Philadelphia Weekly

After dying an inglorious death in the early ‘90s, stand-up comedy made a comeback beginning later in the decade thanks in part to Patton Oswalt. With targets ranging from politics and religion to Carvel ice cream and Nick Nolte as Hans Solo, Oswalt has helped rebrand his trade for a younger, more embittered generation with various outings, including “The Comedians of Comedy” tour, in which he and a troupe of colleagues – initially Brian Posehn, Maria Bramford and Zach Galifianakis -- roamed the country, playing not laff shacks but small music venues. (His new album, My Weakness is Strong, was just released this Tuesday.)

While he’s not avoided Hollywood or TV -- usually playing, as he puts it, “the friend or the goofy guy off to the side” -- it’s hard to argue with his two starring roles so far: as the voice of Remy the culinary vermin in Ratatouille and now the ‘70s-style indie drama Big Fan, written by The Wrestler scribe (and former editor-in-chief of The Onion) Robert Siegel, in which he plays an obsessed New York Giants nut. Oswalt chatted with PW.

You’re a bit of a cinephile.

Yeah. (laughs)

Is Big Fan basically the movie you’ve always wanted to star in?

Actually, yeah. One of my favorite periods of cinema history is the early ‘70s - movies like Fat City and The King of Marvin Gardens. It’s great to be in a movie that’s that way thematically and was also made in the same way those movies were made - movies like The Rain People, where they just used whatever money they had that day, not knowing how they were going to finish it. I’m just fascinated by stuff like that.

You had said that Brad Bird chose you for Ratatouille because you get excited about both things you love and things you hate. What did Robert Siegel say to you about casting you in Big Fan?

He basically said, “There are qualities in you that I think you could bring out in this character.” It’s a really un-lead lead actor role. It’s about a guy who’s very actively trying to vanish into the background.

Have you done a lot of dramatic acting before?

A few things here and there. An episode of Dollhouse. Really not that much. But dramatic acting, comedic acting - I really don’t make that much of a difference between the two. I think you have to be as real as you can in each one.

Were you expecting something so dark and brooding from the former editor of The Onion?

I don’t know, everyone over [at The Onion] are such cinephiles that I think I went into it with a bit of a blank. I’m a big fan of [Siegel’s] work, but a lot of what was so great about his Onion articles is they capture real, dark moments of humanity. In a way, it wasn’t that surprising that this was a really well-mapped-out drama.

I heard you didn’t know much about sports going in?

I didn’t know anything about sports.

Did you listen to loads of sports radio or hang with sports fans?

Not really. In a weird way talking about it in general terms ended up helping the movie because it makes [Paul Aufiero, his character] more relatable to other people. It’s not even about this specific love but about amplifying your place in the world by being connected to something bigger than you - which you could say about religion or sports or politics or movie fandom or anything like that. It’s the same fuel, it’s just a different spark. Or maybe it’s the same spark but different fuel. Either way, it’s universal.

There are obviously huge differences between you and Paul. But there are some similarities between a guy who calls into sports radio and a stand-up comic. Aufiero writes things down before he says them, he means to entertaining while getting stuff off his chest.

That’s actually a huge difference. I don’t really write things down before I go on-stage. I don’t go from a script. That kind of insecurity, wanting that safety net was very alien to me. I think the similarities were more about the things I get passionate about, and just seeing this guy letting it take over his life, and thinking, “What if I let it go that far with the stuff I’m into?”

Do you think Paul changes over the course of the film?

No. In fact, I think the movie it reminds me of is Taxi Driver. It’s a closed loop. At the end of [Big Fan] he’s sitting there on the phone and he’s more committed to his life. He hasn’t broken out of anything. At the end he’s gone even deeper because now his one foot in the real world he’s talking to over the phone. It’s a movie about a crab that finds a way even to get deeper into his shell. He’s found chambers in his shell he didn’t even know existed.

You play him with dignity, though. In his eyes he’s not a pathetic loser, even though everyone judges him that way.

I really respect people who have their own little worlds and are protective of them, and don’t bother the world with them. There’s something beautiful about that.

What can you say about the upcoming Robert Siegel project allegedly starring you, listed on the IMDb?

I think that was an early attempt at doing a listing for Big Fan. I don’t know what his next project is.

You can never trust the IMDb. I was going to ask you, on your IMDb page it says your favorite movie of all time is Six Pack.

Man, I haven’t been to my IMDb page in years. What is that movie Six Pack?

It’s a Kenny Rogers vehicle from the early ‘80s.

A concert movie? What is it?

No, it’s an inflated B-movie with an overqualified supporting cast.

I’ve honestly never heard of that movie. [laughs]

You curated a film festival in L.A. last year that played a lot of '70s films and films noir. You plan to do more of those?

I’m going to try and do a smaller version of it this year.

What kinds of films do you want to show?

That depends on the year. There’s a new movie by these two young guys from San Francisco called The Snake, that I’ve been really really pushing. I showed it at South by Southwest this year and I’m trying to get it a distributor. It’s funnier than most movies that come out. And there’s some stuff more the ‘70s that I think is unjustly lost, like The Late Show and Dirty Little Billy. So I’m willing to accommodate that stuff.

Do you want to act in more dramas?

I just want to be in stuff that’s good. I don’t really differentiate between comedy, drama, horror, animated, as long as it’s good and well-written and is trying to do something original and I can have fun doing it. That’s what I’m hoping I can keep doing