Robert Schwartzman is one helluva earnest dude. As he's making his way through the after party for the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of his film, Dreamland (one of our most anticipated films of the festival), he makes time to say the 'hellos' and 'thank yous' requisite of any director celebrating the launch of his first feature film. But there's something a little different about Schwartzman. He has more of a laid back approach to the elbow-rubbing and Hollywood hustle that had been dominating the festival. Maybe it's because his family tree is full of successful actors and filmmakers—Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle and Jason Schwartzman is his older brother. Or maybe it's simply his indie rock leanings, as his band Rooney would later play the film's after party.
Whatever the reason, Schwartzman's a cool-tempered and easy-going dude, even when talking about his film. Dreamland follows a bumbling pianist named Monty (Johnny Simmons) whose gig as a part-time piano teacher hardly matches his ambitions of opening (and, of course, playing at) his own club. Things start looking up after he meets a wealthy socialite significantly his senior (Amy Landecker) who takes an interest in Monty and initiates a May-December romance—until things start getting messy. It's a beautifully shot coming-of-age film that's made all the better by a synth-heavy score and a kick-ass contemporary soundtrack to contrast Monty's classical piano playing. Speaking with us by phone, Schwartzman talked about his foray into filmmaking, his band Rooney as a point of intersection, and that now iconic O.C. episode in which he starred.
What kind of movie did you set out to make?
This is a story where we’ve come across these moments between people where they might have a disconnect in their life and their relationship. Things might not be lining up the way they imagined them to. They might have big ideas that they can’t reach or that aren’t really real. They're just something that they are fixated on to keep them floating through life. But it is the story of a young man’s journey through the women in his life and what it says about himself as a man; what it means to be a man stepping up to the plate and dealing with life.
What was the significance of making “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland” the piece most played by Monty in the film? Is there any reason you picked that specific song?
I wanted there to be a song that would be requested, that would be a little trigger, that little thing that's like, “This is our song. I’m hitting on you. Will you play that song for me?” This was a song that I randomly stumbled into and I think it was a really lucky find. There’s a version of Judy Garland singing the song while playing the harp. It reminds me of old Hollywood; it’s a song that is so well-written. There’s something about it that just jumped out and felt like it should be the song. In a way, they are living this dream together. The whole movie is a dreamland; it’s a world of people who maybe haven’t reached their dreams.
You have filmmaking in your blood. I felt like there were some beautiful, almost Wes Anderson/Coppola-like shots in your film. Who were your influences for your first feature film?
I wasn’t really conscious of nodding to anyone other than wanting to embrace the style of how things play out in a wide shot, where there were big objects in the foreground slightly dominating the frame or out of focus. There’s a reason to that. Movies like The Graduate, for example—because it deals with the story of a young man who is in over his head with this love affair—I loved those shots where Anne Bancroft is putting on her stocking with her leg up. Dustin Hoffman is standing against the wall looking totally freaked out. There’s certain ways you can compose a shot that have their own story without having to say anything with dialogue.
The love interest and antagonist is effectively Monty's sugar mama. She's like giving him all of these checks to bankroll his bar. Have you or anyone you've known ever had a sugar mama?
Monty's journey is another level of this domineering kind of woman in his life who has sort of taken control. It's an extreme case, and his desperation of needing money is like—there are times when things all collide at the right time or the wrong time. It just seems like timing is everything in so many ways. And music is all about timing and time. And these things all intersected at this one time for him, which opens this door for the story to unfold.
You guys played your single "I'm Shakin'"—the one you performed on The O.C.—at the after party. It's been said that episode of The O.C. basically made Rooney's song a hit. Do you remember anything from shooting that episode?
When you're a band today, there are so many bands, so many artists making music. You look for opportunities that is a good sort-of spotlight to share your music with people. [The O.C.] was a really hot show. And what was cool about it was that the writer of the show really loved my band, Rooney, and asked if we would come on the show to be a part of the story. And I thought that was a pretty cool type of offer. It was pretty unique for a band to be so heavily intertwined within the story of a TV show.
I look back and I'm happy to have had that moment for Rooney because I think that a lot of people came up to me and they say that's the first place that they heard my music. And I think that's a really cool thing because what if I didn't do that? Would these people have heard me? And the idea of that happening is more sad than anything.
What was the decision of plugging Rooney, or having there be an intersection between your two worlds of film and music? In one shot in the film, there's even a Rooney poster on the wall.
It's fun for me to be able to put my band poster on the character's door. When you make a movie, you work with the production designer to create a shape the story. Who is this person? What do they have in their room? What type of girl is this Liz? And I thought Liz could listen to Rooney. This could be a band that she's into. If it didn't make sense for the character, I wouldn't have put the poster on the wall, but those little subtle moments are fun to have as a filmmaker, where you can just slide a couple ideas in there that maybe most viewers might not catch that the first time. But when they go back to it, they're like, "Oh my god, there was that poster there."
And your brother Jason is in the film, so what was your decision there to get him involved?
I love working with family. And friends too. I think it's cool when you can bring people together that you love, or have a history with, and make something together. Why look elsewhere when it's right in front of your face? My brother and I are very close. We made movies together as kids. We acted in each other's movies. And we have a lot of memories together, and I think it was a special thing to actually have something to work on together because we've never really had that.
And obviously, he was right for the movie. I wouldn't want him to be in a movie if he wasn't right for it. So we talked about the character a lot and he read the script. He handled it as he would any director. He really gave me all his feedback and his thoughts about his character: "Do you think I could play this? Do you really think I could pull this off? I don't really know this kind of guy, you think I could be this kind of guy?" And I was like, "Yeah of course, I think you'd be great."
