'Ridiculous That People Think Celebrities Are Important': Miles Robbins On Movie 'Daniel Isn't Real' & Celebrity Culture

(CBS Local)-- Miles Robbins loves movie magic.

There are plenty of special effects and twists in his dark thriller "Daniel Isn't Real" with Patrick Schwarzenegger. Robbins is the son of Oscar winners Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon and is excited to show people a totally different side of him as an actor.

"It's a really dark movie and it was pretty tough," said Robbins in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "I think it's tough making a horror movie. I was in Halloween and that's a horror movie, but my character only spends about 13 seconds being frightened. This was my first experience of spending a month where every day I was like in terror or being tortured psychologically."

Robbins plays a college freshman named Luke that has an imaginary friend named Daniel that helps him cope with violent trauma from his past. While the 27-year-old is still building out his career, he is very familiar with the ebbs and flows of celebrity culture given what he saw his parents go through as a kid.

"It is just weird to grow up with that. They are just my parents," said Robbins. "They never tried to make me an actor or anything. They were like how did the test go and they were just my parents. I guess I did get a good perspective on how ridiculous it is that people think celebrities are important just by the nature of them being known by people. I think it's a good perspective to have and to grow up with that and be capable of seeing that."

"Daniel Isn't Real" is playing at the Cinema Village in New York this weekend and Robbins hopes this film can be therapeutic for some people.

"All different kinds of art have all different kinds of therapeutic qualities," said Robbins in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "I think that music is a deeply personal thing for me that I can tell my stories and experiences through. Acting is a really great opportunity to practice empathy and experience other people's perspectives and lives. Empathy is a really important practice and it's more of a practice than a quality. This guy wants to know what it is to grow up and be a man. He starts to engage in thought patterns connected to his childhood imaginary friend that are destructive and painful. It's very similar to how a lot of young men get caught up in thought patterns that society gives them on how to be a man. These thought patterns are toxic and they make them a danger to themselves and others."