How does a first time writer-director like Matt Aselton get talent like Paul Dano, John Goodman and Zooey Deschanel to star in his film? First off you get the star (Dano) the script and hope he likes it. Not only did Dano like it, him coming on board early is what attracted others and got the ball rolling.
He’s listed as an executive producer, but admitted in the “Gigantic” Q&A that he didn’t do much aside from lend his name which is still something if it gets a modest little film like this made. We wrote this in our review earlier, but “Gigantic” is full of unexplained things, including the title, and a character played by comedian Zach Galifinakis who may or may not be a figment of Dano’s imagination, but it’s these exact ambiguities that made the film so stupendous. We always super appreciate a film that doesn’t feel the need to spoon-feed its audience and even slightly confuse them in a positive manner that gets them to think for once. We didn’t really get to mention them in our review, but all of the small actors in “Gigantic” are tops. Jane Alexander as Dano’s mom was awesome, but man, Ian Roberts as his macho overbearing brother, sooo good (he’s also been fabulous in small parts in “Step Brothers” and “Talladega Nights”).