Exclusive: Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa talk Alexander Payne's The Holdovers
Currently playing in theaters from Focus Features is The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Carrie Preston.
From filmmaker Alexander Payne, The Holdovers follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to help babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go during the holidays. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them -- a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) -- and with the school's head cook, who just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
Payne is known for directing films such as Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska, and Downsizing.
Most recently, Randolph reprised her role as Detective Williams alongside Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez in the second season of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu as well as HBO’s The Idol alongside The Weeknd. Her breakout role came with her scene- stealing role as Lady Reed, opposite Eddie Murphy in Netflix’s Dolemite Is My Name. She can also be seen in Netflix’s Rustin playing Mahalia Jackson. Additional film and tv credits include Sanaa Lathan’s On The Come Up, Lee Daniel’s United States v Billie Holiday with Natasha Lyonne, Andra Day and Trevante Rhondes; and Hulu’s High Fidelity. On stage, Randolph was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in Ghost which marked her West End and Broadway debuts.
For Sessa, he makes his feature film debut in Alexander Payne's The Holdovers opposite Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. He is a graduate of Deerfield Academy and is currently continuing his studies at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales talks to Randolph and Sessa about working with Payne on The Holdovers.
