Musician Robert Schwartzman stars as a debt-ridden goofball on the run from the mob who falls for a blackjack dealer, played by Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu, in director Gia Coppola’s new video for “All My Life”. The video remixes footage from Coppola’s recent short film Casino Moon, shot over two frantic days and nights on location in Nevada’s gambling mecca. A Sin City-based homage to romantic heist movies like Badlands and Bonnie and Clyde, the short was made as part of a series commissioned by director Alexi Tan for Elle China and premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival earlier this year. Written when Schwartzman was single and channeling the feeling of being by oneself, “All My Life” is taken from the Rooney frontman’s debut solo album Double Capricorn released last year and was adapted to soundtrack Casino Moon. “When you fall in love you kind of build your own little world together and lose touch of the other world,” explains Schwartzman. “In Gia’s short, they fall in love pretty quickly, keeping up with the Vegas speed of things. I feel like it’s an adventure, like love is an adventure.” A member of the filmmaking dynasty, Coppola’s fashion films for the likes of Opening Ceremony, United Arrows and DvF—imbued with the laconic eccentricity of her native Los Angeles—have cemented her reputation as a rising cinematic talent. Here, cousins Schwartzman and Coppola talk Vegas time warps and electric blue suits.

Robert Schwartzman: This is the first time we went to Vegas together. My first trip there was when I turned 21. I thought I cracked the code. I thought I could beat the system. I ended up winning a lot of money, and then losing it, and then a lot more.

Gia Coppola: I remember when you came back from that trip and everyone was like, “Don’t mention Vegas to Robert.” You were so bummed.

RS: I lost a lot of money. I got cocky. Anyway, I think Vegas is actually really calming. All the energy and craziness is relaxing in a weird way. I don’t know what it is. I like being awake and knowing that there is so much life going on. You lose track of time. 

GC: Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why I like it. Everything is alive to some extent—there’s always someone around. That’s why grandpa [Francis Ford Coppola], your uncle, used to always go there to write: you can always get a burger at any time of night, you never know what time it is, and you never feel the pressure to go to bed.

RS: When you play shows there the bus parks in the back, you enter through the employee entrance and eat at the behind-the-scenes buffet with all the showgirls and cocktail waitresses. It’s pretty wild. You feel like you are part of something that most people don’t get to see.

GC: Whoa. It’s so hard to imagine what it’s like to live there so it’s nice when you get to actually see people kind of off duty. You can be as weird as you want in Vegas and no one will judge you.

RS: One time I was in Vegas and I had on this pea coat that I had made in electric blue leather. Very bold, very bright, like neon blue almost. It looked really ridiculous. My brother was with me and there was this dude in a snakeskin suit who was staring at me, in awe of my jacket. My brother was like, “Even a man in a snakeskin suit was impressed by your electric blue pea coat!”

GC: I feel like we’re more siblings than cousins. You used to drive me to school every morning and rub my face in the dirt.
 
RS: I always thought I was so much older than you because I’d have to babysit you. When everyone would go see a movie they’d leave me behind with you. Even though we were so close in age. In my mind I was always looking out for you. A lot of memories.
 
GC: We always had to share a room on family trips.
 
RS: Yeah, eating at the kids table and going on family trips. You and I spent the most time together. We just have fun together.
 
GC: We’re still the kids.