NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The great films of the 1970s have long loomed in the imagination of filmmakers raised during one of the most fertile periods of American movies. But wanted to take it a step further.
Payne鈥檚 latest film, isn鈥檛 just set in 1970, it seeks to imbibe the humanistic spirit of films like ," and 鈥� all movies he screened for his cast and crew.
鈥淲e were very fully making a 鈥�70s movie,鈥� Payne says, recently speaking by phone from his desk in Omaha, Nebraska.
Payne, 62, shot 鈥淭he Holdovers,鈥� set at a New England boarding school, largely with filmmaking equipment and camera lenses from that period. He mixed it in mono. 鈥淲e were trying to play the exercise of: We are in 1970 making this movie,鈥� he says.
鈥淭he Holdovers,鈥� which Focus Features will release Oct. 27 and expand on Nov. 10, is Payne鈥檚 first film in six years and it鈥檚 one of his best. Payne, the filmmaker of and has long made 鈥渢he kind of films they don鈥檛 make anymore鈥�: smart, funny, melancholic dramas for adults. And yet he鈥檚 kept making them. After decades of making contemporary films that in some way evoke a 鈥�70s sensibility of cinema, he鈥檚 finally made the genuine article.
鈥淚 was just trying to replicate the experience of the movies I love as much as possible,鈥� says Payne. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it makes the movie quaint. I hope it lends it the warmth of nostalgia, the warmth of a lost time, maybe even some traces of memory.鈥�
鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� reunites Payne with Paul Giamatti nearly two decades after the actor鈥檚 memorable, merlot-loathing breakthrough performance in 鈥淪ideways.鈥� 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.
The set-up could be broad: a gang of outcasts and troublemakers sneaking joints while the widely loathed Hunham chases them down the halls. And while there is some of that, Payne pares the group down to Hunham, Angus (Dominic Sessa), a bright student who鈥檚 one mishap away from being sent to a lesser school (and thus likely to Vietnam) and Mary (Da鈥橵ine Joy Randolph), a grieving school cook whose son has recently died in the war.
Something remarkably tender and stirring follows. Digging into each character鈥檚 life, 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� ruminates on privilege in class and race, while steadily building an anti-authoritarian streak for the much-espoused supposedly high-minded ideals of Barton.
If Giamatti鈥檚 鈥沦颈诲别飞补测蝉鈥� character 鈥� a lonely unpublished writer with a manuscript no one wants to read 鈥� was in need of a road trip to jostle him out of a rut, his Hunham is likewise due for some self-reflection and maybe a little encouragement.
For Payne, it was a long-overdue reunion.
鈥淚 wanted to work with that guy again for 20 years,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 was waiting for the right thing 鈥� and created it. I told (screenwriter) David Hemingson: 鈥榃e鈥檙e writing for Paul Giamatti. That鈥檚 who we鈥檙e writing for.鈥�"
鈥淗e鈥檚 just the best actor,鈥� adds Payne. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the finest actor. Not casting aspersions on others, I just think there鈥檚 nothing he cannot do.鈥�
When Payne screened 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� for buyers at last year鈥檚 Toronto International Film Festival, it prompted heated interest. Focus snapped it up for $30 million 鈥� far more than is typical 鈥� a sign of the indie distributor's belief in the movie as a crowd-pleaser and an awards contender. The three lead actors are likely to be in the Oscar mix.
But while Giamatti and Randolph are well-known performers, Sessa is appearing in his first film. After sifting through some 800 submissions, Payne felt like he still hadn鈥檛 found someone to play Angus. 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.
鈥淥ne of the schools we were going to be shooting was Deerfield Academy in Western Massachusetts. We called up the drama teacher who said, 鈥極h, yes, we have quite a few who would be happy to try out for your little movie.鈥� And Dominic was one of them.鈥�
Sessa was a senior when he shot 鈥淭he Holdovers.鈥� He hadn鈥檛 acted in front of a camera before, though you鈥檇 be hard-pressed to tell by the naturalness of his presence on screen.
鈥淲hat you see is some people are born with it. You see all these people in New York taking classes on film acting. This guy can just do it,鈥� Payne says. 鈥淚 learned a long time ago that the best actors are also the best technically. From day one, man, this guy could hit his marks and do his dialogue backward and forward. He鈥檚 built to do it. And then you see him go toe-for-toe with Paul Giamatti, give him a run for his money.鈥�
Payne鈥檚 last film was his biggest budget gambit: in which people can be made miniature. After 鈥淒ownsizing鈥� struggled at the box office and found mixed reviews, Payne dabbled in a number of projects (he had been attached to direct, among others, 鈥淭he Menu鈥� and 鈥淟andscapers鈥�), but 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� is the one that stuck.
It started for him years earlier after seeing a similarly plotted 1930s French film by Marcel Pagnol called 鈥淢erlusse.鈥� Payne, who had written all of his films except 鈥淣ebraska,鈥� didn鈥檛 feel he had the right personal experience. (He attended an all-boys Jesuit day school in Omaha, Nebraska.) Instead he turned to Hemingson and 鈥渂eveled the edges鈥� of the witty and soulful script he turned in.
But as long-term and 鈥�70s-oriented as making 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� was, it struck Payne as a contemporary story, too. 鈥淭rump years and Nixon years,鈥� he says.
鈥淕ravity led me and my collaborators to 1970 for some reason. I can鈥檛 necessarily articulate it,鈥� Payne says. "It鈥檚 obviously not a message film or any crap like that. As Marx would say, all films are political films.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
