Sideways (2004)

Synopsis: A wine tasting road trip to salute Jack’s (Thomas Haden Church) final days as a bachelor careens woefully sideways as he and Miles (Paul Giamatti) hit the gas en route to mid-life crises. The... A wine tasting road trip to salute Jack’s (Thomas Haden Church) final days as a bachelor careens woefully sideways as he and Miles (Paul Giamatti) hit the gas en route to mid-life crises. The comically mismatched pair, who share little more than their history and a heady blend of failed potential and fading youth, soon find themselves drowning in wine and women (Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen). Emerging from a haze of pinot noir, wistful yearnings and trepidation about the future, the two inevitably collide with reality. SIDEWAYS was helmed by the critically acclaimed Alexander Payne, who wrote the screenplay with his longtime screenwriting partner Jim Taylor based on the novel of the same name by Rex Pickett. Payne and Taylor won a Golden Globe in 2003 for the screenplay of ABOUT SCHMIDT and share Academy Award®, Independent Spirit Award and Writers Guild of America Award nominations for the adapted screenplay of ELECTION, for which Payne also won a Best Directing Independent Spirit Award. Payne's directorial and screenwriting debut was the Laura Dern-starrer CITIZEN RUTH, which won the Sundance Jury Prize in 1996. On the road trip of a lifetime are Paul Giamatti, whose leading role in last year’s AMERICAN SPLENDOR earned him the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance by an Actor, and Thomas Haden Church from television’s "Wings" and "Ned and Stacy" and the feature film 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND. Along the way the men are joined by Virginia Madsen (DUNE, THE RAINMAKER) and Sandra Oh (UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, LAST NIGHT). SIDEWAYS was produced by Michael London (THIRTEEN, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG) with George Parra, a seasoned assistant director on such films as LEGALLY BLONDE 2 and ABOUT SCHMIDT, as co-producer. The director of photography is Phedon Papamichael (MOONLIGHT MILE, IDENTITY). The editor is Kevin Tent and the production designer is Jane Ann Stewart, both of whom worked with Payne on ABOUT SCHMIDT, ELECTION and CITIZEN RUTH. [More]

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh, M.C. Gainey, Marylouise Burke, Jessica Hecht

Director: Alexander Payne

Director: Alexander Payne
Screenwriter: Jim Taylor, Alexander Payne
Producer: Michael London
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

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