“The Darjeeling Limited” is about three American brothers who haven’t seen each other in a year. They reunite in India on a train ride aboard the Darjeeling Limited, which they hope will lead to a spiritual journey and once again being a close family. But with any Wes Anderson film, there is much more going on. Typically, his movies such as “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “Rushmore” get better with repeat viewings, so you might just want to consider a second sit-through. I sat down with director Anderson and star Jason Schwartzman at the Drake Hotel. “Rushmore” is one of my favorite films of all-time, so after a quick compliment, we talked about traveling to India, Schwartzman being barefoot in the film, and Anderson’s secret film with Noah Baumbach.

Bayer: Jason, why were you barefoot in the film? Anderson: (Schwartzman points to Anderson to answer the question) He was barefoot in the movie because first we made our short film (“Hotel Chevalier”). And in the short film he is barefoot because he is in a hotel room. He was so good in the short, and when he first walked onto the set, it reminded me when he first walked on the set of “Rushmore,” there was his character. It was the way he played him and the way it was written, but it was also that I could see him, and I hadn’t seen him before. And I thought, well, this is his character and when he gets to India, he’s going to do the exact same thing. In the short, he’s in a hotel room with carpet, and in India there is gravel and bits of glass. He has a high threshold of pain we learned. Bayer (to Schwartzman): Your character or you? Schwartzman: Both. Bayer: Good. Anderson: But if anything his character, it’s like one of the Salinger stories where he refers to someone who would have shaved for a month left handed. He’s created a challenge for himself and an experience for himself and he’s going to see what that is like. (To Schwartzman) What do you think? Schwartzman: Everything you just said was great.

Bayer: I felt like Owen Wilson’s character, Francis, was an older Dignan (from Anderson’s first film “Bottle Rocket”). Agree or disagree? Anderson: Well, I think that these movies can be connected to each other, they sort of follow a chain of thought, so I can see some links for sure. And you know, the fact that Owen is playing both is a big part of it. But I know what you mean, he’s the man in charge. Dignan had a 75-year plan, and Francis has itineraries and a laminating machine.

Bayer (to Schwartzman): Has there been a role for one of Wes’ films that hasn’t worked out due to scheduling? Anderson: The bird. Schwartzman: The bird? Anderson: Do you want me to answer that? Schwartzman: Yes. Anderson: There was a role that was written for him in “The Royal Tenenbaums” and it was a great set-up for his character. But as I was writing, I realized I just had too much in there, but his character was named Mordecai. So I named a bird, a falcon, after his character just to pay respects to Jason, because there was a role that got cut out.

Bayer: (Joking) I’m trying to get Jason to answer something. Anderson: Sorry. Schwartzman: No, it’s OK, I like listening.

Bayer: Before filming began, and you, Wes and co-writer Roman Coppola went to India, were you in character the entire trip? Anderson: You know what? I can answer that ... just kidding. Schwartzman: We all went to India and became the brothers. We were somewhere between ourselves and the characters. Kind of this weird middle ground where we were assuming these parts and were also trying to experience the things we were writing about and experience new things we could write about. We went to India saying what Francis says, which is “I want us to say ‘yes’ to everything.” So we went there trying to initiate, engage or provoke many of the things that occur in our piece. Bayer: Was the script completed at this time? Schwartzman: No, but a lot of the parts were there. Anderson: It was 40 to 50 pages, but it wasn’t in its final version. We knew the shape of the film, but went there to write. Schwartzman: With what we had written, we would act out the scenes and I would play my character, Wes would play Francis and Roman would be Peter. We all carried a script and we’d walk in front of a temple and take out the scripts and act out the temple scene. Anderson: We should have had little scripts now that I think about it. Schwartzman: Little guys, yeah.

Bayer (to Schwartzman): Are you going to write again? Schwartzman: I would love to, yeah. I love writing. I’ve wanted … I had wrote … whatever, yes, I want to write again.

Bayer (to Anderson): Bill Murray, you’ve worked with him a lot, do you hang out with the man or is it just a business relationship? Anderson: Well, I don’t want to get too personal but I’ve been friends with him since “Rushmore.” Bayer: Was he the only choice to be the businessman running in the beginning of the film? Anderson: He was what you’d call the top choice. We had a hunch he would say no because it was such a small part. And it was in India. Schwartzman: It was all shot in India, except for the New York scenes. Anderson: And the short, did you see it? Bayer: Yes, with that amazing song that I am forgetting the title to right now … Anderson and Schwartzman (in unison): “Where Do You Go To My Lovely.” Schwartzman: Most Americans don’t know it, but English people do.

Bayer (to Schwartzman): By the way, your song “Nighttiming” is amazing. I can’t listen enough right now. Schwartzman: Yeah, youngbabyrecords.com is where you can order a CD and you get an original Polaroid and everything. Anderson: You get an original Polaroid with each one so that way it becomes an original object.

Bayer (to Anderson): I’ve seen Noah Baumbach’s “Kicking & Screaming” (not the Will Ferrell film) many times. How did your relationship start with him? Anderson: We had a couple of mutual friends who introduced us and then we quickly became friends. Over the years we would go to dinner a lot in New York. We started making up a story for a movie without really planning to, and this is a movie that hasn’t been made. We’ve been making notes on it for years and this whole idea for a movie. Bayer: And this will be made or it’s just a way to pass the time? Anderson: I think it will be made. Schwartzman: It sounds good when you explain it. Anderson: As a result of that, two things happened. One, I said I have a thing I want to do next, why don’t you help me with that? And he said great. And we made “The Life Aquatic” together. And he told me about the thing he wanted to write. So I helped him with his script and to produce it, which is “The Squid and the Whale.” And we also wrote another film together, which is called “The Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Bayer (to Schwartzman): Which you might be doing a voice for? Schwartzman: Am.

Bayer: Do you have a favorite charity (normally this is a quick question, but Anderson had a longer answer)? Anderson: We made a charity of our own recently because we sold some things from the film. The suitcases that were made for our movie, we sold them and we are buying ambulances for some villages near Rajasthan where we worked. So that’s sort of a charity we organized ourselves. Our friend Alice is in India right now pricing ambulances. Bayer: Is that going to be an ongoing charity? Anderson: I don’t know, it could be, but we don’t have any more suitcases. We didn’t do it through an organized charity, we just did it ourselves so at least there is no middleman.

Bayer: Laura Linney is my next interview (even though her film “The Savages” doesn’t come out for a couple of months), so what is a question for Laura? Anderson: Let’s make it a question about “The Squid and the Whale” so we can connect it with Noah. … Did you meet Noah’s father? Jeff Daniels’ character is based on Noah’s father, so did she meet him? And how does she compare Jeff Daniels’ performance with Noah’s father?