Shopgirl
An Interview with Jason Schwartzman

While still in the early stages of his career, Jason Schwartzman has already shared screen time with acting giants Bill Murray (Rushmore), Dustin Hoffman (I Heart Huckabees), and Al Pacino (Simone). The young actor can now add Steve Martin to that prestigious list with his role in the upcoming Shopgirl. In this interview, Schwartzman discusses working with kings of comedy and his opportunity to play real-life royalty in Sofia Coppola’s next film.

Your character is only in a small portion of the novella the film is based on. Were you concerned you wouldn’t have much screen time when it would be adapted to film?

JS: No, because in terms of it being a movie, the script, he was in there more. So I mean if I had just read the book and said, “They’re going to make a movie of this book,” that might have been a concern because, like you say, he is only in it very little. But I had read the book and then read the script. In the script he’s very much a part of it like he is in the finished one. I saw how Steve [Martin] took him and made him more whole kind of. You have to have him in the movie more.

Anand Tucker, the director, said a lot of the character was fleshed out from your improv? Is that true?

JS: Kind of. I mean, it’s correct to a point. I remember when we first did a table reading of the movie I was so nervous to do it because Steve Martin is a big influence on me. The way I approach acting and comedy. Even though it might not be obvious, in the room with him I felt like he was going to notice all the times I ripped him off or he would just see things… So I felt kind of scared in the table reading. I mumbled a lot. It was just awkward the way I was reading and I thought I was going to get fired afterward. He came over to me after we’d finished and said, “All of that mumbling and stuff is great. You should play that up.” That was the first sort of ounce of permission I felt like I had from Steve to begin to make Jeremy somewhere between the script version and myself. That said, the word improv I kind of hesitate to use only because I feel like it means saying whatever you want with abandon in the moment. Twelve minute long takes. It was never like that. It was never like “Action!” and no one knew what they were going to say. We always did the script version. I think the times that we said things that weren’t scripted, Anand [Tucker] and I and Steve, who was on set a lot as a writer, discussed possible alterations of preexisting lines and talked about ways of shortening things, or cutting things, or rearranging words. In that case, I suppose they were improvised on the set. On the fly. But not while we were rolling. It was more like, “That was good.” Then Steve would say, “Maybe you could try…” It was experimenting and the way Anand likes to work, which I really like, was he just does a lot of takes. A lot of different versions, different speeds. One of those different versions would always be the different dialogue version. So there was some of that but I would say that there was never just a full on improvisation. It’s just that Steve and Anand created a really clear frame with which to do that experimenting with. It wasn’t, “Paint the town with whatever color you are.” They said, “Here’s the frame and this is the context. This is the point of what we’re trying to do. Within these four pieces of wood try and experiment, but that is the frame and please don’t go out of that.”

There any particular quirks or mannerisms of Steve Martin’s that you ripped off?

JS: I wouldn’t say that I’ve ripped Steve Martin off but being young and going to the movies all the time in the 80s, my family, that’s how we spent all our time together, was going to movies. Being a kid you like comedies and Steve Martin was, he is to this day, but for me then, like a titan. I feel like in those years when you’re still being woven together, all the things you take in become a part of your consciousness and who you are. I think artistically, Steve Martin is somehow programmed into me just on some level. Like Xanadu or something, or some weird place.

Fair enough, but he’s obviously inspired you. Were you drawing from any of his roles in particular when you approached this character?

JS: I don’t think I ever emulated one that already existed, but it did cross my mind to think, “Well, how would Steve had done it if he was younger and playing this part?” I mean, just, why not? Go there because he wrote it. I listened to the book on tape actually that he read just to hear his tempo. That’s just another kind of nugget of information. I wasn’t like basing it on Father of the Bride or something.

Were you surprised that, as a comedic actor, you were given a role in Marie-Antoinette?

JS: Very surprised. Very surprised, but the more I read about Louis there were things that I related to him and felt like, well, here are some things that I can directly link and I can play these things up. Shyness or sometimes awkward interaction with a person. I felt like I’d been there. Comedically, I don’t think I thought that out too much. I just kind of got there and talked to Sofia [Coppola] and we kind of created some new version of the character and of myself in the character, for the character.

Did you have to study an accent for the part?

JS: There’s tons of different countries represented in the cast. She asked everyone in the movie to speak with their natural accent. So if you’re from Italy they have an Italian accent even if they’re playing a French person. She felt that it took you more out of it to have that mid-Atlantic accent going on. She felt like in the movies she’s seen, she always felt distracted by that. Maybe it was more natural to speak naturally. She also decided to have us walking normally and not playing it up too much.

Having worked side by side with Steve Martin and Bill Murray, do you notice any likenesses in their styles? Especially considering both have taken more dramatic roles in their later careers.

JS: I don’t really, because I think they’re so different. There is a similarity in that they both have comedic legend in their history. They both have taken in recent years the parts that you’re referencing. I’m sure they’re totally independent of each other, but I think it might just be a natural artistic progression. Steve said something that was interesting. He said, “In all of my movies, I felt like there was drama and not always comedy.” He said, “I feel like I’ve kind of been always doing this. It’s funny because people say that I’ve taken this turn, but to me I’ve always tried to incorporate this drama in my work.”