Robert Schwartzman

Original Air Date: July 21, 2024

Robert Schwartzman is the director of the Nick Jonas film “The Good Half”..Nick’s first starring role. Nick plays Renn, who just lost his mom (Elizabeth Shue) to cancer. The film is all about the good half of his memories, the memories filled with the joyful adventure and moments he spent with his mom.  David Arquette ad Brittany Snow also have roles. It’s a bittersweet dramedy.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to a multi talented man.Robert Schwartzman is a director, he's an
actor, he's a musician, andhe's joining us this morning. We'll get

(00:22):
to all the other stuff in abit. He's joining us this morning because
he directed the movie The Good Half, which stars Nick Jonas, which is
one of Robert's friends, also starringBritney Snow, David Arquette, Elizabeth Shoe,
Alexandra Shipp, and Matt Walsh.So this is now, this is

(00:43):
not your usual movie opening. TheGood Half is going to be in theaters
this coming Tuesday and Thursday with avirtual conversation with Robert Schwartzman and Nick Jonas.
So it's kind of like an unusualtype of thing. But you don't
ordinarily get to see a movie andtalk to the star and the director,

(01:07):
so it's very special. You'll haveto look and see where The Good Half
is playing near you. So Robertdirected The Good Half and Nick Jonas plays
Wren, who is a writer nowliving on the West Coast and he's returning
to Cleveland because he has just losthis mother played by Elizabeth Shue, who

(01:29):
he was very very close with,but he didn't spend her last days with
her because she had told him asa writer, no you stay, you
need to do you need to liveyour life. And so his sister was
with the mom in her last daysand for the longest time. Watching this

(01:51):
movie, which I really enjoyed,it was kind of it was bittersweet because
to me, it's very sad watchingsomebody who is very loved die of cancer
and a woman who was in notvery happy marriages, including one that she
was still in at the end ofher life. So it was very bittersweet.
But I couldn't figure out until theend of the movie when it kind

(02:15):
of explained why it was called TheGood Half. And it's because Nick Jonas
playing Wren, he was speaking ather funeral. He was talking about how
he missed the good half of herlife or his life, when he was
so close to her and he wasgrowing up and they were just so close

(02:38):
and having adventures together, and sohe got the bad half when she was
sick and dying. You don't kindof look at relationships necessarily that way.
It was very artful. But Robert, first of all, welcome And even
though you didn't write this, thiskind of echoes your life because you lost

(03:01):
your dad when you were eleven.Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I
think that the beauty of getting towork on anything in sort of the arts
or the creative field is hopefully itcan be an outlet for sort of getting
out your own and working through yourown emotional experiences, whether it's a relationship,

(03:24):
a breakup. When I used towrite a lot of songs in my
band Rooney, if I went througha breakup or an experience, it usually
inspired some song that came from that, and then that becomes something maybe somebody
else can relate to. For BrettRyland, he wrote a script about his
mother passing away and his own experiencewith having to sort of work through that,

(03:46):
which is a relatable thing if somebody'sif you've lost something or you've been
through the grieving process, there's somethingin this movie that might be comforting or
supporting of your process. For me, it was that having lost a parent
totally bizarre. But Brett's mother passedaway from pancreatic cancer. My dad of
the same type of cancer. Iwas younger, so my perspective and my

(04:10):
reality was shaped it in a differentway based on the timing of when I
experienced loss. But I'm always workingthrough it. I think anyone listening who's
lost somebody maybe connects to this ideaof it doesn't just stop or go away.
You don't wake up one day goingOkay, I'm over it. It's
always You're always reminded of the experiencethrough little things and a photo on the

(04:30):
wall or a place you went to. That's what this movie is. It's
remembering. He's remembering his mother.He's working through it by holding onto those
memories of the good half. Wedon't experience the bad half. We don't
experience her dying of cancer. Justso everyone's clear, we chose to not

(04:51):
put a spotlight on that side ofwhat this is. We put a spotlight
on remembering the good parts. Yeah. And I think, like when you
go to a memorial or something,you're there to sort of celebrate someone's life.
And I think this movie is acelebration of her life, and it's
a family trying to work through thesort of what would be the dreamy,

(05:15):
bizarre alt reality version of loss ofsomeone not being in your life anymore,
which is what I find it tobe very truthful, is people. I
find it's not easy for families totalk about losing somebody very close to all
of them. It's not a simplething just to talk about it, because
it's the talking about it that hurts. It's the talking about it that helps,

(05:38):
But it's the hurting that people avoid, which would be some form of
denial, would be pushing away what'sreally happening. We chose and Brett,
you wrote a great script that Ireally I just connected to the character.
I felt like with Nick with exploringthis character. For me as a filmmaker,
I could sort of find my ownway of dealing with and real being

(06:00):
and pulling out of myself in anhonest way, a performance that I felt
would ring true to what it is, what it means to lose a parent,
and then what it means to kindof have to figure out how you
deal with your siblings or you're anotherthe living parent, their sensitivities to trying
to be there for one's, youknow, child. So I don't know,
it's it's but we this movie isit's not I wouldn't say it's it's

(06:24):
not done as a heavy drama.It's not a weight of just it's not
a downer. No, it's notat all. And sometimes working through loss
doesn't have to be a downer.It's actually I don't even know if I
mean, I'm thinking about my ownlife and what I would want my family
to feel about me one day inthe future. I'd want them to celebrate
my life with joy and happiness andhave a laugh at the ridiculous things,

(06:50):
and that is part of that's honest. Having to laugh sometimes is honest and
therapeutic. So oh, and Ifailed to mention that David r. Cat
Place the jerk of a husband.Uh, you're working through his own stuff
together. Yeah, well he andI think there's honesty in that in that

(07:12):
thing is it's not He's it's notIt's not like David's character Rick is alone
in this. I mean, whenyou're with somebody who's going through treatment and
and their body is changing and they'renot able to you're not able to maintain
the the coexistence that you're familiar with, then maybe was the bond that you
had. There's got to be.It's a mixed bunch of emotions, of

(07:33):
what you do with yourself in thatrelationship. How can you be a part
of that relationship? People will probablyrun from it's scary to see somebody go
through that. So his character isrunning from it, right, not not
there for her that we established thatthey've had problems before she even was diagnosed
with this, and it's just it'sjust that it's the stakes are higher now

(07:55):
that she's going through this alone.In a way, I'm speaking director,
actor, musician Robert Schwortzman, layup what chef and chef? No?
Im, Sorry, I'm kidding.I know chef. I like cooking,
so you could call me a chef. All right, all right, you

(08:15):
could call me a Chef's latest movieis The Good Half. It's in theaters
this coming Tuesday and Thursday with virtualconvos with Robert and Nick Jonas. Who
is the star? Okay, Sotell us your history with Nick because your
group open for the Jonas brothers.Both of you were young actors. I

(08:37):
mean he was on Broadway well whenhe was seven, and yeah, were
in you were in the Virgin Suicidesand Princess Diaries. But tell us your
history. How do you know NickJonas? Yeah? I mean, I,
you know, I just kind ofwhere the wind takes me, I
go, and that's kind of myhow I see everything, you know,

(09:00):
and I try to chase what excitesme. And I think that's fortunate enough
to be in a position to chasewhat excites me and you do it to
the fullest. And it happened.It was film, it was music,
it's now, you know, Utopiadistribution. We get to put great films
out by great filmmakers. There's awide range of things I've just had my

(09:22):
hands on over the years, andthey're all out of things I love.
But I kind of just stumbled intobeing able to act in movies. It
was totally kind of unexpected. Idid always want to direct movies, so
I was close to filmmakers and filmmaking. I was familiar with the process,
but I just I auditioned for.My cousin made a movie called The Virgin

(09:45):
Suicides, and she put me in. She put me in her short film
it's called Lick the Star for anybodyout there who wants to google Lick the
Star. And then that was herjump Sofia's jumping off point to make The
Virgin Suicides. And I read fora character wrote called Paul Baldino. If
anyone's watching me, now, Ihave long, shaggy Jackson brown looking here.

(10:05):
But I had slicked back Guido Italiankid here in that movie. And
I can channel the inner Italian Guidoin me anytime I want. That's just
like this, just like this,give me some grease and I'm back.
But in my rock and roll shaggyhaircut. Look. I started a band

(10:26):
called Rooney and I wrote and youknow, I'm the lead singer of the
band. I read the songs forthe band. I got swept up into
the music industry very unexpectedly when Igraduated high school, and the Jonas brothers,
I'm I'm like a generation before themin a way, like you know,
my band was out there playing agood five years before they started playing.

(10:50):
But anyway, they really liked Rooneyand Nick was a young he was
the youngest of that group, andhe really, I think liked the Rooney
music. I went in and wrotesome songs with them, and then they
invited Rooney out on the road andwe did like a big run together and
we became friends. So there's afamiliarity, Like you know, I'm a
family kind of person, you know, like I'm a and I think they

(11:13):
are as well. We connect onthe idea of like family. I think
we have Italian roots together too,so maybe that's why. But so yeah,
when you when you work on amovie with somebody, you it's a
very like it's a it's you buildthis bond. It's trust that really fuels
the creative collaborative nature of a filmset, especially with actors and directors,

(11:35):
because you an actor, an actorideally is willing to come to set,
willing to engage and listen to andsupport really what you're the story you're telling,
and you're so hyper focused on thecharacter that you need a director there
to kind of guide you. Iwas looking at the big picture as you
are as an actor, But howam I cutting the scene? Where am
I starting from? Where am Igoing? How do I get to this

(11:56):
point? You're kind of like runningdefense for actors are protecting them and Nick,
you know, I think trust hadwe had that trust given that we
had so many years of sixteen yearsof a friendship, and it's pretty cool,
all these years later that we madea movie together. I think that's
that's what's just so great. AndI appreciate his willingness to work on the

(12:16):
film with me and trust me tomake the film. And he was such
a great person to work with him, and he works so hard. He's
such a dedicated person, which whateverhe does, he's like in it one
hundred and ten percent, which iswhy I think he's really works. It
works so well. He's going todo a Broadway show next year. He
started off on stage, he becamea successful musician. He's dabbled in acting

(12:39):
in episodic and then he's done featuresin supporting roles. But the Good Half
is his first leading role. Likethat's important to carrying the movie. He
has carried right, and he doesit extremely well. And if anyone you
know, he's just so great.When I watched the movie, I'm not
I don't even see Nick at all. Knowing him for so long, it
doesn't matter. I just watched Wrenthis character that we created, and he

(13:03):
pulls it off so well. He'svery impressive. Anyone sees this movie,
he always says, I didn't know, man, I didn't know Nick would
act like this. And I'm like, yeah, he's been acting. Like
we ask you really quickly. Weonly have two minutes left. You also
went on tour with the Zombies,and you did a documentary about them,

(13:26):
which I have not yet seen.And all this comes is, we just
learned that Rod Argent suffered a stroke, so you know, right after a
big anniversary with his wife, andit's just so sad and he's going to
be okay, he's talking he's notgoing to tour anymore, but he says
he's still going to make music.Is your documentary? First of all?

(13:48):
Have you been in touch with himrecently? How's he doing? Yeah?
I speak lots of the management teamthat works with the Zombies. And you
know, the movie that we made, called Hung Up on a Dream is
coming out in theaters in November ofthis year, So all that anyone listening
you heard it here, it's goingto be out later this year. I
mean, it's you know, Ithink it's what I love so much about

(14:11):
the Zombies is just that I lovethat they just have been so committed to
being out there playing and celebrating andsharing their music with all these generations.
And that's what the film is reallyabout, is the sort of impact,
this genuine friendship and impact they've hadas a group. And I think but
Rod. I went to Rod's home. I saw his studio. He's very

(14:31):
proud of it. He's got,you know. I met his family,
he's got. He's just put somuch into the band and tour for sol
On. It's I mean, Ithink that all those guys need to take
more time to be home and rechargetheir batteries and then reevaluate how they feel
later. But it's too hard tohave what he experienced and then go right
on to a big US tour.It's just too much. So this movie

(14:56):
will maybe be some form of asubstitute of for people in the US to
be able to sort of enjoy theclosest thing to a communal experience, which
is coming out to see a filmin theaters. I'm sorry. I love
to cut you off because for along time, and I can't wait to
see that documentary and talk to youagain. But again, The Good Half

(15:16):
is in theaters Tuesday and Thursday withvirtual conversations with Robert Schwartzman, who you've
been listening to, the director,and Nick Jonas you've been listening to Sunsteen
sessions on iHeartRadio. A production ofNew York's classic rock Q one O four point three