Patton Oswalt and Anthony Bourdain Became Friends Because of ‘Ratatouille’

If it weren’t for Ratatouille, Patton Oswalt and the late Anthony Bourdain may not have been friends.

Oswalt stopped by Watch What Happens Live recently to promote his upcoming role in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and was asked how he and the American chef and author originally connected.

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“I became friends with him because he was a huge fan of Ratatouille,” Oswalt said, “He was like, ‘They got kitchens and chefs right. It’s very, very accurate.'”

The actor voices the Pixar animated film’s main character, Remy, a Parisian rat with a passion and talent for cooking, who joins forces with a garbage boy at a fine-dining restaurant, and together, they become a dynamic chef duo.

Oswalt also recalled reaching out to Bourdain for recommendations when he and his wife were going to honeymoon in Paris, and the chef’s response was sweet but only worked for him.

“He sent back this amazing paragraph that, like, a Beat poet would write, going, ‘Don’t do, just walk in anywhere, you gotta wander around, and let it happen,'” Oswalt explained on the late night show hosted by Andy Cohen.

He continued, “We found out very quickly, that works great if you’re Anthony Bourdain. But if you’re me, you need to call ahead and make reservations. You’re not getting in anywhere. But he meant well. Very passionate and from the heart.”

Oswalt portrays Dr. Hubert Wartzki in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and joins fellow newcomers James Acaster, who plays Lars Pinfield, and Kumail Nanjiani taking on the role of Nadeem Razmaadi. Finn Wolfhard, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim, along with original Ghostbusters Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson, round out the sequel’s star-studded cast.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is in theaters now.

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