so long. >> right. >> and he's seen me be bad, and make miss takes and stuff, that i feel like we can get to the work more quickly. there's less chit chat. i remember i was in the moonrise kingdom and i had been filming bored to death all night long.

we had a night shoot and i was -- they were shooting moonrise kingdom in rhode island, and a car drove me from rhode island -- from new york to rhode island like two hours, three hours, however long it is through the night, when i arrived there, walked out of the car, put on the outfit, shot a scene within 25 minutes. i felt like i would never be able to do that with anybody else. >> yeah. the music part that you mention i think is a great observation, it's obviously important to you, you are yourself a musician, music has been an essential element, it's kind of the unmentioned cast member of his films. >> yeah. >> music is as important as any person he casts or any character he creates. >> absolutely. >> the movie that's out now, i think it's a big film, moonrise kingdom, fantastic, feels like a smaller, feels like a sprawling film. >> yes, good -- >> talk a little bit about it and your view of the film, how you got into it, your part as we said, we joke very small,

nonetheless there you are. >> it is really sprawling. it takes place over many time periods, actually. >> yeah. >> and it's -- there's stories and then stories within stories. and so there are lots of characters. and very enter woven. >> right. >> and it -- it is because multiple paths, it's way more of a production, but still nothing too insane, but, you know, all ofs with's movies have -- wes's movies things are created, or fabricated, cut specially, you know, painted or something, but this is on a pretty big level, but it's about -- it's about fiennes plays a hotel concierge who inherits something, some people are angry about him inheriting it. >> i like how circumstance expect you are being. >> i haven't seen a trailer and i haven't talked about it.

>> okay. >> creating a little mystery. >> okay, good, i like creating mysteries, but everybody knows the answer already. sort of embarrassing. it's a movie, there's some actors in it. >> there's a guy in it. >> let's just say it will be in theaters. >> at some point. >> and there is an ending. >> i will say this for wes anderson films, for wes anderson himself. you can see -- >> you're being good about it. >> i like it. >> you can see a wes anderson trailer from 50 paces without it in names on it and know it's a wes anderson movie. the look of any of his films, the use of color, particularly in this film, the lavishness of the color in this film, it's his, the font, there's a wes anderson font. it's his font, they should just call it wes, right? so his movies are very distinct, the ones where you've been this his films there's probably, even though different movies, there's probably a common thing, right,

a vibe that cuts across all -- >> oh, yeah, i mean where do i begin with all the common vibes? could we go back to the music thing, say one thing, just occurred to me is that when i was cast in rushmore, one thing he did that was incredible is he gave me a cassette tape of -- well, he walks over, hands me a cassette tape, says this is the sound track, this was the sound track of the movie -- >> before it was a movie. >> yeah. and we sat in the car together, in his car that he had, and played the sound track, and narrated the movie over the music. >> is that right? >> yeah, and onset a lot of the time we would listen to the songs that were -- >> right. >> in the movie we would listen to them live on the set, so wonderful, and it was a very unjudicial thing. i was reminded of that. >> mental image of you that i have, i have many images of you from that movie, it's hard to think you were 17 or 18 at the time. there's a scene in the elevator,

you were coming out of the elevator, you had chewing gum you stuck on thele what, was it the who in the background. >> yeah. >> that is fixed in my head, i can't think of any other movie an image from a film with a sound is so -- >> yeah. >> i think that's him and the song. >> yeah, absolutely. >> so rushmore -- >> a cool anecdote about that? there's a who song, and then part of that song it's from like a live recording, i believe, that version, and they're playing, and pete townsend and all of the who saying cello, cello, cello, and that was supposed to be like people would know that's where cellos would go, they just sang the word cello, and they kept it, isn't that great? >> i like the fact that you know that. >> it made me so happy. >> it is. >> that's the kind of story i live for. >> all of these wes anderson movies are, again, we said kind of a common vibe going all the

way through. >> yeah. >> you also have kind of a minor -- if you major in wes anderson, you minor in judd apeto. you minor in apeto. >> not a bad thing to do. >> i like all the school stuff, it's scaring me. >> i needed a frame around it. >> no, i love it. >> you were in funny people -- >> did i not answer your question. >> i think you did. >> we can talk more about it if you want. >> i realize i went to the music thing and i didn't mean to divert you. >> you took it in a good place. >> cello, cello, cello. >> your relationship with apeto and he's a different film maker than wes is. >> here is a cool story that i didn't know until recently. >> okay. >> so here -- it's so funny, because i know all of these things, but when you actually start to talk about them in this context, they're connected in ways that make you excited. >> yeah. >> so well before rushmore,

judge apeto was involved with a movie called heavy weights that ben stillar stars in, very wild movie. this movie, i used to watch as sort of like a meter with girls when i was dating, girls some times in high school, like, if they could like this, maybe we could get along, like if they don't get this movie -- >> not good. >> it's going to end. it's going to be bad. >> yeah yeah. >> so i love judd apeto, i love cable guy and i love that movie. and i remember at the end of rushmore, barry mendel who produced rushmore got me a signed vhf copy of heavy weights. it was so amazing. but wes told me later he showed my audition to judd, he showed my audition for rushmore to judd and that judd gave it an approval, which is so cool, only

find this out recently is like, oh, he could be good, it's nice, i didn't know that. after rushmore, the first thing i did after rushmore was an episode of freaks and geeks. >> freaks and geeks. he strikes me as a much different director, wes anderson seems so much more detail-oriented, so much more meticulous. >> you had you. >> he seems broader in his view of the films he makes. >> well, i found -- well, they're all like he's just as meticulous, but it is, yes, it is different, you know, the word improve has been associated with him. >> it has. >> but it was interesting because i was only in -- i was in funny people, and i assumed the same thing from what i had heard, and nervously so, i was like is this going to be a situation where everyone is just -- what is going to happen. >> you think about the people who were in there also, sand will er, a lot of people who are funny. >> super comedy and super adept

at improvisation. i've never taken an improvisation course. they have. it was amazing. you would get to set, you would do the scenes as written, judd, he has a microphone and a little speaker onset, he watches and he sort of like suggests things to you while -- like he's doing it live. >> giving notes. >> like a live mix. yeah, giving notes while it's happening. it's incredible, because you have to have so like focused and pretty good hearing. >> yeah. >> but it's so -- it was amazing, i loved it, obviously he's such a funny guy, and knows so much about comedy i, i loved being near him. >> well, two of the most successful and most interesting directors of the modern period of film making. >> i love them. >> judd has been incredibly kind to me and so open with his information. >> so you said i've never taken an improv class.

you had not acted before rushmore. >> absolutely. >> talk about a walkoff home run or first time up at the plate, rushmore is your first movie. >> uh-huh. >> so we that -- >> it was frightening. >> yes, i'm sure it was. >> yeah. >> this is the family business, though. >> yeah. >> we know, your mother is talia scheyer. you are kin to the coppola lineage of film makers. this is the world in which you grew up. was there an expectation that you would do this or -- no? >> no, not at all. my mom is an actress and is someone who loves acting. hollywood for a lack of a better term or the system that's in place is something that's -- she's always not really excited about. >> yeah. >> and as a young person growing up, she never -- like i never was on movie sets.

i think i was on maybe-- i visited a set maybe three or four times that i can remember and for not very long. >> yeah. >> so not around. >> well, for one thing, the movies that were her big star turns that we remember and see now. >> yes. >> godfather, godfather ii, rocky, all before you were born. >> absolutely. >> right. >> so she -- and i think that was probably a lot on purpose -- she wanted to be around to raise us. >> yeah. >> so we weren't around a lot onsets. and also, she just -- she was never really talked about. she's a very shy person. but what i did observe was i come home from school and she would be like, you know, she's in the living room watching an old movie, very loud, cranked volume very loud, watching it, pausing it, rewinding it, watching scenes over and over again. even now she's got books folded down, you know, she's working on monologues all the time. so i saw at a young age like,

wow, movies are more than -- they can be more than just entertainment for you. >> well, it's -- she seems to be very committed. >> very committed. >> yeah. >> but i grew up in the '80s and i -- in los angeles, and go see movies and it was like at that -- mel gibson, schwarz schwarznegger. you go to see these movies. >> also those kind of movies. >> yeah. >> have not been the kind of movies. >> i didn't have an experience, other people have been described it, be up there one day, i just loved movies, oh, it's amazing, would do lines from the movies and stuff. but music, i remember like i wanted to play music, there was something that was personal about it, you could do it at home, you could make it yourself. movies were just -- i don't know, so -- and i know it seems

weird to say because my mom is an actress. i wasn't around. it did have the sheen of hollywood movies. >> my thought, your mom is an actress, fine, but again, you have frances coppola, one of the greatest directors of all time, one of the most iconic directors of all time, you're related to nicolas cage. a successful and busy actor, your cousin sofia coppola. a lot of people in the family -- it's not just like one person, well, okay, i didn't go in that path, how do you avoid being around it. >> there's a lot of people in my family that aren't in it. >> i just named a couple. that is your entire family. >> i don't know -- yeah, we have the weirdest family, one cousin, one uncle, one mother. [ laughter ] >> you have made a fair point. >> here's a story of a weird family ♪ >> no, i think that -- i don't know, maybe it's this thing, maybe it is -- if it is around

you where families are involved in one trade or, you know, maybe it's just because you're surrounded. i don't know. i just know from a young age i felt very drawn to music. >> as opposed to -- >> yeah, but just in general like felt -- i just was so bad at math and things like that, and doing those types of things like music or whatever, it just seems way more comfortable. >> how do you go from that, thinking this is not the thing i want to do necessarily, actively or passively. >> i was making ard rough, i was in a band at the time called phantom planet, and we were making our -- we were making our first album and we had been together since 1994, this was 1997, i just entered my senior year of high school, and my grandfather, car mine coppola, she's a composer, and my uncle

frances was having a celebration, he scored a film and my grandfather was dead at the time, but having an orchestra come play these pieces of music for a that's right type event. >> yeah. >> and this was in -- up in northern california, and i wasn't supposed to go, but my mom last minute was able to get us all tickets to go up and so we went up on a friday, and i was at this party, and there was a casting -- i guess rushmore had casting directors in different cities, as is very typical of movies. >> yeah. >> and one of the casting directors for the -- from the san francisco agency or whatever was at this party. she knew my family somehow, and she was talking to my cousin, sofia, and asked her, and sofia said what are you working on? oh, we're casting this movie called rushmore, and, you know,

we're trying to -- we're auditioning kids. she said what is it about. she said it's about extend trick teenager who is in love with older woman and she writes plays and things. she said that sounds kind of like my cousin and i had done, written a play like a year before, and i was in love with this older woman, and a lot of things added up, so i met -- but i met thissal would, she said are you an actor? no, i'm not an actor, i'm a drummer. she said i'm casting a movie in los angeles, if you would like to go in and audition. you should go. well, it would be a real waste of your time, i'm not an actor. she said you should try, you should read the script. i think you really -- and i think i was wearing -- because i was socially awkward and a little bit of a clown, i was wearing a tuxedo with tails and i had like a top hat i think. i had gone like, oh, orchestra

party? so i really was like going for it. she was like you've seen maybe like this. i gave her -- and also -- no offense, but i guess like me as a drummer in a band, you're not used to getting like that kind of attention. >> right. >> you know, like someone saying you should audition for something, typically the guitar player, the singers get that. in my mind i'm going, there's four other guys you should talk to in my band that are pretty cool. they sent the scripts to my house the next day, i went home, i read it, i remember going like, oh, my god, this is everything i find funny, and -- and i also thought, man, whoever gets to be in this is going to be so lucky, i can't wait to see this movie, and -- and really that was my attitude, i remember i called tgency on monday, i said my name is jason schwartzman. she said to make an appointment with you. i made an appointment on the

phone. i asked what do i wear to an audition, whatever makes you feel comfortable, which i thought was funny, because i'm never going to be comfort comfortable. >> trick question. >> i made my own outfit as described in the script, khaki pants and a blazer and stuff and i made a patch with my friend, mike. we made a patch. it was amazing. i remember thinking i am not going to be good at the audition, but i will be remembered as the one guy who got really dressed up. >> right. >> and i remember going there and walking into the auditioning room and it's a big room of people and all of them are dressed up, i remember having the feeling of like, well, now what am i going to do, and it was terrifying sitting in a room and all of these kids, like i say, they're just like, you know, actors who have been doing this for a long time, watching each of them go in one at a time, i think i was last or second to last. just horrifying, so that's how it happened and honestly, you say how do you go from one thing to the next? i went in, i auditioned around i

had so much fun, i was like into making people laugh and having fun, so wes and i started to play around, he was like let's improvise a little, we were improvising, it was so fun and also this is like a 27-year-old person like treating me like i'm an equal and that's never happened to me before really, and that's an amazing feeling as you know, we have a mentor type person we meet in our lives, oh, my god, i can't believe this cool 27-year-old guy wants to hang out with me and talk to me. and that was a big -- that was an amount of faith. >> it's such a better story than i knew when i was asking the question. it's a great -- it's a great story. >> i mean it's the truth. and then when he called me, i went for a couple of more call backs, i had to do screen tests, but when he called me to say i got the part, i mean also i stayed there for an hour improvising, i pretended to be bill murray and audition the people who were coming in to play his kids and when i got home, my mom was like how did it go? i had no idea how -- i did these

other call backs and wes called me, and what could you say? it's not a normal -- it was so insane, and whatever you think it would be like, it's exactly, i mean it happened. >> it was we'red to you as well. >> it was insane. >> i was a momentus thing, it launched you, looking back on it now it's probably incredible. >> it was so fun. >> before we go, you have an amazon win series that you and paul weitz and roman coppola. >> and alex timber. >> bernadette peters it's one of these series they've put and readers or viewers, i should say, are voting for whether it gets made beyond the pilot. >> go on amazon and watch this show, it's an incredible system they have where they make pilots. >> it's a new world. >> it's a show about the -- a show about the kind of underside or_belly or behind the curtains of the classical music world in new york and it follows a young

actress named low la kirk who is great actor trying to get into the philharmonic. mozart in the jungle, sex, drugs and classical music. it was kind of eye opening to read it, because you think of the orchestra as like fancy schmancy. >> well, the idea it's an amazon deal, this is the way the world is trending, i this good for eu. it's a real mix and it's interesting to get to meet you and talk about it. >> cool. >> i appreciate you being here. >> i appreciate it, we'll come back for part 2 when i can answer these questions a bit more succinctly. >> everything is fixed in editing. >> cool. >> jason schwartzman, thank you so much. >> we'd love to have you join us in the studio, visit our website at klru.org/overheard to find invitations to interview, q and a's with our audiences and guests. >> music, you can do it

anywhere, you know, especially now it's like -- i mean you can have instruments on your phone. you can really always be making music i feel like anywhere if you want, and i love making music. >> funding for "overheard" with evan submit is provided in part by mfi foundation. improving the quality of life within our community. and from the texas board of legal specialization, board certified attorneys in your community, experienced, respected, and tested. also by hillco partners. texas government affairs consultancy. and its global health care consulting business unit hillco health. and by the alice kleberg reynolds foundation. and viewers like you. great houses" is provided by:n

and the members of kcsm who generously responded. (classical music) captioned by the captioning company burbank, california (classical music throughout)