"Do you have any napkins?" Jason Schwartzman asks a server in the Four Seasons bar. He is trying to dispose of a large glob of gum the color of stucco. When a napkin doesn't materialize, the young star of "Rushmore" and the new romance "Shopgirl" sticks the viscous wad on the glass tabletop, where it sits like a tiny postmodern sculpture.

Schwartzman, 25, was in town last week with co-star Claire Danes and director Anand Tucker to present "Shopgirl" as the opening night movie during the Austin Film Festival. The Thursday night screening was near capacity at the Paramount Theatre, and the audience was often boisterous in its approval of the gentle romantic dramedy written by and co-starring Steve Martin (who was not there). "Shopgirl" is set to open Nov. 4 in Austin.

The following day, at the Four Seasons, Schwartzman strolls in with three new CDs he bought at Waterloo Records, an essential pitstop whenever he comes to Austin. His mother — actress Talia Shire of "Rocky" fame and the sister of Francis Ford Coppola — has accompanied him to the festival. When they see each other, they kiss and she compliments his beige cashmere corduroy suit. Later, he asks her to shop for a pair of "round-toed, Tom Waits-style boots," size 9 1/2, for him while he does interviews, like the one that follows.

American-Statesman: I saw you partying pretty late last night. Were you guys in a celebratory mood after such a good screening?

Jason Schwartzman: Anand Tucker, the director, wanted to go out and I figured why not. The really nice part about making movies, aside from the actual filming, are the great friends you can make and the journeys you can go on together. When's the next time I'll be in Austin, Texas, with Anand Tucker? Those are the adventures you have to go on. It was fun. I got to meet a lot of people. There are a lot of young filmmakers here. There's a general excitement about moviemaking, a real faith in it. It was exciting for me, because we need filmmakers, we need writers. That's what we do.

You must have been pleased with the audience response.

It's a weird, great feeling when people react to the parts you want them to. It felt like people invested in the relationship between Claire and Steve, and the things that Anand and I had cooked up to be funny got some laughs. It's an amazing and rare and exhilarating thing when people get it, because without people, what are we doing? It would be like being home-schooled. And it was twice or three times as fun because my mom was with me last night. I want to make her proud. It's just nice to have her next to me.

Austin has been very good to you, ever since the Austin Film Festival slipped in a special screening of "Rushmore" in 1998, plus your former band's many appearances at the South by Southwest Music Festival.

My personal feelings toward the city are amazing. I feel a real kinship with it. Any place that's famous for its love of music is all right with me. And last night, people really wanted to be in the theater. There's a love of the arts, and I can tell people really want to like things. It's a hopeful city and the spirit is good. I loved walking around last night and being on Sixth Street. Every time I get here I'm superexcited and can't wait to get to the streets.

Has it been hard to shake your role as Max Fischer in "Rushmore"?

It's not up to me to shake anything. Why would I want to shake that, because that movie and that role changed my life? It's one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. All I can do is the movie I'm doing. "Shopgirl" can't be "Rushmore." They're all their own things. I just have to do the best I can that day, that moment.

What's your next film?

"Marie Antoinette." I'm playing Louis XVI. It's most definitely a stretch. But it actually allowed me to think of him not as a king but as a person.

You make out with Claire Danes in "Shopgirl." How was that?

Terrific. Explosive. Dynamite.

cgarcia@statesman.com; 445-3649