Robert Siegel’s BIG FANtasia

Fandom can veer into mania, whether you cheer baseball, football or water polo. If you “bleed purple” for the Vikes or paint your face black and silver like some Bay-area refugee of the planet Cheron, chances are the distance between the stadium and the asylum is really just a matter of the number of the uniformed enablers in your corner… of the sports bar. (Please know I empathize. Just read I Wanna Be A Cowboy, my season-long series of football entries for proof of my obsessive behavior.)

In BIG FAN, Patton Oswalt‘s loyalty to the New York Giants supersedes typical socialization. He maintains a humbling gig as a garage attendant, endures a humiliating home-life under his Mom’s roof and foregoes dating accepting self-gratification as a substitute for true love. His only friend is a fellow football fanatic who reveres Patton’s practiced late night calls to a local sports-radio jabberfest.

Both Oswalt and co-conspirator Kevin Corrigan — (t)his generation’s Christopher Walken — embody these lonely enthusiasts so convincingly, BIG FAN takes on the feel of peculiar surveillance video, at times. It is a tribute to writer and (debut) director Robert D. Siegel that their humanity shines through the desperate lunacy. Siegel, the former Editor-In-Chief of The Onion, tempers the satire with a sincerity that also guided his script for THE WRESTLER. Had distributor Fox Searchlight not been shilling so hard for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, chances are both Siegel and Darren Aronofsky would  have been Oscar®-nominated. (For my review of BIG FAN, click here.)

Mr. Siegel awarded me with answers to my ten questions below, and even if I can’t fully coax him to prognosticate, trust that his responses are as provocative as anything uttered by Jimmy The Greek.

BIG FAN is in theaters now. For venues and showtimes, click here.

WARREN: Many Americans love their sports more than their spouses. Why do men like Patton’s BIG FAN have an easier time relating to athletes than paramours?

ROBERT: Probably because they don’t have to actually deal with them. Sports fandom, unlike spousal fandom, is a one-way relationship. It’s just easier.

WARREN: BIG FAN and THE WRESTLER could be classified dramas, but both have their darkly comic edges. Does this explain the casting of Patton Oswalt… and Todd Barry and Judah Friedlander?

ROBERT: I’m not in favor of stunt-casting. Like, “Ooh! Look at the comedian in the drama! Wasn’t that a bold, brave casting choice?” It just so happens that those guys were right for those roles. They look the part. Also, I like actors who have interesting faces and, generally speaking, I find that there’s a higher percentage of comedians with interesting looks than dramatic actors. Take a look at the comedians who are out there, and you’ll find there’s a greater variety of shapes and sizes than there are in the world of dramatic actors, who tend to be more traditionally handsome and, by extension, less interesting to me. And, yes, the fact that those guys you mentioned have comedy chops is a plus. It’s important for me to have people who can be both funny and serious. And it’s easier to get a funny guy to be serious than to get a serious guy to be funny.

WARREN: Is sports radio the last bastion of true discourse or just another example of how polarized our nation’s become?

ROBERT: I guess it depends on your definition of true discourse. As with any media, there’s good sports radio and bad sports radio. Some shows, you tune in and hear an intelligent, incisive exchange of ideas between host and caller about a the Jets’ decision to go for it on 4th and 9. And some shows, you hear some crazy dude ranting about how the Raiders are gonna kick the Broncos asses on Sunday. It’s really no different than political talk. Some shows are Charlie Rose, some are Bill O’Reilly.

WARREN: Growing up, every kid who loves football wants, initially, to play quarterback. When you entered into screenwriting, did you always want to direct? Is about the control… or the glamour?

ROBERT: No, I had no intention to direct, but looking back, I shouldn’t be surprised it went that way. I always gravitate toward positions of control. When I was with The Onion, I started out as a writer with no plans to move up the ladder, but within a couple years I found myself editor-in-chief. There’s just a part of me that likes to make decisions and delegate and do all that sort of authority/leadership stuff.

WARREN: Quiet on the set. Were you… even on the set at all for THE WRESTLER? If so, did you steal some directorial tricks from Darren for your debut feature?

ROBERT: Yes, I was on set during THE WRESTLER. What I stole, though, was not so much directorial tricks but crew members. I was in pre-production on BIG FAN when THE WRESTLER was shooting. And while on set, I’d go around to the different department heads trying to snag people for BIG FAN. I’d ask the sound guy if he had a talented young protegee who might be willing to work cheap for a good film credit. Same with wardrobe, makeup, etc. That’s where a lot of my crew came from.

WARREN: BIG FAN was well-received at Sundance… but that’s an audience comprised of leisure-skiing, coke-snorting, filmmaking wannabes and studio reps. Seems like the ultimate presentation would to be to screen BIG FAN on jumbo-trons at football stadiums nation-wide. Would you care what the fans think?

ROBERT: Absolutely. As well-received as it was at Sundance, it plays better with non-film snobs. If I had my choice of this movie playing arthouses or malls, I’d take the malls.

WARREN: Quantrell Bishop is a fictive creation, yes? Any similarities to Plaxico Burress and his premature discharge are purely coincidental? Is QB reflective of any of your own idol worship?

ROBERT: Quantrell predates Plaxico by about six years. I wrote this movie in 2002, way before Plax tucked that gun into his sweatpants. Back at the time I wrote it, the big sports-world scandal that people thought the movie was based on was Ron Artest. He’s the Pacers player who went up into the stands in Detroit and punched a Pistons fan. This stuff has always been around and always will. As for whether this is reflective of my own idol worship, I’d have to say no. It’s basically just a story I made up.

WARREN: Presumably, the NFL did not cotton to your take on its fan base. Did you even try gaining the league’s support? Did you wish you could have shot a game, gone inside a stadium?

ROBERT: I never tried to get the league’s support. That just wasn’t going to happen. That said, I wasn’t looking to get sued by the league. I consulted very closely with a lawyer, who told me what was legally safe and what wasn’t. And going inside a stadium definitely wasn’t.

WARREN: The Giants are legitimate contenders this year. Care to offer a prediction regarding their November 1st trip to Philly to play the Iggles?

ROBERT: The Giants will beat the Eagles asses. Or vice-versa.

WARREN: Now, if I admit that I’ve been a Cowboys fan since I was five, will this interview be over?

ROBERT: It IS over.