September 20, 2024

As a cinephile and a fellow filmmaker I always have a soft spot for indie filmmakers and one of the major voices from the indie space is Alexander Payne – a master when it comes to finding comedy in tragedy. All his films follow this trope and follow it well. If you don’t know him then I must tell you he has helmed films like Election, The Descendants, Nebraska, About Schmidt and his magnum opus – Sideways. Payne’s recent was which has cracked into some mainstream recognition, especially as the film secured wins at the Golden Globes and nods in the Academy Awards. After the overwhelming response for The Holdovers, Payne is moving on to his next. Keep reading to know more.

Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti’s Next After The Holdovers

In a recent Q&A following a screening of The Holdovers at Soho House in West Hollywood, recent collaborators Alexander Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson revealed that they’re collaborating once again on a western in fact. Hemingson said, “I’ve been sworn to secrecy.” However, the screenwriter further revealed that Payne is already considering Paul Giamatti to play a part in his next.

Heminsong revealed, “But what I will say is we’ve written him a part and I hope he’ll do it.” If Giamatti ends up accepting the role then it will be be his third collaboration with Payne since Sideways in 2004. Despite committing to secrecy, Hemingson did spill some beans about the upcoming Alexander Payne directorial.

He said, “Alexander and I are writing a Western together, so we’re going to co-write something, and it’s set in Nebraska in 1886, and it’s like no Western you have ever seen before, because it’s an Alexander Payne Western. So, all those interpersonal dynamics, all the stuff that he does, so brilliantly. He’s such a brilliant humanist. He’s going to suffuse this thing. It’ll be recognizable as within the genre, and it’ll have certain other tropes. But we intend to turn them on their head and really talk about the humanist perspective of 1886 Nebraska, which I’m thrilled about.”

The Holdovers is available for purchase or rent on VOD and digital platforms.

If you have questions regarding Alexander Payne, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe, and share our articles as we are trying to build a community of people High On Cinema!