Jason Schwartzman Walks the Red Carpet

The Hollywood premiere of "Slackers" Tuesday evening was Jason Schwartzman's first experience walking past a press line where everybody wanted to talk to him. "Rushmore," the movie that made him almost famous, flew so under the radar, it didn't rate a premiere.

Schwartzman went by himself because girlfriend Selma Blair was away making a movie. "I love her. She's my best friend and my little lady," he said. His mother, Talia Shire -- she's Francis Coppola's sister, to keep the genealogy straight -- arrived in her own limo.

The 21-year-old newcomer with the most serious set of eyebrows since Groucho Marx struck me as a straight shooter when he called me this week. He readily agreed that "Slackers," a comedy about sophomoric college students, is no "Rushmore."

As a stalker with a thing for a student named Angela, Schwartzman shaves his hairy chest into an "A." After people reminded him that his cousin Nicolas Cage shaved his chest into a diamond in "Valley Girl," Schwartzman decided that "it must have been a subconscious homage."

Aside from acting, Schwartzman tours with his band, Phantom Planet. He's the drummer.