Moose (The Fanatic)

Moose

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Portrayed by	John Travolta (adult) Saul Green (child)
Appears in	The Fanatic
Debut
Year	2019

Moose is the main character in the thriller movie The Fanatic.

Character creation

The character Moose is loosely based on a real stalker fan of Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit.

Biography

Moose works as a street performer on Hollywood Boulevard. He is a fan of movies and is obsessed with his favorite actor Hunter Dunbar, and collects tons of memorabilia. He tries to get closer to Hunter and keeps pushing boundaries while also getting more and more severely rejected by Hunter, first going to his house, then getting into his yard (and accidentally killing the maid by pushing her, causing her to hit her head on a stone fountain), then getting into his house. Meanwhile, his friend Leah, who initially indulged his obsessions a bit, tries to get him to stop. Additionally, Hunter calls him a stalker, and finally threatens to kill Moose if he returns. Moose suffers a mental breakdown and returns to Hunter's home and ties him to a bed. Moose pretends to have killed himself, then pretends to stab Hunter. Hunter pleads and appeals to Moose's fandom to get him to release him, and when he's free, shoots Moose's fingers off with a gun and stabs him in the face before having a sudden change of heart and helping Moose up and out of his house.

The movie closes with Leah finding Moose roaming Hollywood Boulevard and helping him to get medical attention, and Hunter being arrested on suspicion of having killed his maid.

Appearance

Moose has short grey hair, shaven on the sides and long in the back. He often wears short-sleeved shirts with colorful patterns, shorts and gym shoes with long socks.

Autism

Though not specifically stated in the movie, John Travolta has mentioned in multiple interviews that Moose is on the spectrum. A synopsis on YouTube Movies also describes the character as autistic.

Moose is constantly rocking and moving, which increases in intensity with heavy emotions. He seems to have a rigid moral compass when it comes to fellow street performers pick-pocketing tourists and doing drugs (though he does not seem to notice or care that breaking and entering is bad or even illegal). He speaks in a boy-ish voice than borders on whiny when he's upset.

His defining characteristic is his intense obsession with Hunter Dunbar, which he pursues despite consistent push-back from Hunter and advice not to from his friend Leah.

Reception

The movie as a whole was a box office flop, earning $3000 on a $23 million budget. The character of Moose has been criticized for being stereotypical, juvenile, and implying that autistic people are dangerous and generally being a misanthropic story that hates every faction involved.

External links

• The Fanatic on Wikipedia
• The Fanatic at IMDb