Paul Giamatti reveals his most challenging movie role
As one of the most consistent character actors in the business, the filmography of Paul Giamatti outlines that while he’s more likely to be found lending esteemed support than taking centre stage, he can always be relied upon to deliver when he’s the first name billed in the cast.
Look no further than his Golden Globe win in the ‘Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy’ category for The Holdovers for proof, which looks set to pit him directly against Oppenheimer‘s Cillian Murphy in a two-horse race to be named ‘Best Actor’ at the upcoming Academy Awards.
That marked his third Golden Globes victory to go along with the Primetime Emmy he scooped for ‘Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie’ after headlining John Adams, although it remains mystifying that The Holdovers is nigh-on guaranteed to mark just his second time being shortlisted at the Oscars, and first in almost two decades since Cinderella Man saw him recognised as a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ contender.
Whether it’s his central turns in American Splendor, Sideways, and Barney’s Version, scenery-devouring villainy in Shoot ‘Em Up, Gunpowder Milkshake, and Jungle Cruise, or broad comedies including My Best Friend’s Wedding, Big Momma’s House, and The Hangover Part II, Giamatti is never anything less than fully committed to the project.
Despite his status as someone able to flit between lead and supporting parts with the greatest of ease and always knocking it out of the park, though, he named his second-ever television credit in a part that wasn’t even given a name as the most challenging he’d ever experienced.
During an interview with Movie Maker, Giamatti displayed his excellent memory when correctly recalling that his part in a 1994 episode of NYPD Blue was indeed that of Man in Sleeping Bag. Rather than having to stretch his dramatic capabilities to breaking point, it was the circumstances that presented the challenge.
As he explained: “We were in a squatters village below the Manhattan Bridge. I was lying in real human faeces. A real lunatic who lived there in a huge drainage pipe of some kind would crawl out occasionally and pelt me with debris. They had to pay him a lot to stay in his pipe. Good for him.”
With that in mind, “challenging” may have been an understatement.
Not only that but Giamatti was convinced that he’d ruined his small screen guest spot while also proving so convincing that he was asked to leave: “I had one line. Something like, ‘I don’t know nothin’ man.’ I screwed it up. I sat around all day,” he said. “At one point I got thrown off the set by a P.A. who thought I was a real ‘man in sleeping bag.’ I was nervous, disoriented.”
Fortunately, he also called Man in Sleeping Bag his most fun role, too, so being pelted by debris by a man who lived in a pipe before getting turfed out for looking too real didn’t dampen his enjoyment.
