YOUNG ADULT -- Patton Oswalt interview

From: Andrea Chase
Series: Behind the Scenes
Length: 17:17

Patton Oswalt on uber-nerds, working with his whole body, and why Jason Statham makes everything better. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: YOUNG ADULT -- Patton Oswalt interview
From: Andrea Chase

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Patton Oswalt was robbed. When I spoke to him on November 15, 2011, I was positive that he had a lock on a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work in YOUNG ADULT. Certainly, no one that was subsequently nominated in that category gave a better performance. As Matt, the nerd hopelessly in love with Charlize Theron’s Mavis, an obtuse ex-high school prom queen, Oswalt was funny, heartbreaking and an effortlessly skillful combination of innocence and cynicism. What more do those who decide these things need?

My conversation with the actor, author, and stand-up comedian was as delightfully multi-faceted as the man himself. I started by giving him props for overcoming a recent bout with the flu before getting to the his work in YOUNG ADULT and then moving on to the mutability of memory, and then his passion for cinema. From the subversive nature of THE SEARCHERS to why he though Mavis was not unlike Swamp Thing, and onto the vagina dentata and Richard III as an uber-nerd as well as a villain with a reasonable grudge, Oswalt was erudite, pithy, and darn funny. We concluded with his explanation of how action star Jason Statham improves any film, followed by his generous humoring of my request for examples of how Mr. Statham’s presence would improve even films that were already garnering Oscar™ buzz. You will never think of Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE in quite the same way again.

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Piece Description

Patton Oswalt was robbed. When I spoke to him on November 15, 2011, I was positive that he had a lock on a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work in YOUNG ADULT. Certainly, no one that was subsequently nominated in that category gave a better performance. As Matt, the nerd hopelessly in love with Charlize Theron’s Mavis, an obtuse ex-high school prom queen, Oswalt was funny, heartbreaking and an effortlessly skillful combination of innocence and cynicism. What more do those who decide these things need?

My conversation with the actor, author, and stand-up comedian was as delightfully multi-faceted as the man himself. I started by giving him props for overcoming a recent bout with the flu before getting to the his work in YOUNG ADULT and then moving on to the mutability of memory, and then his passion for cinema. From the subversive nature of THE SEARCHERS to why he though Mavis was not unlike Swamp Thing, and onto the vagina dentata and Richard III as an uber-nerd as well as a villain with a reasonable grudge, Oswalt was erudite, pithy, and darn funny. We concluded with his explanation of how action star Jason Statham improves any film, followed by his generous humoring of my request for examples of how Mr. Statham’s presence would improve even films that were already garnering Oscar™ buzz. You will never think of Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE in quite the same way again.

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

Andrea Chase takes you Behind the Scenes of YOUNG ADULT with co-star, Phi Kapp Tau and flu survivor, Patton Oswalt. YOUNG ADULT is a film about growing up, moving on, and letting go. Oswalt plays Matt Frehauf, a self-described geek with a flair for hybridizing action figures, a limp from a case of mistaken orientation, and the unexpected and Cassandra-like voice of reason for Mavis, the high school beauty lately returned to the small town of Mercury, Minnesota to reclaim her high school sweetheart despite the fact that is happily married and a new father. Charlize Theron as Mavis and Patrick Wilson as her erstwhile boyfriend. The film was directed by Jason Reitman from a script by Diablo Cody, with whom Reitman previously collaborated on JUNO, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Oswalt’s previous work includes a stint as Spence on television’s The King of Queens, Jim the Original Fry Cook in a Spongebob Squarepants episode of the same name, the voice of Ratatouille in the eponymous film. He is also a stand-up whose oeuvre boats organizing the Comedians of Comedy Tour, several comedy albums, of which the latest is “Patton Oswalt’s Finest Hour”, he is also the author of, among other things, “Serenity: Float Out” from Dark Horse Comics with expands on the universe created by Joss Whedon’s “Firefly“, and just this very year “Zombie Spaceship Wasteland“ a memoir in essay form soon to be released in paperback with bonus material.

OUTRO:

Andrea Chase has taken you Behind the Scenes of YOUNG ADULT with co-star Patton Oswalt.