school graduate and budding movie
star, stopped off in Detroit to answer
some questions about his life and career.

JN: What is it about Max that
allows him to take private fantasies
and make them actually happen?
JS: First of all, I think the movie is
Max's fantasy. The movie is his mind,
it's told through his eyes, so nothing is
impossible, and everything that Max
thinks, he does, because he's ambi-
tious. He's got no other way of acting
except directly. So if he thinks some-
thing, he'll do something and nothing
can stop him. The movie really is a
fable —it's Max's fable
— so everything is
fantasy and everything
is possible.

being their ages. Max acts older and
they kind of act younger. Max is really
mature in some senses and immature
in others, and so are they. In the
movie, they are just three lonely peo-
ple, and they [don't act] their ages. You
forget that [Max is] 15 because you
forget that [Blume's] 50, you know?

JN: The friendship between Max
and Blume, does that come in part
from them both being outsiders at
Rushmore?
JS: I think Blume was probably
poor when he was growing up, and he
sees something of himself in this Max
kid. Also, I think
Max is trying to
create a family, so
he gets Miss Cross
and Mr. Blume.
JN: Does the confi-
He's trying to re-
dence that he projects
create his child-
to the outside world
hood in the sweet-
come from insecurity?
est sense. Max is
JS: Yeah. I think
almost like the
he's sad really. He
father to Blume. I
misses his Mom, who
asked Wes early on,
died. He doesn't know
Cls this someone
what to do with him-
that I admire?' And
self. He doesn't know
he said, 'No, it's
where he belongs, and
someone that you
so he just makes
can see eye to eye
Rushmore his life
with about things.'
because he's insecure
Is there anything particularly
Really, that's what
that he has no exis-
Jewish about "Rushmores" Max
it is. They're busi-
tence outside of [it].
Fischer? "Just his nose," deadpans
ness partners;
Rushmore defines him actor Jason Schwartzman.
they're buddies.
and says who he is.
And rivals.

JN: Particularly since this is your
first big role, what do you think play-
ing Max allowed you to explore?
JS: The idea of doing a movie was a
big step for me and so it gave me a lot
of self-confidence, which is a good
thing for me, because I had none.
Playing Max took a lot of discipline
and energy, so it really focused me and
kind of slapped me in the face and
taught me about structure and how to
work. Really, just the act of acting was
like going into the army for someone
else. That's what it was like for me. It
just kind of improved me as a person.

JN: Max is so seemingly mature
that the adults in the movie have a
hard time remembering that he's 15.
Is that a good or a bad thing for him?
JS: It's a good and bad thing.
Which adults specifically?

JN: Blume, but especially Miss
Cross, who sometimes seems like she
could easily forget how old he is.
JS: I think they slide in and out of

JN: Growing up in your family,
did you feel a certain pressure to get
into the entertainment business?
JS: Oh, no. I wasn't encouraged or
discouraged, it was whatever I was
into. My family's the way I am. The
environment in which they surround-
ed me was conducive to creativity, but
at the same time it wasn't forced upon
us. Apparently, when I was 4, I asked
my mom if she'd be disappointed in
me if I just ran a hardware store when
I got older. She said no. That just
eased everything up for me.

JN: Max Fisher is a major Jewish
philanthropist in the Detroit area,
who's devoted much of his life to very
different pursuits than Max Fischer
in Rushmore. What do you think
your Max Fischer might say if he
heard of Detroit's Max Fisher?
JS: He'd say, 'I'd like to have a
meeting with him, please. I've got to
have a meeting with Max Fisher in
Detroit regarding his name. I've got to
make him an offer he can't refuse.'" LI

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Detroit Jewish News

2/ 5

1999

87