Paul Giamatti And Don Coscarelli Interview On 'John Dies at the End,' The Meat Monster, Piracy

The comedy-horror film John Dies at the End afforded Paul Giamatti the perfect chance to work with a director he has long admired, Don Coscarelli, and to appear in one of his favorite film genres.

“It was like I got an opportunity to be in the kind of movie I like to sit and watch,” Giammati told Uinterview exclusively. “You know, ironically, lots of things I’m in are not things I’d go pay to see. I mean they’re great, and I love doing them and they’re great movies, but this is something I would sneak in to see.”

Giamatti, 45, was born in New Haven, Conn. and went on to attend Yale University both as an undergraduate, where he majored in English, and as a graduate student, where he earned an MFA in Drama. Giamatti then spent time on Broadway and with Seattle’s Annex Theater. After bouncing around with some small roles in television and film, Giamatti landed the part of Kenny “Pig Vomit” Rushton in Private Parts, starring Howard Stern. Giamatti then went on to be featured in more high profile films such as My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Truman Show and Saving Private Ryan. Giamatti is perhaps best known for his work in the Academy Award-winning film Sideways opposite Thomas Hayden Church, Cinderella Man, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the HBO miniseries John Adams, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award.

With his extensive film background in mind, Giamatti had been a longtime fan of Coscarelli and his Phantasm movies, and so the award-winning actor jumped at the chance to work with him. “I wanted to do something with him so badly that I was like whatever, and it happened to be this thing that was really amazing,” Giamatti said.