It started for him years earlier after seeing a similarly plotted 1930s French film by Marcel Pagnol called “Merlusse.” Payne, who had written all of his films except “Nebraska,” didn’t feel he had the right personal experience. After “Downsizing” struggled at the box office and found mixed reviews, Payne dabbled in a number of projects (he had been attached to direct, among others, “The Menu” and “Landscapers”), but “The Holdovers” is the one that stuck. Payne’s last film was his biggest budget gambit: “Downsizing,” a sci-fi satire of an overpopulated Earth in which people can be made miniature. And then you see him go toe-for-toe with Paul Giamatti, give him a run for his money.” From day one, man, this guy could hit his marks and do his dialogue backward and forward. “I learned a long time ago that the best actors are also the best technically. You see all these people in New York taking classes on film acting. “What you see is some people are born with it. Sessa was a senior when he shot “The Holdovers.” He hadn’t acted in front of a camera before, though you’d be hard-pressed to tell by the naturalness of his presence on screen. ![]() We called up the drama teacher who said, ‘Oh, yes, we have quite a few who would be happy to try out for your little movie.’ And Dominic was one of them.” “One of the schools we were going to be shooting was Deerfield Academy in Western Massachusetts. He and the casting director decided to call up the schools they were going to be shooting in to see if their drama departments had anyone to recommend. After sifting through some 800 submissions, Payne felt like he still hadn’t found someone to play Angus. The three lead actors are likely to be in the Oscar mix.īut while Giamatti and Randolph are well-known performers, Sessa is appearing in his first film. Focus snapped it up for $30 million - far more than is typical - a sign of the indie distributor’s belief in the movie as a crowd-pleaser and an awards contender. When Payne screened “The Holdovers” for buyers at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, it prompted heated interest. And while there is some of that, Payne pares the group down to Hunham, Angus (Dominic Sessa), a bright student who’s one mishap away from being sent to a lesser school (and thus likely to Vietnam) and Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a grieving school cook whose son has recently died in the war. ![]() ![]() The set-up could be broad: a gang of outcasts and troublemakers sneaking joints while the widely loathed Hunham chases them down the halls. “The Holdovers” reunites Payne with Paul Giamatti nearly two decades after the actor’s memorable, merlot-loathing breakthrough performance in “Sideways.” This time, Giamatti plays a curmudgeonly Barton Academy classics teacher named Paul Hunham tasked to stay at school with a handful of kids without family plans over the Christmas break. I hope it lends it the warmth of nostalgia, the warmth of a lost time, maybe even some traces of memory.” “I don’t think it makes the movie quaint. “I was just trying to replicate the experience of the movies I love as much as possible,” says Payne.
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