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The world is not without its fair share of sports films. But, what would happen if a filmmaker turned his camera away from the field of play and instead focused on one of us, the folks in the stands or shouting at the TV at home? You'd have "Big Fan."
The directorial debut from Robert Siegel, the writer of last year's critical sensation "The Wrestler" and the former editor in chief of "The Onion," "Big Fan" stars comedian and actor Patton Oswalt as Paul Aufiero, a 35-year-old parking attendant who lives with his mother in Staten Island. A devout New York Giants follower, Paul's world is upturned when his life and his beloved Giants collide in a dramatic and painful way.
Oswalt and Siegel recently sat down with Metromix Jersey Shore to discuss the film, which opens on Friday (Aug. 28) in New York City and Philadelphia before expaning to other cities throughout the fall.
Siegel, a native of Merrick, Long Island, said the story originated in his early days listening to local sports radio. "I listened to sports radio a lot as a kid and not so much anymore, but I used to listen to WFAN (660 AM) a lot and I listened to the late night shows, Steve Somers. ... I would just listen and hear these types of guys.
"And then years later, my sportsphilia was first and then my cinephilia kind of bloomed in my mid to late teens like it does for so many people, and the types of movies that I really got into, that I still love, are the types of movies that I think those guys that I heard on the radio might have been in; all those guys calling in to sports radio could have also been the guys like sitting at the bar in ‘Mean Streets,' just regular, blue-collar outer-borough-type guys. So, it's a combination of my sports radio fandom and my film fandom."
Oswalt recalled the feeling he got when he first read Siegel's screenplay. "My first reaction was I was excited because the script was so good and I don't normally get a script this good dropped in my lap," he said. "My first take on Paul was how non-judgmental Robert was about him, so I decided that would be my approach as well, that I would play him as written and not sort of ever wink to the camera or try to either increase or decrease his plight or his tragedy. His is a guy that is existing and is actually fighting to just exist and not be pulled into any kind of improvement and struggle, which I kind of found weirdly noble of him, in a strange way."
Because no Giants-related tale would be complete without a trip to Jersey, Siegel, Oswalt and crew shot tailgating footage for the film in the parking lot of Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. However, while the finished footage looks like it was shot on a game day, Siegel admitted that the scene, which involves Oswalt and actor Kevin Corrigan as Paul's best friend mingling with the fans, was actually shot in the off-season around March of 2008.
"We shot that while the Raceway, I'm kind of proud of this, the Meadowlands Raceway was in full swing and it was on a Saturday, I think, when we knew there'd be a full parking lot," Siegel explained. "We needed cars; the first thing we needed was a big, car-filled empty parking lot and I realized that if I shoot it while the races are in and all the winos and race people are in the stadium watching, it's the same parking lot for the Raceway as for Giants Stadium, so we got permission from the Meadowlands Raceway to shoot in the parking lot and it just looked like Giants Stadium was full, and then we brought in half of Staten Island. This guy Nick Gallo is one of our producers and he just called everybody he knows from Staten Island, they came in there and we basically just threw a big fake tailgate party."
Of course, this isn't the first film penned by Siegel to be shot in Jersey -- "The Wrestler," which was directed by Darren Aranofsky, rolled film in various locations across the state, including Elizabeth, Linden and the Asbury Park boardwalk.
Asked about the use of New Jersey locations in "The Wrester," Siegel said, "I thought it was great. It made no geographic sense, but that's totally my own nitpicking. I mean, I thought it was great in the movie. The guy lives up in Elizabeth and it wouldn't really make sense for him (to go to Asbury Park), it's about an hour and a half to the Jersey Shore. But that aside, cinematically it's amazing, the ruins of Asbury Park and I'm a huge, huge Springsteen fan, so Asbury Park has its romantic allure for me, to see all the crumbling, the dance hall, the palaces, I love that Darren got that on film, it's cool."
Channeling fandom
For all of the depth and feeling which Oswalt brings to the dramatic leading role of Giants superfan Paul, the actor readily admits to not exactly being a sports guy. Instead, he said he was able to channel other kinds of fandom, such as a love of comic books, into his performance as a "Big Fan."
"All those kind of passions and obsessions that I have and that my circle of friends have, I have a very first-hand view and access to that kind of energy every day of my life, basically, so I had a lot to draw from," Oswalt said. "It's the same spark every time, it's just different fuel, it's different things that kind of make these guys' obsessions go, but when it comes down to it, it's the same motion, it's the same drive. Paul is just pure and amplified."
According to Siegel, Oswalt came with certain inherent qualities that made him a good fit for the role of Paul. "He was just close to what I'd imagined in terms of appearance, age, the qualities he has as a person -- I think Patton has a real likability bordering on lovability," Seigel explained.
"People just really root for him just in general and in stand up and in life; Patton has a tremendous amount of goodwill aimed in his direction from the world, I think so, I think people are really rooting for him to succeed in this movie, I think people are rooting for his character to succeed and I think people are rooting for Patton to succeed; a lot of people, I feel like, are hoping this will be a big success so that it will do great things for him and it's so great to see more of Patton, the world needs more of Patton."
Fortunately, it looks like the world is about to see a lot more of Patton: along with the premiere of "Big Fan," Oswalt had his latest Comedy Central special, "My Weakness is Strong" debut on Sunday (Aug. 23), with the special set to be released on CD and DVD on Tuesday (Aug. 25).
"I don't know what to say, I'm very happy with them," Oswalt said when discussing his latest comedy projects. "It was really exciting to do, it's my third album and I'm at that stage where I'm happier and happier with my material right now, so I hope people like it."
And while "Big Fan" is a huge step forward in Oswalt's acting career, he said his work on the big screen will never take away from his comedy duties, which include an upcoming performance on Oct. 9 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.
"What's great is I've done standup for so long now that I don't need that much prep to go up on stage. ... I'm still a professional, I want to get up early the next day to be ready to work, but if I have a night off I'll go up on stage," he said. "Stand up has always just been fun so I always treat it as fun. And I can also just plan ahead and go well, if I do a movie and say, ‘Hey, I need these two nights off to do this,' and for the most part they're cool. I would never let one impinge on the other; I think they can be managed."
