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The Holdovers is a 2023 American Christmas comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne and written by David Hemingson. Set in late 1970 and early 1971, the film stars Paul Giamatti as a strict classics teacher at a New England boarding school who is forced to chaperone a handful of students with nowhere to go on the Christmas break. Da'Vine Joy Randolph portrays the school cafeteria manager, and Dominic Sessa portrays one of the students who stays on campus. Filming for the project took place from January to March of 2022 in Massachusetts. The Holdovers premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and was released in the United States by Focus Features on October 27, 2023. It received highly positive reviews and has grossed over $44 million worldwide on a budget of $13 million. The film was named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute, and received many other accolades, including two wins at the Golden Globe Awards and the British Academy Film Awards; Randolph won the Best Supporting Actress award at both ceremonies. The Holdovers also received five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Giamatti; Randolph won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Plot In New England in December 1970, Paul Hunham is a classics professor at Barton Academy, an all-male boarding school that he once attended on scholarship. His students and fellow teachers despise him for his strict grading and stubborn personality. Dr. Woodrup, Barton's headmaster and Hunham's former student, scolds Hunham for costing the academy money by flunking the son of a senator, causing Princeton University to rescind his offer of admission. As punishment, Hunham is forced to supervise five students left on campus during the holiday break, including Angus Tully, whose mother cancelled a family trip to Saint Kitts in order to honeymoon with her new husband. Also staying behind is cafeteria manager Mary Lamb, whose late son, Curtis, attended Barton and was killed in the Vietnam War after being drafted. To the students' chagrin, Hunham forces them to study and exercise on their break. After six days, the wealthy father of one of the students arrives by helicopter and agrees to take all five students on the family's ski trip with their parents' permission. Angus, unable to reach his parents for permission, is left alone at Barton with Hunham and Mary. When Hunham catches Angus trying to book a hotel room, the two argue about Hunham's disciplinarian policies. Angus impulsively runs through the school halls and defiantly leaps into a pile of gym equipment, dislocating his shoulder. Hunham takes Angus to the hospital. To protect Hunham from blame, Angus lies to the doctors about the circumstances of his injury. At a restaurant, Hunham and Angus encounter Lydia Crane, Woodrup's assistant. Hunham flirts with Lydia, who invites the pair to her Christmas Eve party. Angus, Hunham, Mary, and Barton's janitor, Danny, attend Lydia's party. Angus kisses Lydia's niece, Elise. Hunham is disappointed to discover that Lydia has a boyfriend, and Mary gets drunk and has an emotional breakdown over Curtis's death. Hunham insists on leaving early. Hunham and Angus argue; when Hunham references Angus's father, Angus says his father is dead. Mary scolds Hunham for his unsympathetic behavior. Feeling remorseful for his actions, Hunham arranges a small Christmas celebration. Mary persuades Hunham to grant Angus's wish for a "field trip" to Boston. After dropping Mary off in Roxbury to spend time with her pregnant sister, Angus and Hunham bond over various activities in Boston, including ice skating and a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. They encounter one of Hunham's classmates from Harvard University, who has become a successful academic. When prompted, Hunham lies about his career, and Angus plays along. Hunham reluctantly confesses to Angus that he was expelled from Harvard after deliberately hitting a classmate (a legacy donor's son who falsely accused him of plagiarism) with a car. Although the incident nearly ruined Hunham's career prospects, the old Barton headmaster took pity on him and offered him an adjunct teaching job. When Hunham and Angus see a movie at the Orpheum Theatre, Angus sneaks away and Hunham catches him entering a taxi. Angus explains he wants to see his father, and Hunham agrees to accompany him, assuming they are going to a cemetery. However, Angus's father is alive and confined in a psychiatric hospital due to mental health issues and violent outbursts. Following the visit, Angus expresses concern that his future behavior will echo his father's. Hunham comforts Angus, expressing respect for him and affirming that Angus is not his father. Hunham, Angus, Mary, and Danny celebrate New Year's Eve together. In January 1971, Hunham is summoned to Dr. Woodrup's office, where Angus's mother and stepfather are waiting. They tell Hunham that Angus's visit to the psychiatric hospital was unauthorized and that a snow globe Angus had taken from Lydia's Christmas Eve party and given to his father led to another violent outburst. Angus's mother and stepfather threaten to withdraw Angus from Barton and send him to a military academy. However, Hunham defends Angus and takes full responsibility for organizing the trip. Woodrup fires Hunham but allows Angus to stay at Barton. Mary, who has come to better terms with Curtis's death, gives Hunham a notebook for the monograph he wants to write. Hunham and Angus share a farewell. In his car, Hunham takes a sip of the expensive cognac he stole from Woodrup, spits it out toward the school and drives away. Cast Production Development The Holdovers is the second collaboration between director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti after Sideways (2004). Payne conceived it after watching Marcel Pagnol's 1935 film Merlusse, and contacted screenwriter David Hemingson, whose boarding-school television pilot he had read. In 2018, Hemingson was running his show, Whiskey Cavalier for ABC and was surprised to receive a call from Payne. The television pilot, Stonehaven, was set in present time, but Payne suggested a film using an older setting instead like 1958 or 1970. Hemingson agreed on 1970 because it had more in common with the present time and 1958 was too close to Dead Poets Society's timeline. In 2024, Hemingson revealed that the film is partially semi-autobiographical, with some of the dialogue and scenes taken verbatim from his own life, such as words from his own real-life uncle. The scene with the sex worker was inspired by a real-life incident that he said actually "happened to me on First Avenue and 30th Street with [my uncle] when I was seven years old. This woman walked up on an incredibly cold day and solicited and said, 'The kid can wait around the corner.' That is an actual incident from my life. The cherries jubilee thing is something tha.... Discover the Dolley Carlson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dolley Carlson books.