robert siegel Tagged Articles at Cinematical

IFP's Gotham Independent Film Awards kicks off the awards season in November each year with an impressive list of nominees, and this year's list is no different. While it includes big names like the Coens for A Serious Man and buzzy films like The Hurt Locker and Big Fan, it also gives deserving nods to smaller films like Amreeka, a wonderful film about a mother and son from the West Bank who move the Illinois. The awards also include tributes to the careers of Natalie Portman, Stanley Tucci, and The Hurt Locker's director Kathryn Bigelow, as well as producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, who both worked on A Serious Man, The Soloist, State of Play, and a slew of other projects.

Previous Gotham winners include Frozen River, Trouble the Water, Into the Wild, Sicko, and Half Nelson, just to name a few. Check out Cinematical's preview coverage of the awards here.

The full list of nominees is after the jump.

Click image below to view entire poster

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Big Fan, one of my favorite films from this past Sundance Film Festival and a must-see for anyone who's ever taken their fandom a bit too far. Written and directed by The Wrestler screenwriter Robert Siegel, Big Fan stars Patton Oswalt as a lonely New York Giants fan living out his days as an overnight parking lot attendant on Staten Island whose obsession with his favorite football team leads to an unfortunate (and embarrassing) incident involving his favorite player -- forcing our big fan to choose between his team and the rest of his life.

From my Sundance review: "... this isn't a film about sports, it's a film about fandom -- about being so in love with something you go overboard and neglect your friends, your family and your life in order to feed your addiction. This isn't a comedy about the goofy football fan who gets off on chanting and screaming his team's name; it's instead a cold, lonely drama (with brief moments of awkward humor) about the neurotic football fan who'd give up everything (and I mean everything) to see his team make the playoffs."

For more on Big Fan, check out our Sundance interviews with Patton Oswalt and Robert Siegel, and check out the full poster by clicking the image below. Big Fan will hit theaters later this year.

Robert Siegel made his directorial debut with Big Fan (reviewed by Erik Davis) at this year's Sundance Film Festival; comedian Patton Oswalt (interviewed here) stars as a lonely sports talk radio caller and New York Giants fanatic whose only love goes horribly wrong. Siegel spoke with Cinematical in Park City about his acclaimed script for The Wrestler, directing a comedian, why he's not worried about the wrath of the NFL, why Big Fan wouldn't have worked with George Clooney in the lead, and what he was hoping to explore with the film: "Sports radio can be very wonderful and joyous and spirited, but other times it can just be this forum for bitter ... it's a lot like the internet, you know? There are good blogs and bad blogs ... so in that way, (the world of sports radio) is kind of like the proto-blog, where you can just vent and take out all your frustrations ... but there's definitely this kind of angry White male hostile undercurrent to a lot of sports radio; it wouldn't be interesting to me if that was the only thing it had going for it, but that thing definitely gives it an extra layer. ... "

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

As Paul Auferio, the title character in Robert Siegel's Big Fan (which Erik Davis reviews here), Patton Oswalt didn't have a chance to fall back on the skill set he's honed through the years as one of the best stand-up comics working today: "As a comedian, your instinct is you tag everything with a joke or a look or a take; this guy, this character ... this is not one of those movies where the writer and director is looking at the characters ironically or in a post-modern sense where it's implied You all know that we're better than that, we're way smarter than this, that we're all looking down on this character, aren't we? This is a character that has no irony about himself ... and just unabashedly loves what he loves, to the detriment of having a real life. ..."

Oswalt spoke with Cinematical about the challenges facing a movie and comics obsessive in the part of playing a sports obsessive, how he sees Paul as an 'imploding" character, some of his favorite independent films and how he sees Big Fan as a tribute to some of the classic 'lonely man' dramas of the 1970's, plus much more.

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Perhaps I'm predisposed to liking Big Fan since a) I'm a die hard Giants fan, b) I grew up in the neighborhood where it was shot, and c) it's a film about sports fanaticism, which is a topic I know quite a bit about. But that doesn't mean you'll hate Big Fan if you aren't familiar with sports or the New York football Giants because this isn't a film about sports, it's a film about fandom -- about being so in love with something you go overboard and neglect your friends, your family and your life in order to feed your addiction. This isn't a comedy about the goofy football fan who gets off on chanting and screaming his team's name; it's instead a cold, lonely drama (with brief moments of awkward humor) about the neurotic football fan who'd give up everything (and I mean everything) to see his team make the playoffs.

Set in the borough of Staten Island, home to the blue collar heroes of New York City, Big Fan follows just one of several guys who live and die by their favorite sports team. Football is in no way just a simple form of weekend entertainment in New York; it's almost a religion for some people -- including Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt), a 35-year-old Giants fanatic who still lives at home with his nagging mother while working the late shift inside one of those parking garage toll booths at a hospital. While at work, Paul spends his time carefully penning Giants-themed trash talk speeches so that he can call in to the overnight talk radio show and give those Philadelphia Eagles fans (especially one loudmouth nicknamed Philadelphia Phil) some of the business. This is Paul's entire life -- and when he's not at work writing his speeches, or outside Giants Stadium watching the games on a makeshift television with his one friend, he's dealing with a family who want Paul to finally do something with his life.

Odds and ends from Monday:

• After pleading guilty in the Anthony Pellicano case (I'm wondering how long it will take before this whole thing shows up as a television miniseries?), director John McTiernan is heading back behind the camera, instead of behind bars. With the real-life FBI still investigating the Pellicano scandal and McTiernan's involvement, the Die Hard director will be helming a film called Deadly Exchange. Pic is said to be about a terrorist who hunts down the FBI agent that killed his father 10 years earlier. Too bad, we could've used some of McTiernan on Die Hard 4.0. Oh well.
• In other terrorist news, Miramax Films (Holy crap -- they're still around!) has snatched up a spec script written by former Onion editor, Robert J. Siegel. Homeland Insecurity will revolve around two Arab-American guys who are mistaken for terrorists while on a business trip in Texas. Knowing Siegel's roots, I'd imagine this one is going to rip on post 9/11 security ... or the lack thereof.
• Amanda Bynes (Who I like to think of as Lindsay Lohan without all the gossip) has reportedly signed on to star in the movie-turned-musical-turned-movie version of Hairspray. Joining folks like John Travolta, Queen Latifah and Michelle Pfeiffer, Bynes will be playing the role of Penny Pingleton -- best friend to Tracy Turnbald. With Tracy's part still not cast and Ricki Lake obviously out of the picture, I'm wondering who they'll get to fill her shoes? Ooohh, throw Lohan in a fat suit -- how rad would that be?

One of the best satirical websites ever to be conceived, The Onion, has a movie in the works--in theory. I have no idea what it's about, but it's billed as a "sketch comedy" and is written by Robert Siegel and Todd Hansen, writers for The Onion, so it's sure to be chock-full of the unique brand of satire The Onion is so well known for. IMDB lists roles for the film including "Texas Chainsaw Killer", "The Penis Businessman", "Upstanding Black Man" and "Gil Bates" and has aging action-star Steven Seagal in the coveted role of "Cock Puncher". Steven Seagal as "Cock Puncher"?!? I'd see the film just to see that.

However, the movie finished shooting in 2004, was supposed to be released in 2005, and still isn't out. So not sure what gives. Actor Amir Talai, who had a role in the film, last updated his blog entry about the film in October 2004, with the note that the film had been pushed to 2005. I emailed Amir to see if he had any updates, and he said he hasn't heard anything about the film for over a year, which wouldn't seem to bode well for the film ever seeing the light of day. We emailed the editors of The Onion as well, but got no response.

So, anyone out there with the inside scoop on The Onion movie? What gives? Did Fox Searchlight greenlight the film, then decide it sucked? Were audience reactions to the film's previews so dismal they decided to pull it? Was it not funny enough? Too satirical? Or is all this just part of the secret plan to draw interest in the film?