Author: Jeff Giles (Page 3 of 11)

Patton Oswalt talks “Big Fan,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Dollhouse,” and more

September 1, 2009 /

In the past several years Patton Oswalt has plotted an admirable career arc, going from being “that guy on ‘The King of Queens'” to the voice of Remy in “Ratatouille” to a progressively more well-known stand-up comedian. His hot streak continues this month with the theatrical release of the positively reviewed “Big Fan” and his latest comedy CD, My Weakness Is Strong — all of which means now is a pretty great time for Bullz-Eye’s Will Harris to have a chat with Mr. Oswalt.

“Big Fan” was naturally a main point of discussion, and Oswalt opened up about taking on a dramatic role after spending so long building his comedy chops, saying:

A lot of my instincts as an actor, I had to kind of sit on (during ‘Big Fan’). Like, my instinct was, ‘I need to end this scene with a funny look or a button of some sort,’ and I couldn’t do that. So that was certainly odd for me to not have that resource in this role, but…it was kind of cool to be in that situation for once in my career, where I’m just totally outside of my comfort zone. I mean, unbelievably outside of my comfort zone. It was kind of thrilling.

But don’t worry — Oswalt isn’t abandoning his funny side. In fact, as he discusses in the interview, his standup is evolving as he gets older, something illustrated on My Weakness Is Strong:

I think most comedians go through that, where you have to change or evolve. You don’t want to just keep doing variations on the same themes. And, besides, it would look kinda creepy for a guy my age to be doing stuff that, like, a 20-year-old would do. ‘Yeah, this is bullshit!’ It’s, like, ‘Really? You don’t have bigger concerns at this point in your life?’

To read more of the interview — including some of the performances Patton feels never got the attention they deserved, favorite unheralded films, and what it was like to work on Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” — click on the image above or follow this link!

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Andrew Zimmern heads out into the great big “Bizarre World”

September 1, 2009 /

Feeling déjà vu? No, you aren’t crazy — Bullz-Eye’s Will Harris has indeed interviewed Andrew Zimmern before. But that was way back when Mr. Zimmern was only the host of “Bizarre Foods” — and now he’s got a brand new show to promote, the smartly titled “Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World.” In honor of the new series, Andrew and Will renewed their acquaintance to discuss a variety of “Bizarre” topics, starting with the “Bizarre Foods” encounter with a witch doctor that indirectly inspired “Bizarre World”:

It was one of our favorite acts…and we didn’t eat a thing in it! I mean, the guy spat up on me, he beat me with poisonous branches, he beat a guinea pig to death against me, he blew smoke on me, he spat up on me again, he lit me on fire…and he did all of this stuff in the name of purging demons from me!

But fear not, “Bizarre Foods” fans — although the focus of the new series might be slightly different, it’s still cut from the same cloth as the show you’ve grown to love. As Zimmern puts it:

I’m a food guy, first and foremost, but I think that if you showed a cut of a ‘Bizarre World’ episode to a ‘Bizarre Foods’ fan, they would never notice that there’s less food. They would just be, I think, really psyched that there’s more non-food stories thrown in.

And of course, food or no food, the main ingredient of either show is Zimmern’s unabashed love for new experiences — a love that proves infectuous for viewers of all ages. In his own words:

The single greatest pleasure that I have in doing this show is when I meet families with 6, 7, 8-year-olds, or teenagers, who say, ‘It’s something the whole family can watch, and it lets us show our younger children that one man’s ‘weird’ is another man’s ‘wonderful,’ and we all kind of live in the same place.’ It’s just the best part of my day.

To read more of Will Harris’ latest chat with Andrew Zimmern, click on the above image or follow this link!

External TV, Interviews, Reality TV, TV

It’s Fall Movie Preview time!

August 28, 2009 /

So, what did you do on your summer vacation? You already know what the Hollywood studios did — namely, repeat their annual tradition of flooding theaters with months of sequels, action flicks, and expensive film adaptations of any book, game, or toy with enough built-in name recognition to guarantee a Top 5 debut at the box office. Now that the autumn months are upon us, it’s a different story: with a few notable exceptions, popcorn pictures are out and more traditionally grown-up fare (including the yearly parade of awards contenders) is in. Which also means, as you’ve hopefully already guessed, that it’s time for Bullz-Eye’s 2009 Fall Movie Preview.

Of course, it isn’t all serious stuff. Why, one week in September alone features a CGI adaptation of a classic kid’s book (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”), a bloody good time of a horror flick (“Jennifer’s Body”), and some deep space sci-fi (“Pandorum”). And that pretty much sets the tone for the season — aside from Dimension’s long-delayed adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-winning “The Road,” there really aren’t any surefire Oscar contenders in this year’s fall slate. Which is not to say none of these movies have their fair share of buzz: Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” has been making jaws drop since its first trailer debuted a couple of months ago, Robert Zemeckis makes more motion-capture magic with Jim Carrey in Disney’s new take on “A Christmas Carol,” and the season also boasts new films from perennial award-winners Michael Moore (“Capitalism: A Love Story”), Steven Soderbergh (“The Informant!”), and Wes Anderson (“The Fantastic Mr. Fox”).

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? Talking about the movies is what the Fall Movie Preview is for — so what do you say we get started? Click the image above (or follow this link) for the month-by-month skinny on the 25 movies we’re looking forward to seeing between now and Thanksgiving!

External Movies, Movies

Pamela Adlon gets back to “Californication,” bids adieu to “King of the Hill”

August 28, 2009 /

Unless you watch “Californication” — or were a fan of Showtime’s swiftly canceled “Lucky Louie” — you may not know Pamela Adlon’s face. If you’ve ever watched “King of the Hill,” however, you almost certainly know the sound of her voice, because she played the pudgy, slow-witted Bobby Hill during the Fox series’ long run, which comes to a close September 13.

Adlon is, of course, neither pudgy nor slow-witted — which made her great company for Bullz-Eye’s Will Harris during their recent chat. One major topic, naturally, was the long, bumpy road “King” traveled during its time on the airwaves:

For years, Fox moved us around. We weren’t even prime time. They would say, ‘Prime time starts at 8 PM,’ and we’d be on at 7:30. And they pushed us around so much that we were canceled four times before this. But we kept growing back up from the pavement, like a flower. It’s just a testament to the show itself and its writing that it’s survived this long.

With “Californication” kicking off its third season, Adlon’s work on that series was a source of conversation, too — although she couldn’t talk much about what’s going to transpire in the coming weeks. She did, however, get in depth about her character’s story arc in Season Two:

I had E-mailed Tom Kapinos before we started production for the second season, and I was, like, ‘Come on, give me a little taste! Let me know what’s going on!’ And he said, “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Marcy had a bit of a drug problem back in the ‘80s. And she gets into that again.’ And I went, ‘Oh…!’ I wrote him back and said, ‘Yes! Marcy had a thirsty little nose!

To read more of Adlon’s thoughts on “Californication” and “King of the Hill,” as well as her prolific career in voiceover work, click on the image above or follow this link!

Actresses, External TV, Interviews, TV

Adam McKay has “The Goods”

August 27, 2009 /

You may not know Adam McKay by name, but you’ve almost certainly seen his work: the former “Saturday Night Live” writer has been virtually inseperable from Will Ferrell since the latter ankled “SNL” for a future in feature films, directing such comedy classics as “Anchorman,” “Talladega Nights,” and “Step Brothers.” And that isn’t all — McKay and Ferrell’s production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, is responsible for a long list of films and television shows, including “Eastbound and Down,” “The Foot Fist Way,” and, most recently, “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.” It’s that last project that has McKay making the publicity rounds these days, discussing the Sanchez-produced, Jeremy Piven-led comedy about a legendary car salesman.

Of course, with a resume — and list of upcoming projects — as intriguing as McKay’s, “The Goods” isn’t the only thing worth talking about, and during his recent chat with McKay, Bullz-Eye’s Will Harris made sure to pick his brain about a variety of topics, from how he and Ferrell met to the second season of “Eastbound and Down” to that oft-rumored “Anchorman” sequel. Which, McKay tells us, will happen…eventually:

We have a very clear idea for it, we want to do it, and we’ve talked to everyone, and everyone has said that they’re in, but everyone has schedules. Sadly, the second part after I say, ‘We’ll do it,’ is that it could be two or three years away.

With eight more episodes of “Eastbound and Down” on the way, it’s only natural to wonder how much McKay can spill about where the next season will take us — and just as natural for McKay to play it close to the vest:

Let’s see if I can give a clue without wrecking anything. I’d say the question for this season is, “Will Kenny return?” I don’t know, I don’t want to say anything. I don’t want to wreck it, because they have some cool ideas.

And that’s just scratching the surface of the interview. To read about McKay’s thoughts on the “SNL” years, his feelings about the impending DVD release of “You’re Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush,” what to expect from Jon Heder’s upcoming sitcom, and more, click on the image above or follow this link!

External Entertainment, Interviews, Movies, TV

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