He is a “comic’s comic.” He is one of those guys who every stand-up comedian worth their salt would give their first HBO special to come close to in terms of intelligence, originality and work ethic.

As talented as Oswalt is as a comedian, the buzz at the Sundance Film Festival focused on his acting talent.

Oswalt stars in a new indie film, Big Fan, which was written and directed by Robert D. Siegal who wrote the screenplay for last year’s highly-acclaimed, Oscar nominated film The Wrestler.

The main character in Big Fan is Paul Aufiero, a die-hard New York Giant football fan whose life takes a dramatic turn when he is assaulted by his favorite player.

The role is challenging and complex and, by most early reports, Oswalt knocks it out of the park — my own use of a baseball metaphor to describe a football movie notwithstanding.

The film and Oswalt’s performance created enough heat at the Sundance Film festival to get the film picked up by First Independent Pictures for release later this year.

Josh Tyler at Cinema Blend praises Oswalt’s performance saying, “Patton does something pretty amazing here, creating a character that is all at once comedic, heartbreaking, and supremely insightful.”

Keep an eye out for Big Fan at theaters later this year. In the meantime, we’ll all have to settle for the trailer for a glimpse of what is shaping up as a breakthrough role for Oswalt and another critical hit for Robert D. Siegal.

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And for those who can’t get enough of the comedic side of Oswalt, a special treat: Oswalt’s appearance on Conan O’Brien where he discusses 67-year old women getting pregnant and his now classic KFC Bowl bit can be found here.

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Post from: EveryJoe