"Cold Souls": Paul Giamatti on Being Stalked, Playing "Himself," and His Essential Movie

Paul Giamatti in person is about what you expect him to be: extremely humble, eloquent, uncomfortable with fame (prior to our interview he had to stand for a photo shoot, and looked about as at-ease as a kid in the dentist chair). And now the guy who memorably threw a hissy fit over drinking merlot in Sideways and pretty much steals every film he's in (heck, I still remember him as Bellhop Who Shares a Smoke With Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding) and still doesn't have an Oscar (though he now has an Emmy and a Golden Globe thanks to his starring role in HBO's John Adams), is famous to the point of playing himself in a movie.

Though not exactly: In his newest film, Cold Souls (which played at Sundance before opening in limited release last year) Giamatti plays an actor named "Paul Giamatti," who is so stressed over his preparation for "Uncle Vanya" on Broadway that he literally sells his soul; he takes his agent's suggestion and visits a lab in which he can put his soul in storage, renting another's soul in its place. If that's not strange enough, it turns out his soul is the size and shape of a... chickpea.

Giamatti and director Sophie Barthes, directing her first feature film, discussed with Amazon how she stalked him at a film festival to pitch him her script (how many drinks she'd had beforehand is debatable, they say); the challenges of playing your own, soulless self; and finally, Giamatti's pick for a Paul Giamatti Essential DVD. Listen to the interview below.--Ellen

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