Paul Giamatti is a two-time Oscar nominee. He’s starred in a Best Picture winner, “12 Years A Slave.” He’s an Emmy Award winner. He’s starred in a popular, long-running, and well-received prestige drama series, “Billions.” And over an almost 30-year career, he’s worked with acclaimed filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, David Cronenberg, Milos Forman, Peter Weir, M. Night Shyamalan, Tim Burton, and, of course, Alexander Payne. One thing he has rarely, if ever, done is Science Fiction. That changes in a big way this year with roles in the seventh season of Netflix’s “Black Mirror” and the upcoming new Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.”
READ MORE: “Black Mirror” Season 7 Review: Charlie Brooker’s latest dystopian technological warning is more of the same, both the good and the bad
A few weeks ago, Giamatti jumped on a Zoom to discuss his role as Phillip in the “Eulogy” episode of the most recent installment of Charlie Brooker’s often too close for comfort, often “near-future” anthology series. This particular chapter finds Giamatti playing Phillip, a middle-aged, single man, who is contacted by an A.I. application to participate in an eulogy for a woman he has not been in contact with for decades. The deceased is question is Carol, his ex-girlfriend of over three decades prior, and, arguably, the love of his life he still hasn’t gotten over. It also turns out, and somewhat frustrating for the A.I., he cannot remember what she looks like.
As the sentient A.I. attempts to collect more information about their relationship, it brings his consciousness into two-dimensional images of both a much younger version of himself (played by Declan Mason) and young Carol (Hazel Monaghan). It takes quite a while, however, for him to piece her visage back together after having scratched it out in anger in a box full of printed photos.
Giamatti reveals that when Phillip is walking through these images, they were not CG creations. They were actors and dancers recruited to stand as perfectly still as possible as Giamatti played out each scene alongside them. He could not hide how impressed he was by what they pulled off.
“The first time we ever did it, which was just in a rehearsal room, we went to be with these people while they did it. And a lot of them were dancers and mimes, but the guy who played me as a young man and the woman who played the young woman were not,” Giamatti explains. “And they proved really great at freezing and being very expressive in their frozenness, so that you actually got a real distinct sense of what was going on. But the first time we did it, I thought, “All right, this’ll be interesting.” And it was actually quite weird and eerie walking among these people who were perfectly still. And there was one guy, it was so eerie being around him. He was so still, and he was in such a weird position, which was fantastic.”
During our conversation, Giamatti reveals the emotional release a major moment in the episode provided him as an actor, raves about the up-and-coming directors of the episode, teases a bit about his role in “Starfleet Academy,” and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
_____
The Playlist: You have not done that much Sci-Fi over your career. Was that part of the appeal when this script came your way?
Paul Giamatti: Absolutely. It was a big part of the appeal. Yeah. I like Science Fiction, and now people don’t, I guess now people make more of it, but when I was coming up as an actor, they weren’t making a lot of it. It was a big part of the appeal. And this, in particular, I liked this show a lot.
“Black Mirror” is a very secretive show. People won’t even hear anything. Netflix sent me an NDA to not reveal the episode descriptions until a specific date. That’s rare for even television. So, did you get sent a script to consider? How did that work with Charlie?
You’re right. Now that I think about it, I’m amazed. I got a script. It was very secretive. There’s something that feels part and parcel of the whole thing in a nice way, that of course, everything’s really secretive and hush. Yep. I got a script from my manager, and read it, and I thought it was great. I really, really liked it right off the bat, and I was like, “Oh, absolutely, I’ll do this a hundred percent.”
*****
The Breakdown Newsletter: Sign up for exclusive industry commentary, including box office takes, Oscars and Emmys analysis, and on-the-ground reports from the biggest events here. Two columns a week. Never more. And oh, right, it’s free.
*****
Over you’re career, you’ve made television and you’ve starred in films where you’ve been the center point. But there is a ton of dialogue in this, and it’s almost as much as you’d have in a play.
For sure.
Was that part of the challenge that was interesting to you?
I didn’t quite anticipate how much of it was going to just be me. It’s one of those things that when I got there, I was like, “Oh, right, she’s not here. She was, but she’s not on camera. It’s just me. A lot of it. And I thought I hadn’t really thought about that. The nature of it, that was a very appealing part of it, was the kind of play aspect of it. And it did feel like a play. It felt filmic, but it also felt theatrical. It was long takes and long scenes. And then, everything was practical. There wasn’t a lot of technological gizmo stuff going on. All those people are real. The frozen people, they’re all real. They’re right there. And it was like you’re interacting with them in a weird way. So, that too, it didn’t feel like you were in some green screen. It all felt very tactile and real. And so it did feel like a combination of theater and film.
So your character walks through these immersive images that he sort of walks through at points, there are characters that, because the computer doesn’t see what it is they are sort of pixelated.
Yeah, yeah.
Was that added late?
That was added later. I mean, everything was like that first image that you see is very 2D, and then it becomes 3D as I move into it. And none of that was done technologically. That was all practically in the camera, and it took forever to get. I dunno why I didn’t understand the whole thing, but there was a whole thing about lighting and angles and stuff that was a big pain in the neck to get it exactly right. They sweetened stuff, they put smoke coming out of people, hot stuff, and everything. But other than that, it was all of those people being frozen for however long the take was supposed to be. And it was kind of astonishing. Those people were amazing. They were amazing. The first time we ever did it, which was just in a rehearsal room, we went to be with these people while they did it. And a lot of them were dancers and mimes, but the guy who played me as a young man and the woman who played the young woman were not. And they proved really great at freezing and being very expressive in their frozenness, so that you actually got a real distinct sense of what was going on. But the first time we did it, I thought, “All right, this’ll be interesting.” And it was actually quite weird and eerie walking among these people who were perfectly still. And there was one guy, it was so eerie being around him. He was so still, and he was in such a weird position, which was fantastic.
We learn a lot about Phillip’s past, but correct me if I’m wrong, we don’t get a lot of nuggets about what he’s doing today and where he ended up. Was that important to you to know?
Well, I mean, I sort of figured I had a vague idea of what he was doing now. I didn’t feel like it was hugely important. What was more important is that he’s kind of settled into this kind of semi-hermetic existence, and he’s kind of a little stuck in the past, even though he doesn’t think he is, and stuff like that. But I don’t think he’s, his life isn’t a disaster or something. He’s not miserable. So it was like, I figured he’s still doing something kind of music industry adjacent, which was the thing that felt kind of sad. He doesn’t get to be in a band, but he does something adjacent. I thought he’d do kind of marketing stuff for music or something, or licensing for music and stuff like that. You know what I mean? And he’s done well at that and he does fine at that, but it’s not what he meant to be doing or thought he was going to be doing,
Working from home in Cape Cod all by himself, just doing marketing campaigns for music. Not bad, though. By the way, that house was nice.
The house was beautiful! Oh, the house is beautiful. And I mean, man, things could be worse than beautiful Cape Cod. So, it’s like he’s not doing so badly. No, but it’s the inside. He needs to move on.
And there is that moment where he says it took him 15 years to get over this, but the whole point is he never really got over it.
And how much does stuff linger with us? And we don’t even know it. You know what I mean? And he tells himself it doesn’t, but I think it’s been present to him in a lot of ways. And I think the whole thing of the AI kind of pushing him along, and he’s sort of going, “I don’t want to do this,” but he does too. And the more he does it, the more he goes, “Maybe I do want to do this. Maybe I will finally see her, even though I don’t want to do it,” even though he’s fighting against it too, is interesting.
You have that incredible last scene where Philip is finally letting himself remember what she looked like. How tough was that to pull off, or is that just part of the job as an actor?
It’s just acting part of the job, but it’s also sometimes you get to do something like that. Sometimes it’s pleasurable. It’s like, “Oh God, I get to sort of release all this interesting emotion.” I mean, it’s the sick, weird thing about actors. It’s pleasurable to go through something like that. It’s like they’re f**ked up. “Oh, I get to f**king cry. “It’s like, “Wow, that’s really weird.” But it’s the culmination of that thing, and I finally get to see her, and for me, it’s a happy thing. Even though it’s painful, it’s painfully happy. And that actress was wonderful, and they played the music too, which was a wonderful thing, which makes it immediately easier to do something like that. Music is so great for acting, and I didn’t even ask them to do it. They just said, “We’re going to play it.” And it’s an original piece of music, and that just did all of it for me. I mean, that just made it so much easier.

By the way. Have you seen the episode yet? Did you watch it?
Yes, yes.
One of the things I love about that scene is it’s all about him wanting to find her, hopefully getting to see her again, remember her, but the directors don’t give you a 100% complete shot of her.
It’s not a clear look at her, which is kind of cool because it’s him doing it. It’s more about him doing it than even us doing it. So it’s still somewhat private about him and her, which is really kind of cool. Those guys who directed it [Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor] were great. They were a terrific team of guys, and they were really awesome.
I was sort of shocked. They don’t work that often in narrative.
Their first real sort of narrative film that they had done! I mean, I think they did another short film, but this is their proper narrative thing. And they were fantastic. And they were just great. I loved those two guys.
Before I let you go, I also know that you have a mysterious role in another upcoming Sci-Fi project on “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.” Can you say anything about it, or just what the experience was like making it?
It was great. I had a ball doing that. And I mean, again, during the “Star Trek” world, it’s lovely people, and it was nothing but pleasure, and it was a dream wish fulfillment for me to be able to be in “Star Trek.” I play a very interesting, complicated guy, bad guy, I suppose. I’m a bad guy. Yeah, I guess I’m a bad guy. But yeah, so I dunno what more I can say about that without giving too much away.
Can you say if you’re in more than one episode?
Yes, I’m in more than one episode. I have a little arc through this season. I reappear and become more problematic as the show goes on.
“Black Mirror” is currently available worldwide on Netflix
Follow Gregory Ellwood on BlueSky
Follow Gregory Ellwood on Threads