Alexander Payne is going back in time for his first film in six years.
Following 2017’s critically panned “Downsizing,” Payne returns to the big screen with “The Holdovers” starring “Sideways” alum Paul Giamatti almost exactly 20 years later. Payne’s eighth feature will be distributed by Focus Features.
“The Holdovers” follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them, a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa), and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (“The Idol” breakout Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
Payne directs the film from a screenplay by David Hemingson, who previously penned episodes of “Black-ish” and “Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23.” Focus Features handles the film’s U.S. distribution, while Universal Pictures International will release the film in international territories.
Oscar winner Payne told Deadline that he always wanted to re-team with Giamatti since “Sideways” in 2004. “Ever since I worked with Paul in ‘Sideways,’ I’ve wanted to work with him again, and this role is tailor-made for him,” Payne said of the 1970-set dramedy. “I continue to think now as I did then. I hate to use the term ‘the finest actor of his generation’ because there are so many wonderful actors, but when I worked with him on ‘Sideways,’ I was astounded by his range. As a director you want actors who can make even bad dialogue work, and he can do that. He can just do anything. I think it’s a matter of time before he gets his Oscar.”
Screenwriter Hemingson, Mark Johnson, and Bill Block, with Andrew Golov, Thom Zadra, and Chris Stinson serving as executive producers.
Payne is also set to direct a sequel to “Election” starring Reese Witherspoon, titled “Tracy Flick Can’t Win.”
“The Holdovers” opens with a limited theatrical release November 10. The film will be released wide November 22. Check out the trailer below.
