Jason Schwartzman gives us everything he’s got in ‘The Overnight’

Jason Schwartzman’s acting credits read like a hipster hit list: “Rushmore,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “The Darjeeling Limited,” “Marie Antoinette,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Bored to Death.” His latest film, “The Overnight,” simply adds to his near-impeccable movie choices. It’s an alternately painful and hilarious look at how married couples relate to other married couples.

SIFF chose “The Overnight” as its prestigious Closing Night film this year and honored its star with a special “An Evening with Jason Schwartzman” event which included an on-stage interview at the Egyptian Theater.

Afterwards, Schwartzman stopped by KIRO Radio, with the director of “The Overnight,” Patrick Brice.

Jason Schwartzman has an odd kind of movie fame. In certain quarters, he’s a huge presence. But in other circles, he’s barely known. Even in this newsroom, there was a real buzz about him being here, at least for some, while others couldn’t have been more oblivious.

Schwartzman himself is perplexed by his popularity in general, and also bemused by its weird specificity.

“I will say that I go to Alabama where my in-laws live and no one will know who I am,” he said. “But if I go to a health food store, it’s like the Beatles walked in. I can’t go anywhere near the word “organic” without signing some autographs.”

He also understands that people just assume he’s a lot like the off-beat characters he plays. Like this fan who asked him a question after the SIFF screening:

“He said to me, ‘What kind of shampoo do you use?’ And I said, ‘Whatever’s in the hotel. Why?’ He said, ‘I don’t know because it’s you and I just thought I’d ask you a quirky question.’ I get that, but it’s like quirky is a weird word and I’m a pretty normal guy and I like normal things.”

And, for an actor, he’s curiously uncomfortable with hearing praise. For instance, when the director of “The Overnight” tried telling me about why Schwartzman was so good in his movie, Schwartzman began vocalizing his discomfort.

“For this role – Jason’s character in this movie is such a …”

“Whoa, whoa, I’m feeling woozy. Can we move on?”

“He’s such a goofball – his character is supposed to be an enigmatic, crazy guy that’s leading the cast of characters into this nutty night that they’re having together.”

When the spotlight shifted off him and onto the movie, Schwartzman was more than happy to talk, and talk a lot.

“The Overnight” is about a young couple, recently transplanted from Seattle to Los Angeles, who accept a dinner and playdate invitation from another couple whom they’ve just met at the playground. (Their sons have hit it off, apparently.)

Adam Scott, of “Parks and Recreation,” and Taylor Schilling, of “Orange is the New Black,” play the Seattle couple who are a bit overwhelmed and intimidated by the unexpectedly wealthy and hip lifestyle their host couple lead. Schwartzman and French actress Judith Godreche are the too-cool Californians who gently push and prod their guests into revelations and activities they hadn’t ever anticipated.

It’s an evening fraught with intensely awkward moments and laugh-out loud hilarity as the two couples try to navigate the tricky terrain of couple friendship.

“That first screening that we had when we showed it, it was a nerve-racking one because it’s a combination of big moments like with big laughs, with very quiet moments,” Schwartzman recalled. “I never anticipated the awkwardness that would be in the room during some of the other moments.

“We had this guy who was in the screening who would yell out, ‘Oh no, Oh no’ like all the time as things were getting more and more awkward. But it was great because people would laugh and it released some tension. I’ve never been part of a movie with so much pressure.”

The attention eventually shifts to the oddities of the host couple, but that only compounds the awkward tension level among the four of them. The release valves for all this built-up tension are the film’s big laughs, and none come bigger than the scene in which the male leads (Schwartzman and Adam Scott) drop their inhibitions and their clothes.

Not since “Borat” has male genitalia been met with such an uproarious response. And true to the complexity of the film, this scene is both deeply silly and emotionally liberating, absolutely ridiculous and yet somehow inspiring at the very same time. It’s guaranteed to be the scene everyone will be talking about when leaving the theater.

Schwartzman and his director laugh that that scene, which involves prancing about a swimming pool naked, had to be as choreographed as a gunfight.

“The script was very detailed about what he wanted – like guns,” Schwartzman said, “If you were doing a movie with fake guns, you still have to have a guy come on and say … it’s not like you just shoot the guns everywhere. These penises were like guns in many ways.

“He had to handle them delicately,” Brice laughed.

“We had to have someone say, ‘There’s a live penis on set,'” Schwartzman said.

“The Overnight” would make a great double bill with another 2015 comedy about interacting couples &#8212 Noah Baumbach’s “While We’re Young.”

“The Overnight” opens at SIFF Cinema Uptown, among other theaters, Friday night.