Patton Oswalt reflects on predicting “Star Wars” and Marvel storylines in “Parks and Rec ”episode that 'weirdly, came true'
Patton Oswalt is equally surprised by how much of his Parks and Recreation character’s full fanboy filibuster scene ended up coming true.
The actor, 55, starred in a 2013 episode of the sitcom as an angry Pawnee resident who prevents Amy Poehler’s character Leslie Knope from eliminating the town’s old laws by engaging in a filibuster. Along the way, his speech slowly devolves into him pitching his idea for a Marvel and Star Wars crossover film.
“So the scene was supposed to be [that] I announce I’m gonna do this filibuster and then they cut to Amy’s character, Leslie, just going ‘Oh dear God,’ and that would be the joke,” Oswalt recalled on Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “And then the directors and the writers said, ‘Let’s not yell cut and just see how long he’ll talk.’”
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty; Everett (2) Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Patton Oswalt, and Boba Fett
One such happy accident occurs when his character mentions Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet as a way to link the two cinematic universes together.
“[Marvel] had not done Guardians of the Galaxy. When I say Time Gem [one of the Infinity Stones], they cut to Chris Pratt. This was way before he did Guardians,” Oswalt explained. “Also, Amy has the funniest line in the whole thing when she says the female part’s a little underwritten, which was so exactly what those movies were.”
Not only would Pratt go onto star in Guardians of the Galaxy as Peter Quill, a.k.a Star-Lord, but his character would go on to find one of the Infinity Stones that Oswalt mentions in the 2014 film. Star-Lord would also become a pivotal character in the fight against Thanos across 2018's Avengers: Infinity War and 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
While Oswalt’s Avengers comments were made just off the cuff, there was one very important person who saw some real potential in his Star Wars pitch.
“When The Book of Boba Fett came on [Disney+], [creator] Jon Favreau confirmed this for me, they cut the opening shot to match my filibuster,” he said. “You can sync them up time-wise… [it] pans down from the twin suns, the hand comes out of the sand, you can match it up to my filibuster. They did that on purpose.”
Oswalt previously reacted to the Parks and Rec and Book of Boba Fett connection in a 2021 tweet, sharing a video of the two scenes and how they perfectly align with one another. “To say I’m touched is putting it lightly,” he wrote at the time. “And yeah, #BookofBobaFett ROCKS. YOU’RE WELCOME.”
Watch Oswalt recall his psychic filibuster in the clip above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.