Patton Oswalt in "Big Fan": "I had to resist the urge to put a little wink and a nod on everything I do"

From Movieline:
So how do your research a part like this, or get into Paul Aufiero’s head?
I just have to be very aware of the passions and obsessions I have in life. Film, comic books, stuff like that.It’s the same energy going into that. It wasn’t that hard of a leap to make.

Everyone relates to obsession. But how fine a line do you think there is between that and pathology?
Well, I’m at the point where I want it to enhance my life. I want it to supplement my life. This guy has crossed that line — if it ever existed, which it probably didn’t for him. This has totally replaced existence for him. And you see that with a lot of people: Politics, film, pop stars, whatever. They fill their empty lives with that stuff. So there you go.

Did you reach out to any Giants obsessives at all? Did you listen to them on talk radio?
No. I saw this guy as such a void that I said, “I’ve got to embrace the void that this guy is.” I had to resist the urge to put a little wink and a nod on everything I do.

Were exploring those vagaries part of the process for you and Rob Siegel (pictured at right with Oswalt)?
We didn’t really talk very much about it because he had so much else on his mind. First-time director! I was kind of left alone to figure out who this guy was, and I just made the commitment to him wanting to have no impact on life. I wanted to not interact with people. Nothing could get in the way of my team.

Rob’s scripts — first The Wrestler, now Big Fan — tend to explore that territory of men’s obsessions, particularly as they pertain to sports. What, if anything, makes these films of a piece for you?
At least to me, the thing that Randy “the Ram” Robinson has in common with Paul Aufiero is that for everything they feel passionate about, they don’t feel the need to defend or explain. Even when Randy is apologizing to his daughter, he’s not defending wrestling. He’s saying, “My behavior was bad.” He doesn’t stop wrestling. It’s the thing that he loves and that loves him back. Big Fan goes a little darker and deeper into the thing Paul loves that does not love him back. Then what do you do?