Gigantic is a 2008 independent comedy film directed by Matt Aselton and starring Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman, Edward Asner and Jane Alexander. The script, written by Aselton and his college friend Adam Nagata, tells of Brian (Dano), a mattress salesman who wishes to adopt a baby from China, but finds himself sharing his passion with the quirky, wealthy Harriet (Deschanel) when they meet in his store. The story was based on Aselton s childhood wish for his parents to adopt a Chinese baby. The film was shot in New York and Connecticut. It had its world premiere at 2008 s Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on April 3, 2009.

Premise

Young mattress salesman Brian decides to adopt a baby from China. Brian s life becomes more complicated and contemplative when he forms a relationship with quirky, wealthy Harriet, whom he meets at his mattress store.

Cast

• Paul Dano as Brian Weathersby
• Zooey Deschanel as Harriet Happy Lolly
• John Goodman as Al Lolly
• Edward Asner as Mr. Weathersby
• Jane Alexander as Mrs. Weathersby
• Leven Rambin as Missy Thaxton
• Sharon Wilkins as Linda
• Zach Galifianakis as Homeless Guy
• Clarke Peters as Roger Stovall

Production

Aselton said that, as the youngest child in his family, he wanted his parents to adopt a Chinese baby so that he could have a younger sibling; his younger brother did in fact adopt a baby later. He and co-writer Adam Nagata were fascinated by the idea and built the story around Brian s wanting to adopt a baby. Aselton and Nagata, college friends who both come from literary backgrounds, aimed to write the film as novelistic and surrealist rather than expository. They wanted to show those little things that are often found in literature but rarely in film , such as Brian and his father s age difference and how it affects their relationship, and Harriet s walking around in her underpants and how it affects her and Brian s relationship. Aselton chose the title Gigantic because There s an innocence about the due to its use by young children to describe something fantastic. He felt that the title was a juxtaposition against Brian s life changing decision to adopt a baby .

The script languished for several years before the film went into production, when producer Mindy Goldberg brought the script to Christine Vachon of Killer Films. Aselton said the most challenging part of making the film was casting the two lead roles of Brian and Harriet. Paul Dano liked the script and was one of the first actors to sign on, which attracted others to join the cast. Aselton said that Dano was one of the first to audition for the role and the first to understand the story; Deschanel was the second actor to understand, and so both were cast. To prepare for his role, Dano talked to salesmen at Sleepy s, a mattress store, and bought Chinese language tapes to learn some of the language as his character did. Filming began on March 3, 2008 and lasted for 23 days. As a director of commercials, Aselton brought many of his former crew members with him to work on Gigantic. Most of production took place in Brooklyn and Manhattan but several scenes were filmed in Stamford, Connecticut and Los Angeles. Filming locations included Brooklyn Heights Cadman Plaza West and Cobble Hill s Quercy restaurant. Scenes in the mattress store were filmed inside an abandoned warehouse, which cinematographer Peter Donahue described as a big space with perfect texture on the walls and windows in the right places for motivated, practical light . Though the producers wanted to use 16 mm film because of the tight budget, Aselton and Donahue chose to use Super 35 format, mainly using medium-long lenses.

Release

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2008. Following its screening at American Film Market, First Independent Pictures bought the film s North American distribution rights. The film was pre-screened at Vassar College in the fall of 2008. It was screened at the Cornell University Cinema on February 14, 2009 and in March at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema and the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, where it won the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature. It was given a limited theatrical release on April 3, 2009, coinciding with its showing at the Gen Art Film Festival.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 36% approval rating based on 83 reviews, with a weighted average of 4.57/10. The site s consensus reads: This overly quirky, incessantly whimsical indie is too self-conscious for its own good . Slant Magazine called the film a meager sum of quirky details and gave it (½ out of four stars), though it complimented Dano s fine performance. Stephen Holden called it a serious comedy about the children of privilege…a cautiously surreal, absurdist movie with a protagonist (played by Dano) who s a close spiritual relative of the polite young men who drift through mumblecore films ; the review concludes:

The Village Voice called it another flimsy indie comedy for the heap with a screenplay s per-page quota of unexpected tweaks little room for much else.

Gigantic earned $102,704 in gross revenue in its limited thirteen-week, eleven-theater release, with its one-theater opening weekend collecting $10,294 of that total. Worldwide, the film grossed $165,888.

Year	2008
ReleaseDate	2009-06-19
RuntimeMins	98
RuntimeStr	1h 38min
Plot	A mattress salesman’s plan to adopt a Chinese baby is augmented by the arrival of a young woman who comes to his workplace, falls asleep on one of the beds, and upon waking starts to affect his life.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 1 nomination
Directors	Matt Aselton
Writers	Adam Nagata, Matt Aselton
Stars	Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman
Produced by	Paul Dano,John Duffin,Scott Ferguson,Mindy Goldberg,Jeff Preiss,Charles Pugliese,Jerry Soloman,Christine Vachon,John Wells
Music by	Roddy Bottum
Cinematography by	Peter Donahue
Film Editing by	Beatrice Sisul
Casting By	Mark Bennett
Production Design by	Rick Butler
Art Direction by	Leo Holder
Set Decoration by	Mila Khalevich
Costume Design by	Paola Weintraub
Makeup Department	Jorjee Douglass,Thom Gonzales,Sherri Berman Laurence,Anita Lausevic,Claus Lulla,Claudia Orozco,Valerie Gladstone-Appel,Michelle Kearns,Sarit Klein
Production Management	Luca Borghese,Nikki Bottolene,Scott Ferguson,Thomas J. Whelan
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Arianne Apicelli,Chris DeAngelis,Tudor Jones
Art Department	John T. Bobick,Chris Cannon,Henry Cespedes,Melissa Miller Costanzo,Pete Dancy,Barbara A. Kastner,John Knoop,Jen Lee,A.R. Brook Lynn,Noel McCarthy,Wayne Scott Miller,Lyvan A. Munlyn,Francis Panuccio,Kathi Prate,Noelysa Ramos,Kevin Roach,Jeffrey Rollins,Jim Sten,Susan Tatom,Gary Wattson,Williamina Ellis
Sound Department	David Boulton,Patricia Brolsma,Crew Chamberlain,Rachel Chancey,Ryan Collison,Mik Cribben,David Ellinwood,Brian Gallagher,Mike Howells,Bobby Johanson,Marydixie Kirkpatrick,Andy Kris,Eric McAllister,Jay Peck,Schavaria Reeves,Billy Theriot,Eric Vierhaus,Damian Volpe,Joe White,Paul Yurt,Matthew Haasch
Special Effects by	Edward Drohan IV
Visual Effects by	Greg Anderson,Marvin Chua,John Ciampa,Casey Conroy,Shelly Dutcher,Brandy Handelman,Randy Little,John Myers,Brian Shneider,Jerry Spivack,Steve Tiseo
Stunts	Bob Colletti,Blaise Corrigan,William Cote
Camera and Electrical Department	Rico Omega Alston,Hugo Bonilla,John Cardoni,Tim Carr,Jon Delgado,Cal Evans,Jay Feather,Tim Ferraer,Alex Hoyt,Shaun Joye,Jenny Kane,Robert Kummert,Len Levine,Michael Lowrance,Niran Martin,Russ Martin,Rich Porta,Robert Ragozzine,Kyle Repka,Edward A. Robinson Jr.,Randy M. Salo,Jeremy Schroeder,Danny Stephens,Andrew Voegeli,John Walker,Kevin Walter,JoJo Whilden,Ryan Williams,Zenfeek,Kevin L. Bright,Rob Harlow,Donald Russell,John Schwartz
Animation Department	Trevor Smith
Casting Department	Sara Conte,Slaine Jenkins,Luis Sanchez-Cañete,David H. Kramer
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Sonja Cizmazia,Pamela Kezal,Meredith Markworth-Pollack,Casey Storm,Chrissy Stewart
Editorial Department	Emery Anderson,Molle DeBartolo,Mitchell Ferm,Joe Gawler,Agnes Grandits,Brooks Larsen,Jack Lewars,Chris MacKenzie,David Matusek,Tom Mayclim,Tim Mullen,Nick Paulozza,Crystal Pei,Joe Violante,John Potter
Location Management	Eric Jackson,Lindsey Magee,Jayar Myers,Joaquin Diego Prange,Drew Schofer,Chris Cloud,Tim Stacker,Louis Zuppardi
Music Department	Roddy Bottum,Joe Rudge,Jamie Lowry
Script and Continuity Department	Diane Hounsell
Transportation Department	Johnny Batista,Morgan Bennett,Nick Careccia,You-Sup Chang,Michael Colombo,Quincy Gow,Jason Grey,George Holtzer,Jon M. Johnson,James Kelly,Leonard Luizzi,Jacob Mathis,Ronnie Mendez,Darin J. Patterson,Alison Scowby,Laura Tomaselli,Wayne Walker,Paul Weiner
Additional Crew	Chad Frenchie Alburtis,Tara Averill,Tina Bianchini,Matt Brown,Christopher Calcagno,Blanca Camacho,Margaret Capossela,Alvaro Castillo,Yee Yeo Chang,Charlie Cocuzza,Bill Coelius,Nekia Daste,Monica Delgado,Kristyn DiPane,Gjustina Dushku,Lily Ellis,Maura Fields,Casey Fletcher,R. Matthew Fretz,R.M. Fretz,Doug Halbert,Melanie Hamlett,Bridget Hickey,Stephanie Hodge,Lou Howe,Emily Kowalczyk,David Kramer,Harry Lapham,Joseph Lombardi,Joe Lombardo,Casey Madigan,Greg McDonald,Marie Morgan,Megan Murphree,Anne Nevin,Matt Olson,Drew Schofer,Amanda Scott,Clint Scott,Stephanie Shannon,Sarah Shriber,David Traver,Kim Tricardo,Mal Ward,Danielle Wilson,Casey Fletcher,Duck Grossberg,Rich Koski,Lauren Vanderschuur,Imran Yusufzai
Thanks	Warren Zavala
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Companies	First Independent Pictures, Epoch Films, Killer Films
Countries	USA
Languages	English, French
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	6
ImDbRatingVotes	9729
MetacriticRating	38
Keywords	female topless nudity,female nudity,baby,adoption,vomiting