Jason Schwartzman has basically done three movies and all have been totally different from another. Rushmore was one of the most acclaimed films of the 1990's, Slackers was some dumb flick I never saw and now comes Spun. Directed by Swedish music video veteran Jonas Akerlund [Ray of Light for Madonna and Smack My Bitch Up for Prodigy] the movie definitely has a unique look to its story of methamphetamine addicts on the way down. A music video version of Requiem for a Dream is the best way to describe. Fast moves, fast edits and lots of music plus a hysterical scene between a gay pimp, played by Eric Roberts and the Methamphetamine chef played by Mickey Rourke.
Schwartzman is very much like his characters though, fast talking and charming in a geeky way. His band Phantom Planet has opened for some great bands like Incubus giving him two career paths to follow. I would love to hang out with him in a non-interview fashion.
Check out the website for Spun.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Did you get to see them film the scene between Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts?
Jason Schwartzman: I was there that day. It was pretty great to see old friends reunited. I think the last time they saw each other was on the last day of shooting The Pope of Greenwich Village [released in 1984]. It was pretty cool. I think they were secretly comparing biceps. They are both competitive men and they wanted to see who was more jacked.
DRE: Did Will De Los Santos [writer of Spun] tell you stories about his speed freak days?
JS: No the script is the story. He wasn't around too much when we were making the film. But everything that happened in the script is the truth. When the movie opens it reads "the movie is based on truth and lies." Maybe they put "and lies" in there because Will's mom was watching. A lot of it is the truth or what he believed was the truth. Much of it is hallucination and delusion so we're not really sure. Specifically I remember the scene where I tied up the girl and I asked the director if it was really necessary and what does it mean. He said it happened. I think in real life it was for more days and a lot more torturous. It was pretty intense, so different than my crystal meth experiences [laughs] just kidding.
DRE: How did you get Spun?
JS: I just picked it up and there it was [laughs]. I got the script and it said Jonas Akerlund was attached so I was excited even before I read it because I'm such a fan of his work and I wanted to meet him. When I read it I thought it was great and that he would bring it to life in a unique. I learned a lot from him.
DRE: Did you think about doing methamphetamines to prepare for this movie?
JS: The first few times you do it its good [laughs] just kidding. I never thought about doing it.
DRE: Caffeine pills?
JS: No it just didn't seem worth it. Why would you want to destroy yourself?
DRE: Did Jonas explain his vision of how the movie would look beforehand?
JS: We had two problems. One is that it's impossible to explain how you see things anyway and it's doubly hard to explain how you see things when English isn't your first language. When I got the movie I was given a notebook and it was 800 pages long filled with storyboards. Every single shot was there. So we would go by the script and the boards. We were trying to stick to whatever vision he had. I was so curios to see how it would look. One day I did a scene and I remember Jonas said he was done and I asked if he was sure and he said don't worry because this is all going to be a cartoon anyway. I was like "What?" It's hard to know what's going on in someone's mind that's why you have to trust the person you're working with and he instills that in you.
Even though we did have to copy specific things form this book. I thought it was like arts and crafts test. Like take a feather, a pencil and a piece of paper and that's all we had to work with. But we could whatever we want with that. We were given tremendous freedom within certain guidelines. Whatever happened happened. We had a really good time and we all got along really well. Once we met and got comfortable we all went off in our roles organically and orgasmically. There were two sets shooting simultaneously, so you would go from one to the other and go back and forth. Kind of like Lord of the Rings but in North Hollywood. I'm Legolas
DRE: What was it like working with someone who had only done music videos?
JS: I was excited because I thought it would be a good way to get him to do a video for my band [laughs]. His videos are great. I think he has a very unique vision, a distinct voice and a nice guy. He's a very visual man. Spun really is about mediocre and normal people. But the scrutiny, attention to detail and the way in which he examines people kind of makes it beautiful and extraordinary. Half the time it's walking the like between very honest and the other half is literally cartoonish, burlesque and over the top. One great thing is that it doesn't have to be like a real crystal meth addict all the time because we were in Jonas' world where we didn't have to reference reality. Like in a Picasso painting, the women don't look like women but they're women.
JS: I just realized that every character in the movie is sexually dysfunctional.
DRE: It's like life.
JS: Exactly. There are problems with sex in every relationship in this movie. I guess that has to do with crystal meth messing with your libido.
DRE: There was a big Rolling Stone article recently about crystal meth.
JS: That was the one with Justin Timberlake on the cover. He's ripped. Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke got nothing on him. If you're going to dance like him you have to look like that.
DRE: So you can't dance like Justin.
JS: It's a different kind of dancing more interpretative. From what I've read he likes to plan out his moves and I don't. I believe its called living on the edge.
DRE: So back to the Rolling Stone article. It's about the town of Medesto California where crystal meth is just a plague there. Was that the town Spun is set in? Because in the movie even the cops are doing drugs.
JS: The movie was originally set in Portland Oregon that's where Will De Los Santos is from. We didn't shoot there because we didn't have enough money to shoot there. I hear that Medesto California has got some issues but it's a nice place. My band has played there a bunch and they've got this insane state of the art movie theatre there. I saw Riding in Cars with Boys there.
DRE: How was the sound on that?
JS: Great surround sound [laughs].
DRE: But is a place like Medesto the world you were talking about. Where you just have to buy into that every single person is on something?
JS: That's not exactly what I mean. Its not that everyone has to do drugs. When I watch Spun I feel that I am transported to a place that I kind of know or heard where it's got its own rules and time with its own physics. I really think Jonas has his own way of looking at the world. We were on tour and I visited him in Sweden and he took me into his office. He showed me where he edited Spun. It was two VCRs and little TV. He cut the whole thing on that, just swapping tapes in and out. Then he just gave that to an editor. We shot the movie in 18 days but he cut it in 8 months.
DRE: Jason how is your band Phantom Planet going?
JS: We're making another album right now. Dave Fridman [producer of Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev] is producing. I played a piano at his house and he said that was the one the Lips played Race For The Prize on. I was "Wow".
DRE: Are you going to be touring more?
JS: I'm going to make this record then I'd like to make some more movies. The band's been together for 9 years and we just finished touring for 14 months. That was the closest the dream ever came to. I love being on the road but it's a rough lifestyle.
DRE: You've gotten to work with both Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray who are of a similar generation. Do they work differently than people do now?
JS: Everyone is different and had their own way of doing things. I was so lucky and fortunate to work with Bill Murray because he's a great guy. He knows so much and I hope some of it rubbed off. The same with Mickey who's a different type of person but tremendously talented. But they're all so willing to teach you if you keep you're eyes open.
DRE: Is Mickey scary at all?
JS: No he's just taller than me. I know karate so I'm not scared of anybody [laughs]. Great guy and not intimidating at all.
DRE: The soundtrack is all Billy Corgan. Did Phantom Planet want to do any songs for the movie?
JS: Well if you listen closely we're playing out of the car stereo at one point. But we are not capable of scoring a movie yet. The music by Billy Corgan is just heartbreaking.
DRE: I read that you said the making of Rushmore was traumatic in both and good and bad ways. How was it traumatic and is that the reason you've small amount of films?
JS: What I meant by that is that up until I was 17 years old I had never thought of acting in a film. I had dreamed about it but I never pursued it. I didn't have an agent or anything like that. I was making a record with my band and I thought that was going to be my life. I met the casting agent and she told me to audition. I just thought auditioning would be something to tell my kids. I rehearsed all week and I walked into a room and there was a roomful of kids. I think they had seen 1800 kids at that point. I didn't I had a shot. I read with Wes and it went so well. It felt good then I got a callback and then more callbacks. Next thing I know Wes tells me I got the part and my life changed so fast. One second I'm in high school doing my Hamlet essay then I'm sitting across from a Ghostbuster in a movie. Then when it was over it was like a crazy dream you wake up from and try to explain to your friends. I felt really out of place at school. I felt traumatized but it also felt good. That's why it was traumatic; it was like a good bomb had gone off in my life.
Schwartzman is very much like his characters though, fast talking and charming in a geeky way. His band Phantom Planet has opened for some great bands like Incubus giving him two career paths to follow. I would love to hang out with him in a non-interview fashion.
Check out the website for Spun.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Did you get to see them film the scene between Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts?
Jason Schwartzman: I was there that day. It was pretty great to see old friends reunited. I think the last time they saw each other was on the last day of shooting The Pope of Greenwich Village [released in 1984]. It was pretty cool. I think they were secretly comparing biceps. They are both competitive men and they wanted to see who was more jacked.
DRE: Did Will De Los Santos [writer of Spun] tell you stories about his speed freak days?
JS: No the script is the story. He wasn't around too much when we were making the film. But everything that happened in the script is the truth. When the movie opens it reads "the movie is based on truth and lies." Maybe they put "and lies" in there because Will's mom was watching. A lot of it is the truth or what he believed was the truth. Much of it is hallucination and delusion so we're not really sure. Specifically I remember the scene where I tied up the girl and I asked the director if it was really necessary and what does it mean. He said it happened. I think in real life it was for more days and a lot more torturous. It was pretty intense, so different than my crystal meth experiences [laughs] just kidding.
DRE: How did you get Spun?
JS: I just picked it up and there it was [laughs]. I got the script and it said Jonas Akerlund was attached so I was excited even before I read it because I'm such a fan of his work and I wanted to meet him. When I read it I thought it was great and that he would bring it to life in a unique. I learned a lot from him.
DRE: Did you think about doing methamphetamines to prepare for this movie?
JS: The first few times you do it its good [laughs] just kidding. I never thought about doing it.
DRE: Caffeine pills?
JS: No it just didn't seem worth it. Why would you want to destroy yourself?
DRE: Did Jonas explain his vision of how the movie would look beforehand?
JS: We had two problems. One is that it's impossible to explain how you see things anyway and it's doubly hard to explain how you see things when English isn't your first language. When I got the movie I was given a notebook and it was 800 pages long filled with storyboards. Every single shot was there. So we would go by the script and the boards. We were trying to stick to whatever vision he had. I was so curios to see how it would look. One day I did a scene and I remember Jonas said he was done and I asked if he was sure and he said don't worry because this is all going to be a cartoon anyway. I was like "What?" It's hard to know what's going on in someone's mind that's why you have to trust the person you're working with and he instills that in you.
Even though we did have to copy specific things form this book. I thought it was like arts and crafts test. Like take a feather, a pencil and a piece of paper and that's all we had to work with. But we could whatever we want with that. We were given tremendous freedom within certain guidelines. Whatever happened happened. We had a really good time and we all got along really well. Once we met and got comfortable we all went off in our roles organically and orgasmically. There were two sets shooting simultaneously, so you would go from one to the other and go back and forth. Kind of like Lord of the Rings but in North Hollywood. I'm Legolas
DRE: What was it like working with someone who had only done music videos?
JS: I was excited because I thought it would be a good way to get him to do a video for my band [laughs]. His videos are great. I think he has a very unique vision, a distinct voice and a nice guy. He's a very visual man. Spun really is about mediocre and normal people. But the scrutiny, attention to detail and the way in which he examines people kind of makes it beautiful and extraordinary. Half the time it's walking the like between very honest and the other half is literally cartoonish, burlesque and over the top. One great thing is that it doesn't have to be like a real crystal meth addict all the time because we were in Jonas' world where we didn't have to reference reality. Like in a Picasso painting, the women don't look like women but they're women.
JS: I just realized that every character in the movie is sexually dysfunctional.
DRE: It's like life.
JS: Exactly. There are problems with sex in every relationship in this movie. I guess that has to do with crystal meth messing with your libido.
DRE: There was a big Rolling Stone article recently about crystal meth.
JS: That was the one with Justin Timberlake on the cover. He's ripped. Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke got nothing on him. If you're going to dance like him you have to look like that.
DRE: So you can't dance like Justin.
JS: It's a different kind of dancing more interpretative. From what I've read he likes to plan out his moves and I don't. I believe its called living on the edge.
DRE: So back to the Rolling Stone article. It's about the town of Medesto California where crystal meth is just a plague there. Was that the town Spun is set in? Because in the movie even the cops are doing drugs.
JS: The movie was originally set in Portland Oregon that's where Will De Los Santos is from. We didn't shoot there because we didn't have enough money to shoot there. I hear that Medesto California has got some issues but it's a nice place. My band has played there a bunch and they've got this insane state of the art movie theatre there. I saw Riding in Cars with Boys there.
DRE: How was the sound on that?
JS: Great surround sound [laughs].
DRE: But is a place like Medesto the world you were talking about. Where you just have to buy into that every single person is on something?
JS: That's not exactly what I mean. Its not that everyone has to do drugs. When I watch Spun I feel that I am transported to a place that I kind of know or heard where it's got its own rules and time with its own physics. I really think Jonas has his own way of looking at the world. We were on tour and I visited him in Sweden and he took me into his office. He showed me where he edited Spun. It was two VCRs and little TV. He cut the whole thing on that, just swapping tapes in and out. Then he just gave that to an editor. We shot the movie in 18 days but he cut it in 8 months.
DRE: Jason how is your band Phantom Planet going?
JS: We're making another album right now. Dave Fridman [producer of Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev] is producing. I played a piano at his house and he said that was the one the Lips played Race For The Prize on. I was "Wow".
DRE: Are you going to be touring more?
JS: I'm going to make this record then I'd like to make some more movies. The band's been together for 9 years and we just finished touring for 14 months. That was the closest the dream ever came to. I love being on the road but it's a rough lifestyle.
DRE: You've gotten to work with both Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray who are of a similar generation. Do they work differently than people do now?
JS: Everyone is different and had their own way of doing things. I was so lucky and fortunate to work with Bill Murray because he's a great guy. He knows so much and I hope some of it rubbed off. The same with Mickey who's a different type of person but tremendously talented. But they're all so willing to teach you if you keep you're eyes open.
DRE: Is Mickey scary at all?
JS: No he's just taller than me. I know karate so I'm not scared of anybody [laughs]. Great guy and not intimidating at all.
DRE: The soundtrack is all Billy Corgan. Did Phantom Planet want to do any songs for the movie?
JS: Well if you listen closely we're playing out of the car stereo at one point. But we are not capable of scoring a movie yet. The music by Billy Corgan is just heartbreaking.
DRE: I read that you said the making of Rushmore was traumatic in both and good and bad ways. How was it traumatic and is that the reason you've small amount of films?
JS: What I meant by that is that up until I was 17 years old I had never thought of acting in a film. I had dreamed about it but I never pursued it. I didn't have an agent or anything like that. I was making a record with my band and I thought that was going to be my life. I met the casting agent and she told me to audition. I just thought auditioning would be something to tell my kids. I rehearsed all week and I walked into a room and there was a roomful of kids. I think they had seen 1800 kids at that point. I didn't I had a shot. I read with Wes and it went so well. It felt good then I got a callback and then more callbacks. Next thing I know Wes tells me I got the part and my life changed so fast. One second I'm in high school doing my Hamlet essay then I'm sitting across from a Ghostbuster in a movie. Then when it was over it was like a crazy dream you wake up from and try to explain to your friends. I felt really out of place at school. I felt traumatized but it also felt good. That's why it was traumatic; it was like a good bomb had gone off in my life.
VIEW 21 of 21 COMMENTS
ha
ha