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![]() sideways interview
Alexander Payne’s Oscar-nominated comedy about wine-tasting. “I’m a complete Neanderthal. My tongue is like shoe leather. I mean, yeah, I can taste that they’re different. But I wouldn't know that one was better…”So much for Method acting. Paul Giamatti (American Splendor) may be knocking back the plaudits for his performance as a depressive, middle-aged oenophile in Alexander Payne’s wine-soaked buddy/road movie, Sideways. But, as he freely admits, he still can’t tell his ass from his Merlot. Not that it matters. Sideways is a real vintage, a deliciously bittersweet draft with an aftertaste in an industry geared up for pallid fizzy pop. ![]() “What [co-writer] Jim Taylor and I look for is a delicious and suggestive situation,” reflects Payne, director of acclaimed modern indies like Election and About Schmidt. “The world of the film, then real human beings within that world. It was fun to research and very fun to make. And not just because of the wine.” Taylor and Payne adapted an unpublished Rex Pickett manuscript, worked out an unthreatening budget and picked their dream cast – of whom Giamatti is the biggest name. No matter. Previously unheralded co-stars, Thomas Haden Church and a luminous Virginia Madsen (welcome back), are now Oscar front-runners. “I had met some famous actors who had flatteringly expressed an interest,” Payne admits. “But this was the cast I wanted and that’s the way I think it should be. I understand the insurance policy of having famous people in leading roles, but I understand comedy more. You can’t just plug famous people in and expect it to work.” ![]() “I am forever grateful to Alexander that he had that kind of fortitude,” Giamatti marvels, barely believing his sudden romantic lead status (and opposite the glamorous Madsen no less). “I was a little nervous about it because I hadn't done something like that. I did think, are people going to buy that? But I dropped my neuroses about it pretty early on and just went with it.” California’s Santa Ynez valley, the film’s setting, is also grateful. It’s now doing a roaring post-Sideways trade. “They keep sending me wine,” Payne smiles, equating his growing love of wine with that of his burgeoning filmmaking career. “I’ve come to see it more as a practice like yoga. You never master it, you just keep at it.”
Leigh Singer
Sideways, on national release 28 January 05.
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