 |
| Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) with Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) watching Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman, in Alexander Payne’s multiple Oscar nominated The Holdovers |
Alexander Payne’s intricately layered The Holdovers, starring Dominic Sessa and Golden Globe winners Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, has just received Oscar nominations for Best Film (with Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall; Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon; Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer; Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things; Bradley Cooper’s Maestro; Greta Gerwig’s Barbie; Celine Song’s Past Lives; Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest), Leading Actor Paul Giamatti, Supporting Actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Original Screenplay David Hemingson, and Editing by Kevin Tent.
 |
| Alexander Payne with Anne-Katrin Titze (in Saint James) on the F+ grade: “That’s my little joke. I wrote that.” |
The intelligent costumes by Payne’s longtime collaborator Wendy Chuck, the outstanding work by his “secret weapon,” graphic designer Nate Carlson, the production design by Ryan Warren Smith and create a past in the present that is alive and invigorating, where details shine and, aided by Eigil Bryld’s cinematography and Kevin Tent’s editing, may surprise you even more at second glance.
In the third instalment with Alexander Payne, we discuss the scene in the cinema, where Angus Tully (Sessa) and Mr. Hunham (Giamatti as his Barton Academy teacher) are watching Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man (starring Dustin Hoffman), and how it connects to Hunham and Miss Crane's (Carrie Preston) mistletoe exchange at her Christmas party; plus who came up with the whistling of The Ride of the Valkyries when handing out the final term exams and the choice of grades prominently featured on the blue books.
How Angus Tully’s expedition through the deserted school reminded me of a film from 1970, namely Donkey Skin (Peau D'Âne) by Jaques Demy with Catherine Deneuve and Jacques Perrin, and a special Boston squirrel moment round out our conversation over two days about Payne’s elegant and stirring film.
Last week, The Holdovers received a total of seven BAFTA nominations: Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Leading Actor for Paul Giamatti, Best Supporting Actress for Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Best Supporting Actor for Dominic Sessa, and Best Casting (by Susan Shopmaker).
From JFK airport, Alexander Payne joined me on Zoom to continue our in-depth conversation on The Holdovers.
 |
| Angus (Dominic Sessa) with Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) arriving at Miss Crane’s Christmas Party |
Anne-Katrin Titze: The Ride Of The Valkyries is fabulous [Paul Hunham whistles Wagner while handing out grades to his students]! Who had that idea?
Alexander Payne: Paul did.
AKT: Wow, everything that’s going on at that moment! An F+?
AP: I know! That’s my little joke. I wrote that.
AKT: It’s so perfect - “fail better”! We spoke of movies, to have Little Big Man in there - of course it is 1970 - is an interesting choice. You also make sure that anyone who wants to know what film it is, will be able to. You show us Dustin Hoffman, then the title is spoken, and we see it on the marquee.
AP: That wasn’t to make sure that people know what it was, because I think film people know what it was, but I think the dialogue where he says, when Paul Giamatti realises that the boy may have escaped, when he’s lighting his pipe, and you hear the dialogue “Little Big Man has returned,” it is thematically linked to the idea that the boy is now escaping to see his father, to return to his father. There’s kind of a thematic element.
 |
| Alexander Payne on what Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) says to Miss Crane (Carrie Preston) about Aeneas at the Christmas party: “You think it’s a joke.” |
And if I can get very arcane with you, also previously in the movie Paul Giamatti says to Miss Crane at the Christmas party, and you think it’s a joke, “You know, it’s interesting, Aeneas took mistletoe with him into the underworld when he went in search of his father.” Well, in that moment when Angus goes to see his father, where does he go? He goes down! Down some stairs, carrying, not exactly mistletoe, but another symbol of Christmas with him as he goes in search of his father.
AKT: Beautiful!
AP: Just little things that I like to put in there.
AKT: I love that, it’s all about the details. What else is there?
AP: Nobody really picks up on that stuff, but I know it’s there.
AKT: I picked up on the woman with the squirrel!
AP: That’s my favourite shot in the entire film. It was my idea. I was thinking, how could we make this shot special as the man and the boy walk through the park. And the park has a lot of squirrels and the squirrels are quite tame because people feed them. So I just had an idea and I grabbed an extra. I went to the little pool of extras that were all in a circle trying to stay warm.
 |
| Alexander Payne on Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) in the cinema: “When he’s lighting his pipe, and you hear the dialogue “Little Big Man has returned,” it is thematically linked to the idea that the boy is now escaping to see his father …” |
I said, 'Madam, please come with me.' I said, 'Who has nuts? Who has nuts?' And the dolly grip keeps nuts in his pockets. He gave me his nuts. Then I told the extra woman, a nice lady, 'Try to feed the squirrel! Try to feed the squirrel!' It took about ten takes but finally the squirrel came and ate out of her hand. Then I knew we had a movie.
AKT: I think my favourite sequence by Dominic Sessa is when he is in the school alone and he doesn’t really know what to do with this freedom. The sentiment of it, that suddenly he is confronted with all these options.
AP: When he runs around in the middle of the night?
AKT: When he runs around and has the mass wine and mashed potatoes out of the pot.
AP: No, that’s ice cream, he’s eating ice cream.
AKT: Oh, I thought it was cold mashed potatoes!
AP: No, it’s a freezer, you know, institutional sized ice cream.
AKT: That scene reminded me of another film from 1970, Peau D'Âne by Jaques Demy.
AP: Oh, I don’t know that one.
 |
| Dustin Hoffman with Chief Dan George in Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man |
AKT: Donkey Skin. It’s a fairy-tale film, but very subversive. There are a Prince and a Princess, played by Catherine Deneuve and Jacques Perrin. They get together and don’t know what to do with all that bonheur. They roll down a hill, and eat lots of pastries, and smoke a pipe. And that scene reminded of it.
AP: Oh lovely, nice. You’re a real film buff!
AKT: Well, yes.
AP: Not everyone is.
AKT: Maybe you can watch it on the plane.
AP: I know the name Donkey Skin.
AKT: It’s fascinating what Demy gets away with, it’s based on the old Perrault folktale, an incest story, really. Dominic Sessa in your film, so perfectly portrays this schoolboy who doesn’t know what to do at this moment. It’s so perfect.
AP: Thank you. You’re the second person to comment on that sequence and I appreciate it.
The Holdovers is in cinemas in the US and the UK.
 |
| Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) seeing Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) on the run |
Read what Alexander Payne had to say on The Holdovers team, Paul Giamatti, Carrie Preston, and Westward the Women from Omaha, Nebraska.
Read what Alexander Payne had to say from JFK airport on The Holdovers composer Mark Orton, Marcel Pagnol’s Merlusse, WC Fields, Artie Shaw, and what’s coming up.
Read what Wendy Chuck had to say on dressing The Holdovers cast.
Read what Wendy Chuck had to say on Virgin Mary colours for Mary Lamb, connecting with shades of blue, the party scene as a slice of Massachusetts in 1970, Marvin No-Pants, fitting all the boys, and Alexander Payne’s Hitchcock moment.
The 81st annual Golden Globes took place on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
The 96th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 10 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
