The director also discusses the impact of 'Sideways,' a possible 'Election' sequel with Reese Witherspoon, & the Western he hopes to direct.
The Big Picture For his second feature with the Toronto International Film Festival, filmmaker Alexander Payne joined Collider’s Steve Weintraub in our studio at the Cinema Center by MARBL to talk all about bringing The Holdovers to the big screen. Starring Paul Giamatti, this holiday comedy reunites the director and Giamatti after their Oscar-winning team-up in Payne’s 2004 film, Sideways.
ALEXANDER PAYNE: Maybe Election? Probably that. That remains the movie I probably get the most compliments on from film nerds. I get a lot of Sideways, some Descendants, and a lot of Nebraska. So yeah, I think Election is pretty good.PAYNE: You know what? It’s the only feature I’ve made that’s not too long.PAYNE: No, it’s not about the actual length. It’s about how it feels while you’re watching it, and that one has a pretty good rhythm to it.
PAYNE: Well, I have a very good graphic artist. We slapped an R banner rating on it, an MPAA rating, and then I had my graphic artist design a vintage Focus Features logo and a vintage Miramax logo, and we just went from there. To their credit, Focus and Miramax went for it.PAYNE: They did, but you never know with these conservative companies. They’ll go, “Oh, no, we don’t do that.” But to really do those things thoroughly and with no tells that it really is contemporary, my hat’s off to them.
PAYNE: Didn’t come close on another one. This one was tailored, not tailored for Paul, but written with him in mind from the get-go.PAYNE: I told him early on. I said, “Just so you know, we’re conceiving something for you.” “Great, great, great. What is it?” And I told him the basic premise. “Great.” I showed him an early draft. He still liked it. We kept honing the draft, and it just worked out well. It couldn’t have worked out better.
PAYNE: Those are two different questions, the tax rebate question and not shooting on soundstages. I can’t stand shooting on stages. Usually, most of my movies are location movies. Downsizing wasn’t because it had all that science fiction stuff in it, so you had to build things. But I can’t stand shooting on stages. I like to be only on locations. Usually, you have to build a bathroom or a closet, or something, because it’s too small. This one was 100% location.
How long, from when you had that conversation did it take to get a script that you were really happy with?PAYNE: No. Maybe shorter. I don’t know. I don’t really remember. Call it two or three years. Certainly, by the time we were nearing production, it was two or three years. PAYNE: It never ceases to astonish me. And every time I hear that, I’m like, “Really? Really?” But former Los Angeles film critic, Kurt Honeycutt, is writing a book on Sideways right now, both how it was made, and then its impact on the wine industry. It’s really something. I never could have foreseen that. I just thought it was a nice little comedy.
PAYNE: The idea that I presented to David Hemingson was primarily about the relationship between the teacher and the boy, and it’s he who devised the cook. I really have David Hemingson to thank for that. And then, once he came up with that character, then it was off to the races. PAYNE: The thing about this guy, Dominic Sessa, is that he is born with it, and I don’t know if I’ve actually seen that before. There was a shot on the very first day where he had to act to a piece of tape on the matte box of the camera, which pro actors have to learn how to do and get used to and imagine the interlocutor over here, and he just did it. Paul Giamatti and I told each other that we’d help him out and give him little tips and so forth, but you only had to tell him once.
PAYNE: Had to go back to the well a few times for VFX in post to help out with the snow. During shooting, we were blessed with a lot of snow, which was great, and then put down artificial snow, and we thought, “Well, we’ll need VFX to put that in.” We also had to put some VFX in post that were snow flurries, and they couldn’t get that right for a long time, so it looked real. It kept looking fake. So, it was the VFX budget and then music.
Why did you want to work with your cinematographer, Eigil Bryld, and what was it about his style that made you think he would work perfectly for this? There are some directors who work a lot with close-ups, and there are others who like a two-shot or a moving camera, or whatever it may be. There’s no right answer. So, when do you want your closeup?
Before I hit time with you because I know they’re gonna give me the hook, I read that you and Reese [Witherspoon] might do an Election sequel.
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