Alexander Payne and Kevin Tent recall working with Paul Giamatti again on ‘The Holdovers’
Alexander Payne and Kevin Tent have recalled feeling “giddy” about working with Paul Giamatti again for their latest collaboration, The Holdovers.
In The Holdovers, the story unfolds in the early 1970s within the fictional Barton Academy, a New England preparatory school. Giamatti portrays the bad-tempered teacher compelled to remain on campus over the Christmas break, responsible for overseeing the students.
Discussing working with the actor again for the film, both Payne and Tent recalled their excitement: “I feel very lucky to work with that guy,” Payne told Variety. “As far as guiding him in a performance, I don’t have to. Every take is different. And every take is truthful.”
Tent added: “I talked to [Payne] on the first day. I always do. I said to him, ‘AP, what’s it like working with Paul again?’ and he said, ‘We’re both giddy.’ Paul was so dialled in. David wrote a lot of very difficult language, but Paul was right there on it. I was at our annual meeting at A.C.E. and telling them Paul was in the movie, and one of them said, ‘Oh yeah, just cut to Paul.'”
David Hemingson, known for his work on popular TV series like Black-ish and Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, wrote the screenplay.
Earlier in the interview, the actors discussed first getting involved in the project and how it all unravelled. Payne explained: “It had a unique genesis. The story is taken from a 1935 French film that I saw at the Telluride Film Festival, and it takes place at a boarding school.”
He continued: “I hadn’t done anything with that idea yet, but I met Hemingson through a pilot script he had written that also takes place at a boarding school. I called him because I thought he could be a good candidate to write this idea up, and we developed the screenplay together. With Kevin, we’re always in touch, so I let him know what I’m up to.”
Tent added that “seemed like a great story,” and that Payne was “was excited about the idea.”
Check out the full trailer below.
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