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Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
Paul Giamatti talks about his breakout performance playing Harvey Pekar in the much hyped "American Splendor" and about portraying schmucks in movies like "Big Momma's House."
Aug 12, 2003 | Paul Giamatti has fashioned a career out of being humbled and humiliated, giving oddball life to an assortment of schmucks, nebbishes and clowns.
In "Private Parts" he appeared opposite Howard Stern as a much maligned radio exec nicknamed "Pig Vomit." In the Martin Lawrence vehicle "Big Momma's House," he was an undercover cop chastened by snarling pooches and Bundt-bearing Southern matrons. And in "Big Fat Liar" he played a shady movie producer pummeled into submission by vengeful, sitcom-cute tweenyboppers.
He's so adept at playing losers that his lofty pedigree might surprise his audiences; his late father, A. Bartlett Giamatti, was an esteemed scholar who taught Italian, English and comparative literature at Princeton and Yale. Bart Giamatti became the youngest president ever of Yale and went on to serve as commissioner of baseball (he died in 1989 just days after banning Pete Rose from the sport).
Paul Giamatti, 36 and also a Yale man, first drew notice as a stage actor, garnering accolades for his work in productions of "The Iceman Cometh," "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui," "Three Sisters" and "Arcadia."
On-screen he hasn't fared quite so well. Until recently, Giamatti seemed doomed to permanent what's-his-name status. He's had big parts in bad movies, small parts in big ones ("Saving Private Ryan," "Man on the Moon," "The Truman Show"). But in the last couple of years, he has slowly emerged in bigger, better roles -- most notably in 2001, when he starred as hapless documentary filmmaker Toby Oxman in the Todd Solondz film "Storytelling."
Now Giamatti's career-making role comes in the biopic "American Splendor," which opens in limited release this month. The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the film chronicles the life and times of V.A. hospital file clerk Harvey Pekar. Unable to draw even a stick figure, Pekar nonetheless launched a comic book series -- the autobiographical "American Splendor" -- in 1976, enlisting Robert Crumb and other artists to illustrate his work. Giamatti stars as the persnickety Pekar opposite Hope Davis as Pekar's wife, Joyce. Appearances by the real-life Harvey Pekar and a 2-D animated Harvey punctuate the main narrative.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, "American Splendor" marks the first time Giamatti has had to carry a film -- which he does with a nervy and risk-taking performance.
Salon spoke to Giamatti by telephone:
I came upon this quote from your father: "Being president of a university is no way for an adult to make a living." Do you think he would have viewed acting as a legitimate way for an adult to make a living?
Sure. He was kind of a theatrical guy himself. My brother was an actor and my mother's an actress, and my father was very much into the arts. He died before I ever started acting and I'm sure he would have wanted me to know what I was getting into, but he would have been all for it.
You're generally described as a character actor. Is that a label you would choose for yourself?
I'm not exactly sure what it means, but sure. I think people regard me as quirky; they don't see me as a leading man.
Could you talk about the challenges of playing a "real" person in "American Splendor"? Did you feel any pressure to be "authentic," or did you approach Harvey Pekar as you would any other character?
When I met with the directors, they said, "We're pretty sure we want Harvey in the movie, so we're thinking we want to cast someone who can be as much like Harvey as possible." There was a certain amount of pressure and challenge involved because I'd never done that kind of thing before, specifically been told, "We want you to be like this guy." On the other hand, what you're seeing in most biopics is a character based on a person; it's always ultimately a fictional character. I've played real people a bunch of times and have finally reached the point where I realize that you do have a lot of room for interpretation with these roles and you can confine yourself too much if you forget that you're playing a character.
