This movie looks incredible.
I freelance for a weekly arts & entertainment rag that the Dallas Morning News puts out. Big Fan screened at the AFI film festival back in March/April. I hit up P.O. on the MySpaces to see if he'd do a Q & A to coincide with said screening. I shamelessly name-dropped that I was a proud, card-carrying F.O.T. in the hope that it might expedite my request. He quickly and courteously obliged. Here tis...
Q: You've talked before about people who might be most familiar with you from King of Queens or Ratatouille coming to your stand-up shows expecting family friendly fun and getting something else altogether. What should these people know before purchasing their ticket to Big Fan?
Oswalt: Oh good Lord, they ought to know this is a non-judgemental, R-rated character study, in the same spirit of FIVE EASY PIECES or KING OF MARVIN GARDENS. I keep calling it "Fatsy Driver", to my director's eternal frustration.
Q: How did you hook up with Robert Siegel and what initially drew you to the project?
Oswalt: Friends in common, then breakfast, then admiration (on my part) to him starting without an assured ending.
Q: Your character Paul Auferio considers himself to be the world's biggest NY Giants fan. Where do you and the character converge? How do you differ?
Oswalt: We converge in a shared fuel of obsession and part ways when it comes to our targets.
Q: What kind of reception has the film been getting from audiences?
Oswalt: Critics and audiences alike seem to react with an exhausted, jittery thankfulness.
Q: While making the festival rounds for BF, have you had a chance to catch any of the other films that are screening? If so, which ones do you recommend?
Oswalt: So far, no. Too many interviews during afternoons when I'd be better suited to darkness and projected light, and other people's stories, instead of my own. Oh well.
Q: In a relatively short time you've taken on stand-up, sitcoms, big-budget features, voice acting, and now an independent, somewhat bleak, 1970s-style character piece. What other creative arenas would you like to explore?
Oswalt: Something that involves me trusting the signal of my intention to someone else's expression noise. Don't know what that'd entail, though.
Q: Who's making you laugh these days?
Oswalt: A version of myself in my 20's that I meditate on. His conviction and ignorance are hilarious.
Q: Any chance of you going the Murphy/Martin route at some point and retiring from stand-up to do features full time?
Oswalt: I didn't know Michal Murphy and Mary Martin ever did stand-up.
