'One thing I can say about all these movies... They've all been like an adventure.'-Jason Schwartzman

He may belong to one of cinema's greatest filmmaking dynasties, but Jason Schwartzman has found his niche in iconic US indies like Rushmore, I Heart Huckabees and Marie Antoinette. As the actor reunites with his beloved Wes Anderson for Asteroid City, Total Film meets him to talk Converse, Coppolas and careers.....

- By James Mottram

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-musician-writer. 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.