Patton Oswalt talks GOAT, coaches, and movie fans

From Sony Pictures Animation, the studio behind Spider-Man TM : Across the Spider-Verse and the artists that made KPop Demon Hunters, comes GOAT, an original action-comedy set in an all-animal world. The story follows Will (Caleb McLaughlin), a small goat with big dreams who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball – a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world. Will’s new teammates aren’t thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but Will is determined to revolutionise the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball!”

As GOAT prepares to slam dunk into Australian cinemas on March 12, Nick L’Barrow spoke with one of the film’s talented voice cast, Patton Oswalt, about the “coach” that took a chance on him, and the most random character trait’s he has resonated with as an actor.

Nick: In GOAT, the main character, Will, gets an opportunity to show his talent because someone saw a video of his skills and took a chance on him. Who was the person in your career who took a chance on you early on that led you down the path you’ve been on in your career?

Patton Oswalt: I mean, my current manager, who I’ve been with since 1993, back when I was all over the map. He saw something, and was patient enough for me to develop and grow over these decades. So, my manager, David Rath – and I think a lot of comedians can say this about him – he sees something a great coach sees, something you don’t always see in the beginning. He was someone that really rolled the dice on me. I mean, I’d only been doing it for five years at that point, and he was like, “No, there’s something here.” And he signed me, and I’ve been with him ever since.

Nick: As someone who has sleep apnea, it was really great and funny to see Coach also using the face mask–

PO: Face masks forever!

Nick: I’m curious to know what is the most random thing that a character has had or done that you resonated with the most, perhaps in an unexpected way?

PO: Wow. Okay! I was in this movie called Big Fan, which is about sports fandom and obsession. And I don’t really follow sports, but when I really go into the character and started building him, I realised I am a sports fan, just not for sports. It’s the exact same muscle, the exact same compulsion, but for me, it’s for film and books and comics. But there’s no difference– it’s the same language. I talk about certain characters and comic book characters in the same way that people talk about athletes. My athletes are the writers and the artists, because I’m reacting to their choices, just like a sports fan will react to an athlete or coaches choice. So that was really eye opening for me!

Thank you to Patton for his time, and to Sony Pictures for organising the interview. You can watch the full interview now on YouTube! GOAT is in Australian cinemas March 12.