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Dave Raymond always opened himself to the conversation but he often knew how it would end. Someone wanted to do a project about the Phillie Phanatic<\/a> and they wanted Raymond on board. Raymond, the first person to wear the costume in 1978, was usually interested. And then that was it. <\/p>\n Sometimes the people never called back. Some projects stalled at the finish line. Others got caught in Hollywood purgatory.<\/p>\n But Raymond knew there was something different about the brothers who reached out in August of 2024. Hoag Kepner and his older brother Tyler grew up Phillies<\/a>-obsessed in Montgomery County<\/a> where they loved the mascot as much as they did Mike Schmidt<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: A new Wing Bowl documentary chose to celebrate the event instead of focusing on the \u2018ugly\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n They sat in Section 234 of Veterans Stadium, roared at the Phanatic\u2019s bits, and shrieked when their grandmother plucked a feather from the mascot\u2019s tail.<\/p>\n Hoag couldn\u2019t believe there had never been a documentary about the Phanatic and he told Raymond he wanted to be the filmmaker who finally did it. He sent him a pitch, explaining why this project would not sputter like the rest.<\/p>\n Big Phan \u2014 which premieres Saturday at the Philadelphia Film Festival <\/a>\u2014 took two years to finish as the brothers tapped into their childhood and told a story that only they could. First, Hoag and Tyler Kepner needed to convince Raymond that they were the right people to do it.<\/p>\n The last page of their pitch included an illustration of the Phanatic from 1994 that Hoag made for the baseball newsletter his brother produced from their Montgomery County home. Tyler, now a national baseball writer with The Athletic, wrote the words for KP Baseball Monthly and Hoag drew the covers. <\/p>\n The January\/February 1994 issue included a feature on Raymond \u2014 \u201cKP Interviews The Phillie Phanatic,\u201d it said \u2014 shortly after Raymond retired from the Phils. The brothers told Raymond that they wanted to tell the mascot\u2019s story again. Yes, there was something different about this conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what really sold me: two Philadelphia brothers who have all this backstory,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cAt the very least, I have to say yes just because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n He was magic<\/p>\n The Kepners had season tickets at The Vet and their plan came with perks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had the Dave Montgomery plan,\u201d said Tyler, 51.<\/p>\n Their father John served in Army Reserves with Montgomery, the longtime team executive who later became part owner. Montgomery let the Kepner boys pick out 16 games every offseason as the brothers built their own partial season-ticket package without any filler games. They only paid for the games they wanted to go to.<\/p>\n \u201cHow great is that?\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Tom Burgoyne insists he\u2019s just the Phanatic\u2019s best friend. A new documentary convinced him to admit he\u2019s more.<\/a><\/p>\n Montgomery placed the Kepners in Section 234, which was usually filled with notable faces. Arlen Specter sat behind them once and kept score. Charles Barkley signed their baseball. And the Phanatic always seemed to barrel through.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was magic, man,\u201d said the 46-year-old Hoag, who is the film\u2019s director while his brother is an executive producer. \u201cIt\u2019s the same with Santa Claus. I still wonder about that. When you\u2019re little, you have one foot in knowing that something isn\u2019t real, but you want to believe so you do. He just came alive. This seemed real. He seemed animated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was enormous. I think that\u2019s something that as you get taller, you lose sight of. But as a kid, he\u2019s like 7-feet tall. I think there\u2019s an initial fear, but you know he\u2019s friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n The Phillies introduced the Phanatic in 1978 as another way to drum up interest at The Vet. Bill Giles already tried Kite Man, Benny The Human Bomb, and the Great Wallenda. He was up for anything, but the documentary details how Giles needed to be convinced before greenlighting the Phanatic.<\/p>\n The costume was designed by the same people who created Miss Piggy and the Phanatic was introduced on a random weeknight in case the mascot was a bust. Giles tapped Raymond, then an intern from the University of Delaware, to step into the costume. Big Phan explains why that choice was perfect: Raymond had a big personality and had communicated non-verbally at home because his mother lost her hearing from Meniere\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n The Phanatic became a sensation that quickly outgrew South Philly. The mascot has appeared everywhere from late night TV to The Simpsons to rock concerts. In Philly, he\u2019s the Phanatic. But elsewhere, he\u2019s more than just a Major League Baseball team\u2019s biggest fan. The Phanatic grew into a piece of pop culture. So who better to tell the story than people who lived it?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not under the illusion that I\u2019m the only one who could make it, by any means,\u201d Hoag said. \u201cBut I do feel like you have to be from Philly. I think it helps if you were around the Phanatic as a kid and had those experiences that I did and had a personal connection to it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A very selfish idea\u2019<\/p>\n Hoag had recently finished his latest film and was wondering what he could do next while he was watching a Phillies game on TV. There was his next project: The Phanatic.<\/p>\n \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want to make a documentary about the Phanatic?\u201d said Hoag, who lives in Austin, Texas. \u201cIn many ways, it was a very selfish idea. I wanted there to be one so I tried to get people to let me make one.\u201d<\/p>\n The film was funded by local donors, worked on by a Philly illustrator, and aided by a local puppeteering company. Morgan Betz, the grandson of a former Phillies owner, is a producer. The brothers were not the only local connection to a film about a local icon. Hoag said they hope to secure a distribution deal with a streaming service after the Philadelphia Film Festival.<\/a><\/p>\n The 95-minute film encapsulates how a green flightless bird from the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands became a piece of Philadelphia. It helped that everyone working on it already knew why.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Flag Man marched around Veterans Stadium after 9\/11. 25 years later, he\u2019s better for it.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have to explain to them how powerful the Phanatic is to young kids because they lived it,\u201d Raymond said.<\/p>\n The brothers from Section 234 traveled the country as they conducted interviews with people like Bryce Harper<\/a>, Chase Utley, and Schmidt along with Lil\u2019 Dickey, Jason Kelce<\/a>, and Simpsons producer Christine Nangle, who grew up in Northeast Philly. Tyler peppered the questions while Hoag rolled the camera, working together just like they did in their home in Gwynedd Valley.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really became kids again,\u201d Hoag said. \u201cWe would always be texting about mascots. I don\u2019t want to talk smack on other mascots, but we have opinions on the other ones we see. He goes to a lot of games and he would snap a photo and be like \u2018Look at this clown\u2019 or \u2018This one\u2019s pretty good.\u2019 It was fun to relive our Phillies days.\u201d<\/p>\n The documentary traces the mascot\u2019s history before it tackles the depression Raymond battled, the stress of being the Phanatic, and the death of his mother. Raymond left the Phillies after the 1994 season and handed the Phanatic to Tom Burgoyne, his understudy who has done the job ever since.<\/p>\n Raymond has spent years as a motivational speaker, training himself to not become emotional when he talks. But that didn\u2019t help him when he sat with the Kepners and talked about his mom.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a speaker, the worst thing you can do is to disengage your audience,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cSo what they teach you is if you\u2019re going to go through something emotional, you don\u2019t want to lose your audience. It\u2019s a human feeling but as soon as you lose composure, the audience is worried about you and you\u2019ve disengaged them. I\u2019ve told this story so many times on stage and it requires practice and focus. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I told it in front of the cameras, I just broke down. So what I felt good about is that it was finally coming out in a way for me. It was cathartic because I wasn\u2019t worried about telling it to an audience. It just happened.\u201d<\/p>\n The brothers interviewed Giles, who died earlier this month<\/a>, and spoke to the person inside the Gritty<\/a> costume but didn\u2019t reveal their identity. The doc tells how Burgoyne found the job by searching The Inquirer\u2019s classified ads after feeling burned out by his entry-level sales gig. And it follows Burgoyne around the ballpark as the 61-year-old still makes the mascot come alive all these years later.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about the Phanatic, but don\u2019t think it\u2019s about this furry mascot,\u201d Hoag said. \u201cIt\u2019s about these two guys and their journey and purpose. Talk about two people whose purpose was so clearly defined. That\u2019s all we want in life: What\u2019s my purpose? I want to feel like I was made for something and I really do something. These guys were perfectly suited for it and they fulfilled their purpose in a way that\u2019s like, \u2018Ahh, Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we all had that?\u2019 Hopefully this inspires people to find that.\u201d<\/p>\n The coup de gras<\/p>\n