At an outdoor panel at Telluride, director Alexander Payne said that “The Holdovers” was inspired on a previous visit to the Film Festival when he saw a film by Marcel Pagnol, “Marius” (1931), which he said had the “same setup, different story.”
He said the lead role was written for Paul Giamatti. It is almost twenty years since Giamatti and Payne collaborated on “Sideways” (2004). Giamatti‘s character has his first name.
Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers”
“The Holdovers” is Alexander Payne’s skilled version of a 1970s film. Paul Hunham, an acerbic classics teacher at a New England prep school, is a strong fit for Paul Giamatti. The teacher is disdainful of students given advantages from their upper class backgrounds. He responds to his students with humorously sarcastic responses, considering them philistines.
Paul is forced to spend the winter holiday break with a lone student Angus (Dominic Sessa) whose mother is getting married over Christmas holidays and a cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) mourning her son who died in Viet Nam. Resentful, Angus responds to Paul with hostility. The forced time together causes the characters to learn about each other. Informal time includes a Christmas Party and a trip to the movie “Little Big Man.”
Dominic Sessa and Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers”
Giamatti, Sessa and Randolph play well off each other. “The Holdovers” effectively combines humor with poignancy as more about the characters is revealed, without sentimentalizing them. The screenplay creates three well-rounded central characters. Paul remains cynical, saying “the world is a bitter and complicated place and it seems to feel the same about me.”
Alexander Payne also spoke about “The Holdovers” after a screening. He said that like Fellini, the “subject chooses me.” He added that he works on two or three scripts at the same time. He wanted to make a film with the same setup as the Pagnol film, but with a disliked teacher, but he did not have the background of the planned academic environment.
Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers”
Payne was asked to direct a tv pilot about upper-class academia. He declined as he “didn’t have the experience,” but thought the pilot was well-written. He selected the writer David Hemingson to write the screenplay for “The Holdovers.” Payne said Giamatti is a product of the academia portrayed in the film, being a graduate of Choate and Yale. Payne added that he and Giamatti have a “terrific shorthand.”
For the pivotal character of Angus, Payne spoke of receiving about 800 video submissions and not being satisfied. He asked the drama departments of schools where he would be filming about promising students. This is how Dominic Sessa was selected in his notable film debut.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (”Dolemite Is My Name”) was cast because Payne likes actors in a dramatic part to have “comic chops” to keep them from “getting dreary.” He added that while making the film, each character was allowed time of silence.
Alexander Payne at Telluride outdoor panel
Payne said he wanted to make “a contemporary movie set in 1970”, unlike some films in which all details are from the same time. He added that in the 1970s, not all things in the period were new.
He described making a period film as “the closest thing to time travel, a cool experience.” In “The Holdovers,” characters watch “Little Big Man” which Payne said was at theaters at Christmas time 1970. He added that he loved the film when he saw then it at nine years old, seeing it four times.
Payne said he has spent his whole career making 1970s films, the films that shaped him. What concerns Payne is that American films now pour money into “car chases and people that fly.”
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