Paul Giamatti Picks 'Really Strange' Action Movies for a Reason

Everyone knows Paul Giamatti from something. Maybe you’re a Howard Stern loyalist who remembers him as “Pig Vomit” from Stern’s 1997 biographical film Private Parts (adapted from Stern’s book and starring Stern as himself). Maybe you remember his small part in Saving Private Ryan, or his Academy Award-nominated turn in Cinderella Man. Maybe you’ve seen him on the small screen, embodying the perfect John Adams in HBO’s John Adams or, for the past five years, going toe-to-toe with Damian Lewis in Showtime’s Billions.

Personally, I always think of the first movie I ever saw him in: Big Fat Liar, a 2002 family film where Giamatti plays a self-absorbed Hollywood producer who literally steals a movie idea from a child (Frankie Muniz). But the crux of the point is that everyone's got something. He’s one of those actors who makes every movie, show, play, or commercial he’s in better for it, and the latest to get that Giamatti bump is Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake.

The movie, which finds Guardians of the Galaxy and Jumanji: The Next Level star Karen Gillan in her first ass-kicking lead role, clearly takes a bit of DNA from its spiritual predecessors, John Wick and Kill Bill. But the movie’s wonderfully-chroreographed action comes nonstop, with fights, sequences, and visuals you’ll immediately want to see again. Gillan and Giamatti aren’t alone either; while they play assassin and handler, respectively, they’re joined by the likes of Lena Headey, Angela Bassett, Carla Gugino, and Michelle Yeoh as a quartet of totally badass killers.

Giamatti’s character, as usual, is complicated. He’s not a good guy, but we’re not quite sure you could call him an entirely bad guy either. He can talk a little bit more about that. His screentime is limited, but as usual, it’s the 54-year-old’s line deliveries, facial expressions, and general lasting memorability that makes him such a valuable presence.

We talked to Giamatti not only about his role in Netflix’s new hyper-stylized action flick, but also a few other vital topics, including one of his decades-old cult classics, working with both The Rock and a majestic bird, and what projects he may or may not be teasing for release later in 2021.

I would be remiss to start this interview without asking you about the first movie I ever saw you in, as a child of the ‘90s: Big Fat Liar.

Sure.

I’m curious how often you hear that one brought up. I'm guessing maybe some other people around my age, but maybe it doesn’t resonate as much with other or older generations.

It comes up quite a bit, which is great. I think now, you know, generations of people...you’re right about older people, but how old are you?

I’m 28.

Uh huh. Yeah, sort of people around your age, and a little bit older, and then their kids are now seeing it too. So, it’s been a success of generations with kids now. Kids still watch it. It’s great.

A lot of people seeing you with all that blue dye all over you, huh?

Yup! Yup.

Well, Gunpowder Milkshake is quite the shift from Big Fat Liar.

[LAUGHING]

I was riveted the whole time. But I’ve seen you in some other action movies in the past. When you’re choosing to do an action movie, like Gunpowder Milkshake, what are you looking for?

Well I haven’t done that many action movies. I’ve gotten a lot of them, but if I do them, I try to pick the more unusual ones that come along. I did one called Shoot ‘Em Up a while ago too that was similar in some ways to this movie. It was really kind of oddball, and strange. So, I like something that’s a little bit more odd than just a straight ahead thing. And this was really strange, I thought. It has a weird sense of humor, and I like this kind of very complete, strange world that you’re not told a hell of a lot about, but you can feel that it’s got a beginning, a middle, and an end beyond what you’ve just seen, which is really kind of cool.

The color palette is really striking to see sometimes.

Yeah, it’s a beautiful looking movie. And it’s beautifully shot, and edited, and it’s really, really well made. Just an odd movie, too. It’s got an odd tone, kind of. I liked it.

You mentioned Shoot ‘Em Up—that was actually the other action movie I had in mind. Coincidentally you’re also a villain in that movie too. Is there something you like particularly about playing a villain character?

I don’t really think of the guy in this movie as the villain, in a funny way. The Ralph Ineson character actually seems like the villain. I mean, my character is a compromised guy, but he actually sort of cares about the girl, and it seems like he actually helped set her back up with her mother. So, I don’t actually think of him as such the villain, necessarily, which I kind of liked about this guy.

But I don’t mind playing villains at all. And Shoot ‘Em Up—one of the things I really liked about that is I would get movie villains a lot, but I thought “Eh.” And then the villain in that movie was so odd, and twisted, that I thought “Well, this is a good villain part.”

But I don’t mind playing villains, at all. I like playing them. I don’t do it that much. I feel like I play bad guys, as opposed to the bad guy a lot of the time. I play kind of fucked up, ambiguous guys, but I don’t necessarily play the bad guy that much.

Those ‘shades of gray’ characters.

Yeah. Which is what I think this guy is. The guy in Shoot ‘Em Up was great. I mean, that was a great character. I got to break Clive Owen’s fingers, and run over a baby, and stuff like that. I mean, that’s really fun.

This is the first time I’ve seen Karen Gillan in the lead in a movie like this. What was it like working with her?

She was great. I mean, you know, I guess you’re right—it is sort of her first. But it didn’t seem like the first time she’s ever had to take on a lead. She was perfectly in command of it. But she was great. She was really fun, and we had a good time.

I’m impressed by these people who can command both the physical thing and the acting part of these kinds of things. That’s always really impressive.

Another movie you have coming up is Jungle Cruise, which is another movie you’re doing with The Rock. However, I don’t think you guys had any scenes together in San Andreas.

No, we didn’t.

So what was it like meeting him and working with him this time?

He strikes me as being one of the few people I can think of in this business who is pretty much exactly what you think he’s gonna be like. And pretty much exactly what he seems like he is. He’s just a really good guy. He’s an incredibly approachable guy, and he’s just fun. He’s having a good time. He works his ass off.

I mean, he’s working out a good portion of the day, and then he comes and does his acting stuff. Those kind of athlete guys, when they act, they’re just terrific to act with, because they want to just play, they want to have a good time, they want to do the right thing, they want to do it well. It’s really nice. He’s a great guy. He’s a really, really, nice guy. He’s exactly what he seems like. He really is. I really enjoyed it.

I don’t know too much about that movie, but I have seen your character in the trailer and the poster. It looks like you’ve got a big bird on your arm.

Yeah, I do.

What can you tell me about this bird?

Well, the bird, originally I wanted it to be...there really wasn’t a character. It’s actually a little bit like Shoot ‘Em Up, where there wasn’t really a character. They were like Can you just come in and do something with this? And so, the same thing with this. They were like Will you just do something with this? And I was like, OK.

And so I originally wanted a monkey to light my cigars. But it’s a Disney movie, so I couldn’t smoke cigars, and then a monkey was going to be too difficult. Monkeys are too hard to deal with. And, so, they said Do you want some other kind of animal? And I said what about a Cockatoo or something? Like, a really nice bird.

So, they got me a beautiful bird. And I’ve worked with birds before, and they’re really pretty great to work with, because they’re really smart, and they can be very affectionate, and cool, and if you’re cool with them, they really connect to you, and they’re very sweet to work with. And that bird was really great. In fact, I thought about adopting that bird, pretty seriously. But I didn’t in the end, because they’re a lot to take care of, birds. But the bird was fantastic. Beautiful bird. Really cute bird.

Amazing. That sounds like fun.

Yep.

Before we go, I want to ask a couple quick questions about potential upcoming things. I say potential because I’ve seen some rumors online that claim you're going to be reprising your Amazing Spider-Man 2 role in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home movie. Can you give us any hint, yes or no, about that?

I can only tell you that as far as I know, I’m not doing that. [LAUGHING]

OK. We can leave that one there.

Yep.

There are also a lot of fans of your show Billions, and a new season is coming up. Can you give us a little hint of what to expect there.

Oh...big stuff. Big stuff goes down. They would kill me if I said anything, but I can only tell you that some big, big shit hits the fan. That’s all I can tell you.

This interview has been condensed for content and clarity.

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