It pays to go to high school theater cast parties.
Dominic Sessa did and discovered director Alexander Payne was looking for actors to play students at an all-boys prep school, circa 1970.
鈥淢y theater teacher said, 鈥楾hese casting people are going to come and maybe look for some background people,鈥欌 Sessa says. 鈥淚 just thought, 鈥楳aybe if it goes well, I can sit at a desk or something.鈥欌
Instead, he got one of the leading roles in 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥 鈥 a young man who鈥檚 left back at school over the holidays.
The part gave him something his now-Carnegie Mellon University classmates don鈥檛 have 鈥 talk that he could be nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.
鈥淭he movie was a little bit more challenging than what I鈥檇 done in the past,鈥 Sessa admits. 鈥淵ou just don鈥檛 know what to expect.鈥
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Dominic Sessa stars as Angus Tully in director Alexander Payne鈥檚 "The Holdovers."聽
Payne, however, was taken with Sessa鈥檚 natural quality鈥攁nd 鈥70s era hair. 鈥淭he casting director had seen 800 submissions by the time we found Dominic,鈥 he says. 鈥淲hen I was coming down to the final decision, (star Paul Giamatti) was generous enough to read with both of the (finalists) via Zoom. We agreed Dominic was the one.鈥
To give the young actor a sense of what he was going for with 鈥淭he Holdovers,鈥 Payne showed Sessa a number of films. 鈥淢r. Smith Goes to Washington,鈥 for example, had the kind of dialogue speed he wanted in 鈥淗oldovers.鈥 鈥淭he Graduate,鈥 鈥淭he Landlord,鈥 鈥淗arold and Maude,鈥 鈥淭he Last Detail鈥 and 鈥淧aper Moon鈥 were among other references. While prepping the film, he held his 鈥70s film bootcamp for the film鈥檚 cinematographer, production designer, costume designer and Sessa.
鈥淲ithout trying to imitate any single one of them, I just wanted to remind ourselves of the world we would鈥檝e been splashing around in had we been working back then,鈥 Payne says.
One of the settings 鈥 a restaurant called the Winning Ticket 鈥 made a particular impression. 鈥淚 remember it just being full of smoke 鈥 plumes of smoke,鈥 Sessa says. 鈥淚t looked different but, generally speaking, it was fairly reminiscent of how I experienced school.鈥
Sessa, a 2022 graduate of the Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, had been in a production of Neil Simon鈥檚 鈥淩umors鈥 when the casting call went out.
Because the film was shot at a nearby school, Sessa was familiar with the territory. 鈥淎ll of them, for the most part, are very much stuck in time,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very traditional.鈥
Payne wanted the kind of feel that comes from shooting on location. That helped Sessa, Giamatti and co-star Da鈥橵ine Joy Randolph feel like they were in a 鈥淗oldovers鈥 world.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the best thing you can ask for,鈥 says Randolph, who plays the school鈥檚 cook. 鈥淎ll that stuff helps fill out the character. You don鈥檛 have to work harder to imagine it.鈥
Giamatti found his school desk drawers filled with 鈥減eriod-appropriate鈥 items.
鈥淭here was very little trickery,鈥 Sessa says.
From left, Dominic Sessa stars as Angus Tully, Da鈥橵ine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb and Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham in "The Holdovers."聽
A scene in which he dislocates his shoulder felt real because the prosthetic he wore was so good. 鈥淚t was like that phantom limb sort of thing,鈥 Sessa says.
Running around the school鈥檚 hallways brought plenty of joy. 鈥淚 laughed the hardest when (Paul) started running.鈥
The experience taught Sessa plenty about the business. He thought celebrities went to their trailers when they weren鈥檛 on set. Instead, Giamatti and Randolph freely engaged and made him felt like he belonged.
鈥淚 genuinely could not have asked for better people to do this with,鈥 he says.
Movie critic Bruce Miller says "The Holdovers" is a holiday movie with some rougher edges. Despite being bathed in the glow of nostalgia, 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥 is brutally real about human relationships.
