Jason Schwartzman thinks kids can handle a lot more than you think they can – which is just as well, because his latest film, the film adaptation of ‘’The Fantastic Mr Fox’’, is quite a dark movie.

Were you a fan of the book?

Yeah, I use to read it when I was a little kid. My mum (actress Talia Shire) got me all the Roald Dahl books – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits – that’s my favourite one, by the way – and of course The Fantastic Mr Fox. So it’s an absolute pleasure to be involved in something that’s so beloved in literary form.

And you got to spend time in a recording booth with Meryl Streep!?

‘You know, we didn’t actually record it in a recording booth – as you do with most animated movies – we recorded most of the dialogue live on location. But unfortunately, Meryl wasn’t there.

Why was it recorded live?

(Director) Wes [Anderson] wanted to do it live like a radio play. For instance, if there’s a scene that takes place outside, we were all outside. If we had to be digging in a scene, we would all just start digging.

How was working with George Clooney?

He’s a great actor. And watching this film, you realize just how incredible his voice is. There were a few scenes that he was in, that I wasn’t in – but we did do a fair few scenes together. Wes and Bill [Murray] and George would be doing a scene together and I would just sit and watch, and I would close my eyes, and just sitting so close to George Clooney…I know it sounds funny, but I was like, ‘He’s got an incredible voice’.

Why are Roald Dahl’s books still so popular, you think?

There’s something about all of his work that is a bit mysterious – and left in the dark. And that’s the thing that makes people want to know more.

It’s a dark movie, isn’t it?

Yes, but I think kids are underestimated – we do have these feelings. I know there’s so many brilliant people that work at the studios whose job it is to like, dissect society and try to ask people questions and do polls and all kinds of stuff, so I think people know something. But I will say, a couple things: One is I do feel that what’s great about Pixar [is that] those movies smuggle in so much. I’m laughing and getting so much out of it, and then I’m looking around and there’s little kids around me and I’m thinking, ‘Well what are they laughing at?’ But somewhere it’s soaking into their bodies, like other messages and death and whatever. Like in ‘Up.’ That’s a heavy movie in the beginning.

Yeah, you’re right

Have you seen The 400 Blows? I think that movie is incredible because it’s from the kid’s point of view, and he perceives that his mom is with someone else, and he’s lonely and he’s angry and he’s an outsider. He’s so little…I feel like we’re all just like little people and we have so many emotions, and can be so angry and confused…Did you see that movie, ‘Jesus Camp’? I was like watching it and thinking about these emotions. I almost felt like, in a weird way, this was religious molestation. I almost felt like their little bodies were too little to contain the guilt and emotions they were meant to feel. When I was little, I watched movies like ‘The Neverending Story,’ or like ‘Labyrinth,’ or ‘The Secret of Nimh’ — that’s a dark movie. But my favourite was ‘The Last Unicorn,’ and that’s a weird ass movie.

So you would’ve watched ‘’The Fantastic Mr Fox’’ when you were a kid?

I feel like a movie like this, had I seen it when I was little, it would have helped me. I felt little. And I felt like girls didn’t like me back. I felt different. I was totally different. And I was made fun of all the time. I was never as good as an athlete as I wanted to be, and I did want to be one. So I totally support filmmakers making movies where they realize kids are complex.