Cinema Experts

"Am I really cool? You're telling me I'm cool? Well, that's good to hear."
Giamatti's first high profile role was in the film adaptation of Howard Stern's Private Parts. He played Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, Stern's antagonistic program director at WNBC. Stern praised Giamatti's performance often on his radio program, calling for him to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That didn't happen, but Giamatti's career received a boost. He appeared in a number of supporting roles in big-budget movies such as The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, and The Negotiator (all 1998). In 1999 he played Bob Zmuda (and Tony Clifton) in the Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon. Giamatti continued to appear in major studio releases such as Big Momma's House (2000) and the Planet of the Apes remake (2001), and co-starred in Big Fat Liar (2002). In 2006 he appeared in M. Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller Lady in the Water, the animated film The Ant Bully, and Neil Burger's drama The Illusionist co-starring Edward Norton. He is also the voice behind the audiobook of the novel A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, released in the summer of 2006. Most recently it was announced that he will play Santa Claus in the upcoming comedy Fred Claus (which also stars Kevin Spacey and Vince Vaughn), and will co-star alongside Bruce Campbell in Bubba Nosferatu, the prequel to Bubba Ho-tep. Giamatti will also play noted science fiction author Philip K. Dick in the semi-biopic The Owl In Daylight, which he is also producing through his production company, Touchy Feely Productions.
Giamatti's most acclaimed performances were in lead roles in American Splendor (2003) and Sideways (2004). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for the latter (but did not win), but was not nominated for an Oscar in one of the most mystifying and well-publicized snubs in recent Oscar history, made more baffling since Sideways received nominations in several other noteworthy categories. Giamatti received his first Academy Award-nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2005 for his role in Cinderella Man (a nomination that, while deserved, was generally considered a kind of apology for the snub of the previous year). He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and won the SAG award for Best Supporting Actor for the film. However, he lost both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award to George Clooney in Syriana.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music asked Giamatti, its "2007 BAM Cinema Club Chair", to pick films for an eight-movie series called "Paul Giamatti Selects" and shown at the academy in August and September 2007. His selections indicated a taste for paranoia and "the darkest of dark comedy", according to a writer for The New York Times. Giamatti chose: Frenzy, Dr. Strangelove, Brewster McCloud, The Big Clock, The Seventh Victim, Dawn of the Dead (1978 version), Seconds, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version).