Posted in: Books, Interview, Pop Culture | Tagged: michael rosenbaum, The Talented Farter

The Talented Farter: Michael Rosenbaum on Flatulence, Heder & More

Author, actor, and host Michael Rosenbaum spoke to us abou this latest children's book, The Talented Farter, inspiration, Heder, and more.

Michael Rosenbaum is a man of all seasons, doing it all in Hollywood from acting, directing, writing, producing, hosting, and now author. Since his on-screen debut in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), the actor's had an eclectic career across several genres from comedy, drama, horror, and voiceovers, appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and 3, Smallville, and Urban Legend (1998). The host of his celebrity talk series Inside of You, spoke to Bleeding Cool about his latest children's book, The Talented Farter, from Simon & Schuster, working with illustrator Heath McKenzie, and how actor Jon Heder also contributed to its inspiration.

The Talented Farter Author Michael Rosenbaum on Having Fun with Flatulence

BC: What's the inspiration behind The Talented Farter?

MR: The inspiration is that everybody has a gift. Everybody has a talent, and this little sucker right here, little Michael, his only ability is to make his fart sound like everything you hear in real life. For instance, a trumpet. He can make his butt sound like a trumpet in band class, he can make it sound like a creaking door, a haunted house. The original part is that it's a beautiful book, hardback, and they're all my farts. It's all real farts. There are no generic farts in here, and it's The Talented Farter on Amazon. It's for adults, kids, and families. It's a sweet, charming book, and it's a lot of laughs, too, very funny. The Talented Farter, man!

What's it like working with Heath McKenzie on illustration?

Heath is amazing at doing all these beautiful illustrations. I told him, "Hey, I don't want this to be your typical fart book. I want it to be beautiful and inviting the kids to be…or when they open the book, it's like, 'Wow! It just sets the tone.'" You could see all these beautiful illustrations, him in class, at lunch, the ketchup bottles empty, so he's farting, making his fart sound like an empty ketchup bottle, talking to frogs with his butt. They're really beautiful, and working with him was easy. I said, "A little more color, a little more of this," and he knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't need much direction.

What did you enjoy most about putting together the book and that process?

For me, it was coming up with an idea. What a lot of people don't do, and I don't always do, is come up with an idea and go through with it and say, "I'm going to make this. I'm going to make this book, whether anybody likes it or not." We were lucky enough to find Simon & Schuster as the publisher, but I thought it was funny. My friend Jon Heder, who's Napoleon Dynamite, I used to send him farts in the morning, and he would say [does a Heder impression], "Your farts sound like a propelled plane dying," and I go, "Oh my gosh! There's a book here! Wait a minute!" The idea that popped in my head when he started sending me what my farts sound like, and I started recording my farts and saving them. It was part of my pitch to Simon & Schuster, and they bought it. I couldn't believe it. Dreams come true, Tom!

Any ideas for future children's books in the works?

Yeah, I'd like to do more. I'd like to do The Talented Farter Goes to Europe or Travels the World and hear what other people's farts sound like. Maybe animal farts? Also, I was thinking about making a memoir, so a story about my life and all the craziness that's happened. People would be surprised to see the amount of fun I've had, the dark times, inspiring times, but make it funny and enjoyable. So I'm talking with someone right now who does that, and I'm thinking about writing with him, but we'll see. We'll see.

The Talented Farter is available in bookstores and on Amazon.

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