Patton Oswalt reflects on his enigmatic experience during his brief yet memorable role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s cinematic masterpiece, Magnolia. He describes the experience as perplexing, particularly due to the limited script pages he received, which left him puzzled about the overarching narrative.

Amidst tales of serendipity and unexpected connections, Patton Oswalt shares a humorous anecdote about his collaboration with acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson on the film Magnolia. For those unfamiliar, Oswalt portrayed Delmer Darion, a blackjack dealer with a passion for scuba diving, whose character appears in the film’s prologue, which establishes many of its central themes. However, Oswalt was left bewildered about the nature of the project, feeling quite literally ‘up a tree’ during filming, as he lacked context for the scenes he was shooting.

During an episode of the Fly on the Wall podcast, Oswalt recounted his experience on Magnolia as one filled with mystery and confusion. He humorously observed, “It’s brilliant but anyone who works with Paul Thomas Anderson will tell you…they don’t give you the whole script, they send you your pages…So all I had was, I’m beaten up in a casino and then I’m suddenly in a green wet suit and I’m hanging in this tree in the Valley and they’re dumping Arrowhead waters on my head to keep me from passing out because it was so hot.” Oswalt reached a point of frustration, questioning the purpose of his character’s bizarre journey. He recalled asking Anderson directly, “Paul, what the f*ck is going on? What is this?” Anderson’s cryptic reply, “I’ll just put it this way: you’re the first frog that falls out of the sky and it’ll make sense to you when you see the movie.” However, co-host Dana Carvey humorously interjected, “No you won’t!” showcasing the delightful absurdity of the situation!

Regardless of his peculiar role as the ‘first frog,’ Oswalt, a well-known cinephile, appreciates the artistic genius of Magnolia and its visionary director. For a fun twist, check out his impressive impression of There Will Be Blood’s iconic character, Daniel Plainview, from his album Frankensteins and Gumdrops. While opinions on Magnolia may vary, it has achieved recognition as the third-best film of 1999 in reader polls, placing just behind iconic films like The Matrix and Fight Club. Personally, I consider it one of the top 10 films of all time and arguably the finest of its decade—feel free to judge me!

While Patton Oswalt remains busy with a multitude of projects, Paul Thomas Anderson is diligently focused on his next feature film, which is shrouded in secrecy. This upcoming project may be one of the most enigmatic endeavors Anderson has ever undertaken, though it might not be as mysterious as the frogs that fell from the sky in Magnolia…