On The Holdovers (Focus Features), director Alexander Payne fell in love with making period films. From the experience, Payne–an avid history reader who majored in the subject in college–said he realized that a period movie is “the next best thing to time travel.”
At the same time, though, Payne noted that The Holdovers is not your typical “period film”–and may not even be one in the strictest sense of the term. Instead Payne explained that with The Holdovers he sought to make “a contemporary film in 1970.” It was as if he and his collaborators were living in 1970 and teaming to create a movie back then. It wasn’t imperative to find iconic locations that screamed 1970 to the audience. Rather, living in that year could be reflected in banal and unremarkable backdrops at times–part of everyday life during that era. Payne recalled that production designer Ryan Warren Smith, for example, embraced that approach–the focus, as it’s been in all of Payne’s movies, being on the human story.
At the center of that humanity in The Holdovers is an unlikely trio brought together through circumstance. We are taken back to ‘70 over winter break at a New England boarding school. Paul Giamatti stars as Paul Hunham, an adjunct professor of ancient history who’s stuck with the task of being held over at Barton Academy, having to supervise those kids who can’t go home for Christmas. A bit of a curmudgeon, Hunham is generally disliked by his students. But during their holiday confinement, he bonds with a held-over lad, Angus Tully (portrayed by Dominic Sessa in his feature debut). With them during the holidays is the school’s head cook, Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) whose only child Curtis, a recent Barton grad, was killed in the Vietnam War. Hunham, Tully and Lamb somehow form and find a semblance of family–something they either tragically had lost or never truly had before.
The Holdovers marks a professional reunion between Payne and Giamatti who famously came together on Sideways which in 2005 earned five Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Director. The film won one Oscar–Best Adapted Screenplay for Payne. “The process of collaboration between Paul and me [on The Holdovers] felt like an extremely natural extension of the same harmony we experienced some 20 years ago making Sideways. It just felt right,” said Payne. “I’m sorry it took so damn long to get together again. Since Sideways, I was always dreaming of working with him again. My flaw is that I’m slow with screenplays for my next film. I didn’t have many turns at bat between [Sideways and The Holdovers].” Payne affirmed, though, that he would love to work with Giamatti again–and soon, if possible.
While collaborations have been few and far between for Payne and Giamatti, they have been constant for the director and editor Kevin Tent, ACE. This dates back to Payne’s feature directorial debut, Citizen Ruth, a 1996 release. Payne recalled seeking an editor for Citizen Ruth, a search which led him to editor Carole Kravetz for advice and perhaps a referral. Payne remembered telling Kravetz she was too busy and too expensive for him at that point–so whom might she recommend instead. She came up with two names, one of which was Kent. “He [Kent] dropped off a VHS demo at my apartment in Koreatown [in Los Angeles]. He said hello at the door. I liked it and I liked him.” That case of like has been everlasting as Kent has cut all of Payne’s feature films, from Citizen Ruth right through to The Holdovers.
For Kent, that collaborative relationship has yielded a Best Editing Oscar nomination for The Descendants in 2012 and five American Cinema Editors’ Eddie Award nominations–for Election in 2000, About Schmidt in 2003, Sideways in 2005, The Descendants in 2012 and Nebraska in 2014. Tent won the Eddie for The Descendants.
Payne said his connection with Tent has been invaluable. Citing the lifetime working bond between Martin Scorsese and his editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, as a prime example, Payne observed, “When you find that collaboration, you essentially have a co-writer. You co-edit the film, sharing a concern for the performances and the rhythm.” Payne noted that he and Tent are generally always in on the edit together.
In that vein, Payne added that another key member of the post ensemble–working in concert with him and Tent since Election (Payne’s second feature)–is music editor Richard Ford. Payne described Ford’s contributions as substantive and essential. “Editing feature films involves adding temp music from the earliest days of cutting a film. Richard has grown indispensable in terms of feeding us music, helping us lay it down, all the way to the mix stage.” Ford provides a storytelling precision, able to share on what frame of film a music note will hit. Payne added that Ford is even of considerable help to him in working with composers.
While Tent and Ford are among his long-time collaborators, Payne for the first time worked with cinematographer Eigil Bryld on The Holdovers. Years ago, Payne was taking on a film shot partially in Denmark and Sweden and he thought it might be beneficial to have a Scandinavian DP, breaking away momentarily from his longstanding cinematographer Phedon Papamichael. Payne quipped that while Papamichael gets to work with other directors, “gets to sleep around, I don’t.” Among the alternate DPs Payne explored was Bryld but their teaming didn’t come to pass that time. Instead Payne worked with another Swedish cinematographer. But the director was favorably impressed by Bryld and remembered him. Years later when The Holdovers emerged–with Papamichael already committed to lensing Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for director James Mangold–Payne reached out to Bryld.
Payne described working with Bryld as “a lovely, effortless collaboration.” Payne added that when hiring a new department head, you get his, her or their colleagues ranging from gaffer to focus puller–and The Holdovers benefited from the contributions of Bryld’s team.
Another first-time collaborator for Payne on The Holdovers was writer David Hemingson. While Payne usually writes the features he directs, he gravitated towards Hemingson this time around. The backstory began to unfold over a decade ago when Payne saw a relatively obscure French film, Merlusse (1935), by the acclaimed filmmaker Marcel Pagnol. The film–which left a lasting impression on Payne–told the story of boarding school students marooned with a reviled teacher over the holiday break. Payne thought that premise was fertile ground for a new story.
Fortuitously, a script for a TV series pilot came to Payne four or five years ago. Written by Hemingson, the show was set in an all-boys prep school–and Payne enjoyed what he read. Payne reached out to Hemingson. Payne recalled telling him, “I read your pilot, I don’t want to make it. But would you consider writing something for me set in that world?” From that came a script for The Holdovers, which marks Hemingson’s feature film debut after a career largely in television on such series as Whiskey Cavalier and Kitchen Confidential, which was based on Anthony Bourdain’s memoir and starred Bradley Cooper. An episode for the latter earned Hemingson a Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award nomination.
Helping immeasurably in bringing The Holdovers script to life was the casting of the boarding school students. In addition to the impressive debut of Sessa as Tully, the four other students held over at Barton were Jason Smith (played by Michael Provost), a rich jock; Teddy Kountze (Brady Hefner), a bully; Ye-Joon Park (Jim Kaplan) whose family is in Korea; and Alex Ollerman (Ian Dolley) whose parents are on a religious pilgrimage for the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Eventually all the holdovers are rescued from holiday break purgatory at Barton–except for Tully. The entire ensemble of actors–especially these young adults–speak to Payne’s casting acumen in that finding the right teenagers to deliver believability and authenticity is a delicate proposition.
Payne is a seven-time Oscar nominee, winning two for Best Adapted Screenplay–for Sideways in 2005 and The Descendants in 2012. His directing nominations span Sideways, The Descendants and Nebraska (in 2014). He earned a Best Picture nod for The Descendants and another for writing on the strength of Election in 2000.
Additionally Payne has garnered a pair of DGA Award nominations–for Sideways and The Descendants. The latter also earned a nomination for the coveted Humanitas Prize.
Julian Breece
Bringing us an essential piece of history became a higher calling for screenwriter Julian Breece–particularly at a time when history itself, including that of Black America, is being sanitized, denied or intentionally diminished.
Back in 2013 as a writer trying to find a foothold in the entertainment industry, Breece got his big break when he connected with Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk, who was looking for a writer to tell the story of civil rights activist and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Bayard Rustin, organizer of the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” speech.
“Back then [in 2013] there were very few Black writers in the system for feature films,” recalled Breece who got a meeting with Black and laid out his case for why he would be the right person to help tell Rustin’s story. As a high school student–long before he even thought of a career as a writer–Breece discovered Rustin and deeply researched him. Motivating Breece was the need and desire to find Black and gay people who achieved success. “There were not a lot of role models in the media who were Black and gay,” related Breece, noting that HIV rates were soaring at the time and homophobic violence was extremely high. “That’s when I found out about Bayard.” That education included learning about Rustin’s friendship with and influence on Dr. King, having a hand in introducing him to nonviolence as an agent of change in society.
In his meeting with Black, Breece noted his connection to Rustin and how much he meant to him personally as a Black gay man. After the meeting, Breece wrote Black a long letter, making sure he realized “how passionate I was about telling this story. The fact that someone was even doing it [a film about Rustin] filled me up with hope.”
After starts and stops, with the film shifting from HBO to Netflix, the project finally emerged with George C. Wolfe directing and Colman Domingo in the title role. Rustin (Netflix) debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and is slated for theatrical release on November 3, and its premiere on Netflix come November 17. Screenplay credit goes to Breece and Black, who along with Wolfe refined Breece’s script.
Produced by President Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground, Rustin will receive the Icon & Creator Tribute for Social Justice at the 33rd annual Gotham Awards ceremony on November 27. The Icon & Creator Tribute was created for this year’s Gotham Awards in order to recognize cultural icons and the fillmmakers responsible for bringing that icon’s story to life.
Jeffrey Sharp, executive director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute, stated, “This beautifully crafted and moving film shines a light on the visionary contributions of a proud gay Black man on the heels of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington.”
When Breece was originally brought in to be considered for the writing gig, it was the 50th anniversary of the historic March. While it was a slow moving process to get the project fully off the ground and realized, much has happened in the past 10 years. For one, Breece’s involvement in the film opened up doors for him. He co-wrote the acclaimed Netflix series When They See Us and recently penned the screenplay for Fox Searchlight’s forthcoming Alvin Ailey biopic, which will be directed by Oscar winner (Moonlight) Barry Jenkins. Breece is also a consulting producer on Lee Daniel’s Sammy Davis Jr. limited series at Hulu, and he’s served as a writer and producer on such series as Prime Video’s Harlem and Hulu’s The First.
And while it’s been a long wait to bring Rustin to fruition, the timing in some respects is ideal, according to Breece. It’s now the 60th anniversary and comes at a time when Black history is under siege, to the point in some cases where even slavery is being sugarcoated. The story of Bayard Rustin thus becomes even more relevant today as we see the power of people from different walks of life coming together to advance reform and positive change in society. Rustin puts a long overdue spotlight on an extraordinary, progressive and unrelenting man of indomitable spirit who dared to imagine a different world, inspiring, strategizing and organizing a movement in a march toward freedom.
In fashioning the screenplay, Breece prioritized accuracy. He sought out and connected with those who knew Rustin and worked alongside him. In that process, Breece found the remnants of a stigma about Rustin’s sexuality as colleagues instinctively felt they still had to protect him, dating back to when, observed Breece, it was “dangerous for him to be who he was.” Thus it took multiple meetings with people from Rustin’s past in order for them to open up and share more freely about who he was.
Breece recollected that interviewing Walter Naegle “really broke things wide open for my understanding of the man [Rustin], his full complexity outside of being a brilliant figure with swagger and bravado.” Rustin and Naegle became life partners in the 1970s and were together until Rustin’s death in 1987. Decades before gay marriage was an option, Rustin adopted Naegle to give legal protection to their relationship. Breece said Naegle opened up to him about who Rustin was “in the safety of their home which was his sanctuary.” Naegle’s generosity in sharing about Rustin helped to inform Breece’s writing.
Another possible factor in pushing back the timetable for the Rustin feature was casting the title role as leading Black actors, said Breece, weren’t all that interested early on in playing a gay character. However when Domingo entered the picture, it was just “perfect,” assessed Breece. I saw Bayard in him. His star had just started to rise. He was perfect, everything that Bayard stood for. To have a Black gay actor play Bayard was really beautiful and important for the story.”
As for his biggest takeaway or lessons learned from his experience on Rustin, Breece shared that in discovering who Rustin was, he found a man who was “kind but also formidable, He stood in his truth, demanded dignity, lived a life of protest against injustice.” Breece noted that when “working in Hollywood, you bend yourself a lot in order to fit in.” Seeing Rustin’s courage to dare to be different is inspiring. Breece further observed that being an outcast of sorts, an outsider, sharpened Rustin’s sense of what freedom is, what injustice is, making him able to see things that others weren’t able to see, including the promise of the March on Washington. Getting to know Rustin, affirmed Breece, has “helped me to be more brave about speaking out for myself, what I want to write, the kind of career I want to have and who I want to be as a person.”
What’s in store
This look at The Holdovers and Rustin is a preview of what’s to come in SHOOT’s The Road To Oscar, a 16-part series of feature stories slated to run in the weekly SHOOT>e,dition, The SHOOT Dailies and on SHOOTonline.com, with select installments also in print/PDF issues. The series will appear all the way through to the Academy Awards gala ceremony. Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23, 2024, The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10, 2024.
In the weeks head, you’ll read about key contributors to assorted films such as Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple TV+), Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures), Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures), Ridley Scott’s Napoleon (Sony Pictures), Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (Amazon Prime Video) and David Fincher’s The Killer (Netflix), among many others.
In the mix will be a number of artists whose impact has been felt on more than one film, including cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC who lensed both Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon. Prieto is a three-time Oscar nominee–for Brokeback Mountain, Silence and The Irishman.
