I’ve known Patton Oswalt for a while now. It started when I went with a friend to see Aimee Mann and Michael Penn at the Henry Ford Theater. Patton was the opening act for them, and the emcee for the entire evening, and the next day, I wrote a bit about that evening here on the site. I got an e-mail from Patton, and we started chatting back and forth. We have the kinds of schedules where we may go six or eight months without really bumping into each other, but I would consider him a friend.

He’s one of the busiest guys I know as a writer these days, so I always assume it’s a writing project that’s got him buried when he drops off the radar. When the first RATATOUILLE trailer premiered and I heard the voice of Remy, the main character, I had the phone in my hand before the trailer was even finished. “Holy shit,” I said when he answered, “are you the lead in a Pixar movie?!”

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe?”

He still seemed dazed and amazed by it all when I saw him in San Francisco recently for the Wondercon. I had spent the day before at Pixar, seeing big chunks of the film with Brad Bird, and I had a much better idea by that point of what exactly Patton was doing. The role couldn’t be a better fit for him. He’s one of the most passionate foodies I know. With Patton, a night at the movies must involve a pre-or-post movie meal, and it must be a carefully chosen restaurant. He’s also an animation nerd of the highest order. He can get excited about the technical advances Pixar’s making in this film just as easily as he can get excited about the emotion content of the film.

Today, we’ve got the exclusive premiere of Disney’s latest behind-the-scenes podcast about the making of RATATOUILLE, and it’ll give you a glimpse at how he got involved and what his work in the film is like. I love how Brad Bird picks people in unconventional ways for his films, like with Sarah Vowell on THE INCREDIBLES. All I can say is, if you love Brad’s movies, make sure you’re on the radio a lot. That seems to be one of his favorite ways to discover a voice for his films.

We’ve got a lot of options for you in terms of downloading this one, so pick from the list below, and enjoy:

WINDOWS MEDIA

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QUICKTIME

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FLASH 8

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IPOD

PODCAST

PSP

I’ll have more for you on RATATOUILLE and my time at Pixar in the weeks ahead. This is definitely one of the films I’m most excited about this summer, and I think it’s shaping up to be one of Pixar’s most special movies.

Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles