‘The Holdovers’ TV series in the pipeline, director may return

A TV series version of The Holdovers could be on the way.

In a recent interview with Variety, Miramax chief Jonathan Glickman talked about taking over the studio that was previously run by Harvey Weinstein.

He discussed his plans to revive and reboot numerous successful works in Miramax’s library, including the Scary Movie franchise – and, he teases, Alexander Payne’s award-winning 2024 film The Holdovers.

The Variety article states: “The studio is reconceiving some properties that originally were made for the big screen as streaming and TV programs or limited series.

“To that end, Miramax is developing shows or limited series based on Gangs of New York, Chocolat and The English Patient, all movies that were commercially and critically successful when they premiered more than 20 years ago.

“It’s also working on a show based on the more recent hit, The Holdovers, a boarding school drama that was an Oscar-winner when it opened in 2023. Glickman hopes that the film’s director Alexander Payne will be involved.”

Set in 1970, The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a miserly professor at a Boston boarding school who is charged with looking after rebellious student Angus (Dominic Sessa) alongside campus cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) over the Christmas holidays.

It received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Giamatti, with Randolph winning the gong for Best Supporting Actress. Sessa was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Before the Oscars ceremony, Payne was accused of plagiarising The Holdovers’ screenplay from a well-known, unproduced script by Luca screenwriter Simon Stephenson.

The film came in at number 14 in NME’s best movies of 2024 list, with Jack Shepherd writing: “They say they don’t make them like they used to. Well, Alexander Payne proved otherwise.

“The Holdovers could have been an overly sentimental work, yet Payne’s perfect balance of compassion and earnestness results in a bittersweet film that feels like it’s been discovered from a VHS gathering dust in someone’s attic, rather than the product of our gloomy post-pandemic world.

“Giamatti’s on fine form as a curmudgeon teacher whose heart grows three sizes bigger, while Da’Vine Joy Randolph shines in her Oscar-winning role as a cafeteria manager dealing with the death of her son. The perfect film for you and your dad to have a little cry to after a Christmas roast.”

Elsewhere, Giamatti can currently be seen in an episode of the latest series of Black Mirror. Sessa was recently confirmed to be playing late celebrity chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain in new A24 biopic Tony.

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