Paul Giamatti became a first-time Oscar nominee in 2006, when his performance in Cinderella Man earned him a nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. But since receiving his first Best Actor in a Leading Role nomination this year, "This one recurring thought keeps crossing my mind," he says, "which is: William Powell got nominated for Best Actor, and now I've also gotten nominated for Best Actor."
At the 96th Oscars, Giamatti is nominated for his role in The Holdovers, in which he plays curmudgeonly boarding school teacher Paul Hunham. It's safe to say the veteran character actor never expected to receive recognition of this kind for the film; for Giamatti, it was a way to finally reunite with his Sideways director, Alexander Payne, as well as a chance to craft a love letter to those closest to him.
"I grew up around people like Paul, so there were a lot of things that I could draw on from my own past," the actor explains. The New Haven native's father was a Yale University professor and his mother was an English teacher. "This was kind of the first time I've ever really consciously done that for a role."
In much the same way that his character in The Holdovers had him reflecting on the role models of his childhood, Giamatti's latest Oscar nomination has him thinking about all of the actors whose work has long inspired him.
"I don't know why William Powell specifically keeps coming to my mind, but I love William Powell. Art Carney got nominated for Best Actor, too! And he won! I'm like, 'Those guys did this, and now I did this,'" the actor muses. "For some reason, that is the most pleasing thing to me about all of this, is getting to be part of this really cool continuum of actors and tradition."
Below, Giamatti shares with A.frame his five favorite films, including the Akira Kurosawa classic that he says makes him cry every time he watches it.
Written and Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Barry Lyndon is one of my favorite movies, and I think part of it is a nostalgic thing. My parents took us to things that were, oftentimes, way above our pay grade when we were young. Like, I remember going and seeing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest when I was 7, and most of it was lost on me in a lot of ways! But Barry Lyndon is a film that I remember seeing vividly. And since then, I've revisited it over and over again. I watch it at least once a year.
I think it's the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen. Every time I see it, I'm more amazed by every aspect of it. Everything about it is incredible. It disproves the whole idea that Kubrick is 'too cold' too. There's so much suppressed passion and feeling in that movie that bursts out in the most incredible ways. Just look at those duels or the scene when the boy dies. It's an incredibly moving movie, because everybody in it is so f*****g repressed! It's amazing. I could have picked any of Kubrick's movies. Sometimes, I think 2001: A Space Odyssey is my favorite, but then I usually go, 'Actually, I like Barry Lyndon better.'
Written and Directed by: Roman Polanski
I'm a big horror guy, and Rosemary's Baby is one of the great horror movies. I think it also achieves something that all of my favorite horror movies do, which is that it's scary and funny. To me, those two things go together really well. Whenever I see a self-serious horror movie, I get a little bit like, 'Ehh…' But I love Rosemary's Baby, and I remember really realizing how great of a movie it was when my son was born. In those early days of him as a baby, I'd have to get up in the middle of the night all the time. One night, I got up because he was screaming and I got him back to sleep. Afterward, I turned on the TV and Rosemary's Baby was on, and I thought, 'Now, I understand this movie in a way that I've never understood this movie before.' It really explores the terror and horror of having a child, the fear and anxiety it conjures. I love that movie.
Directed by: Carol Reed | Written by: Graham Greene
The Third Man is a movie that I've seen so many times that, at this point, I don't even need to watch it, because I've seen it so repeatedly that I can almost recreate the film myself. It's kind of a perfect movie. It exceeds the hype. Everything about it — the performances, music, cinematography — delights me. The end of the film, too, is so unspeakably great. It never fails. And there are so many great performances from so many great characters in it. It's filled with a lot of obscure German and Austrian character actors, and you watch it and you're like, 'Who the hell are they?!' There are actors in it who are great and it may have been the only movie they were ever in, but they're fantastic in it. I just love The Third Man for every, every reason.
Written and Directed by: Bill Forsyth
Local Hero is a movie that I loved as a kid. I watched it over and over again when it was on HBO, and I still love it. It's not sentimental, but it's whimsical and it's sweet and it achieves both those things without ever overstepping a line and becoming too much of one thing. It walks this perfect line, and it's such a sweet movie and such a heartbreaking movie. It's beautiful, and the cut from the industrial hellscape of Houston to the last image of the phone booth ringing is great. It also features my favorite Burt Lancaster performance, and again, all of these fantastic, weird character actors. The movie just works, and it throws out all of this crazy stuff. There's a woman in it with webbed feet who might be a mermaid! It's so great, and it doesn't make the mistake of falling into sentimentality.
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa | Written by: Akira Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto
I love Rashomon. It makes me cry, which most movies don't. I know it's like, 'Who doesn't think Rashomon is a great film?' But I just love everything about it. I love Toshirô Mifune and I'm a big fan of Japanese cinema, and that movie goes to so many amazing places. There's a medium that channels the spirit of a dead guy at one point! But then there's this poetry at the end of the movie that comes out of nowhere, when the men find the kid and the guy — the only trustworthy person in the whole movie — says that he's going to take the kid and raise him. It makes me cry every time. I weep when I watch Rashomon, and it's like pulling blood from a stone getting me to weep in a movie, but that film kills me. I almost can't watch it, because I feel so moved by those final moments. It's so poetic.
One of my favorite shots in any movie is the shot when Toshirô Mifune is on the ground and he's supposed to be this big tough bandit, but he's terrified and scrambling away and the camera is moving with him. It's just amazing. It's camera and actor and everything working together so beautifully. It's a great movie.
