Patton Oswalt's Moviegoing Mania: 'I Was on My Mission'

Patton Oswalt’s new memoir reveals the actor/comedian’s struggle with a scary addiction, a physical and emotional dependency that kept luring him back to dark rooms for a fix.

For four years in the late ’90s, Oswalt was hopelessly addicted to movies.

Now a well-established sitcom star, movie actor and touring comedian, Oswalt has written a new book Silver Screen Fiend (out now) about the formative years he spent in little repertory movie theaters in Los Angeles. No film was too old, and no director too obscure; the appendix of his book contains a 34-page list of movies that Oswalt saw during that time period.

Oswalt spoke with Yahoo Movies about his addiction to film, the transition to actually working in movies, and what it was like hitting the Oscar campaign trail for 2011’s Young Adult.

I try to watch a movie a day, and I was stunned by the attention span you had. You watched three or four movies a night sometimes.
Well, because I was younger and in my mind, I was on my mission. So that gave me the fortitude I guess.

And there was no Twitter.
Exactly. There was no Twitter! Oh my God, I wonder if that was part of it?

What’s your movie-watching schedule like now?
Maybe one a week, if I’m lucky. I’m just so slammed with other stuff now, and I’m glad that I am. My daughter, and doing way more stand up, actually being in movies, being in TV shows. The opportunity to create is finite. The opportunity to consume is always there. So I’m not going to let the one get in the way of the other.

During those four years of addiction or even after, what was your worst filmgoing experience?
I always had fun. I was always happy to go see a movie. There were times when someone was talking, and the movie was awful. But to me, the experience of seeing a movie, even a bad one, it was like, ‘Well I’m learning something, what to do or not to do.’

Now people use cell phones non-stop in theaters. What’s your stance on theater etiquette like that?
My stance on theater etiquette goes back to, ‘When you leave, don’t leave any of your snacks on the ground, pick them up and throw them the f—- away.’ I don’t know why people can’t even do that. I don’t know why American theaters don’t do what theaters in India do, which is just run a cell phone blocker. This sounds kind of mean, but it will train people.

Watch the trailer for ‘Ratatouille,’ the Oscar-winning Pixar movie in which Oswalt starred:

You said that everything you see helps you creatively, even if you haven’t directed a movie. So for people who want to be filmmakers but haven’t gone to film school, which films should they see?
You should see whatever you are interested in and then follow that line to whatever the next film is that interests you. If you like westerns, watch westerns, but if there’s an element within one western that leads you to romantic films, follow that. Because the only good movies you’re ever going to make are movies that you wish you could see.

I remember when I was 14, and I saw Kevin Smith movies and realized, ‘Oh my god, people can make movies about their normal lives.’ Was there a movie that opened your eyes like that?
A lot of John Waters’ stuff — the fact that you could shoot surrealism in the suburbs. Little indie movies that I saw, Carnival of Souls, where it was like, you can shoot what you like, you can use what’s around you rather than have to wait for some set to be built. You can make reality look cinematic. Or you can make it stunning because it’s not cinematic.

What about seeing Star Wars?
Oh, just your standard answer. Oh my god, wow. Really? OK. “Yeah, wow, it really blew my mind! It changed everything! I was eight years and it changed everything!” [Sighs]

Well then, what do you want to see in the new Star Wars sequel?
What I want to do is clear my mind of expectation and be surprised by it. When I went to see Star Wars, I knew it had the word “star” and “wars” in the title, and I had an 8-year-old’s visions in my head of what I wanted to see, but they gave me totally what I wasn’t expecting, and made that the new paradigm. So I want to go in with a blank slate and be surprised.

It’s harder and harder to do that on the internet, with everyone constantly looking for fresh tidbits.
I know, and that’s the fault of the viewer. You’ve got to decide not to watch it in little increments on the Internet. That’s not the filmmaker’s fault, or even the Internet’s fault. It’s the viewer’s fault.

Pixar is making more sequels. Are you going to get the call for Ratatouille 2?
Ha, I’ll be the last to know!

Have you gotten to see many movies in the past year?
No, not really. I loved Boyhood, obviously. I loved Birdman and I thought Guardians of the Galaxy was really fun. I have not seen a lot of movies this year. I haven’t had a chance.

Watch the trailer for ‘Young Adult’

A few years ago, you were on the awards trail for Young Adult, which got snubbed for the most part. What was that experience like?
It was fun for me to do an Oscar campaign because I just got to meet a lot of my old heroes who I never got to meet before, like Paul Schrader and Catherine O’Hara. Obviously I’d love an Oscar nomination, but there are always way more deserving people than there are slots. It also makes me happy…that there is a lot of argument and back and forth because even in not getting nominated, that can give a movie a lot more attention. So anything that creates a debate or conversation or argument is good.

Were there any particular moments or surreal experiences that you remember from that campaign, meeting people?
Yeah, but those were personal experiences for me. I don’t want to brag about them.