'The Holdovers' reunites Paul Giamatti, Alexander Payne in bittersweet holiday story

Paul Giamatti heads the cast of the new movie, "The Holdovers." The film is starting to get that "buzz" as we head into Hollywood's awards season. Giamatti plays an unpopular history teacher at a New England boarding school who learns a thing or two during the holidays.

The actor re-teams with his "Sideways" director, Alexander Payne, to tell a new story, set in 1970.

"It was a real gift of a part because I think he knew it would spark my imagination," said Giamatti. "And it was fun playing a guy who takes such pleasure in his own intelligence to the point where he doesn't even care if anybody understands what he's saying. So, you know, it was really fun. And, yes, I did learn. I learned some words. I learned some things about history that I never knew about."

This teacher's latest assignment: To supervise the holdovers, those students who have no place to go for the holidays. It ends up whittling down to the teacher, one student and the head cook - a role getting extra attention for Da'Vine Joy Randolph.

"This is foreign to me. This is overwhelming, all the attention and the buzz," said Randolph. "I work hard. I stay focused. But I also don't allow this to get bigger than me, you know what I mean? And I try very hard to stay humble and grounded and rooted because this is a wild, wild industry."

It's a wild ride for Dominic Sessa, too. This marks his first acting role.

"I mean, I feel like I got a four-year film degree worth of education in two months, you know? Being with Alexander and Paul, Da'Vine, but the whole process with them was just a serious hardcore masterclass on what it means to be a pro in this industry," said Sessa. "I'm so grateful for that."

"The Holdovers" is rated "R." It's in theaters now.