On Movies: Jason Schwartzman, starstruck in Philly

Jason Schwartzman landed in Philadelphia last Sunday night ("9:03 p.m.," he reports), and soon thereafter found himself at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, whereupon he spied - well, let him tell it:

"Are you familiar with the band Spoon? They were in the lobby, and . . . I was scared. The way that my eyes saw the band was like out of a movie: With the angle of my eyesight, I happened to look right at a guitar case as it was being carried through the door and I scanned up and there was the lead singer, Britt [Daniel], and then a bunch of the guys walked by and then as each band member walked by I was saying to myself, 'I should say hello - I can't.' And finally, I said to the bass player at the end, 'Love your new album!'

"So that was cool."

Schwartzman is not putting on this fanboy act. A musician himself (ex-drummer in Phantom Planet, two solo albums with Coconut Records, composer for Judd Apatow's Funny People), he's clearly thrilled by his brush with Spoon.

Which is why, at age 30, with key roles in three Wes Anderson films (Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox), and turns as King Louis XVI in his cousin Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette and as a swell-headed sitcom star in the aforementioned Funny People, the actor continues to charm: There's not a drop of smugness, of celebrity entitlement wafting off of him. In fact, while his conversation is breezy and earnest and funny, it is also riddled with self-deprecation, and maybe even a hint of low self-esteem.

In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, opening Friday, Schwartzman plays the principal villain. The film premiered two weeks ago at Comic-Con, the annual industry showcase for fantasy, superhero, horror, and genre pics attended by swarms of costumed fans. And it's right up their alley: Based on a set of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World mixes manga, anime, and gamer culture with angsty teen romance and rock-and-roll, conjuring up a world (Toronto) where the title character must engage in a series of epic fights with the exes of the girl he loves. It's been directed - nimbly, nuttily - by Edgar Wright, of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. And its star is Michael Cera, the hipster milquetoast of Superbad and Juno.