Actor Paul Giamatti has been entertaining audiences for over a decade, with such memorable roles as Pig Vomit in "Private Parts" and Jimmy Tomorow in the Broadway play "The Iceman Cometh." Since briefly appearing in 1992's "Singles," the Yale graduate has been featured in almost 30 projects to date and alongside such notable actors as Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, Julia Roberts in "My Best Friend's Wedding" and Samuel L. Jackson in The Negotiator. However, despite his impressive résumé, there are two things Giamatti has never done -- he's never been cast in a leading role and he's never starred in a family film. All that changes though with his newest movie, Universal Pictures' Big Fat Liar.In Big Fat Liar, Giamatti plays Marty Wolf, a corrupt Hollywood producer who steals a kid's school paper and turns it into his latest Hollywood blockbuster. When he refuses to admit that the idea for his film came from the mind of a 14 year-old, the kid whose paper he stole ("Malcolm in the Middle"'s Frankie Muniz) flies out to Hollywood to declare war and get back the rights to his story.
When I caught up with Giamatti, he knew that fans of his would be a bit shocked to see him in a PG-rated film. After all, he's an actor who has made his career on entertaining adults-- not kids. However, like any actor, Giamatti was excited to have the opportunity to branch outside of the adult comedies and dramas people are used to seeing him in to finally co-star in a film people of all ages could enjoy. As Giamatti and I talked about what it was like to visually humiliate himself in order to make an audience under 15 laugh, he discussed how a story like Big Fat Liar isn't as far-fetched as viewers might think. For as anyone who's worked in the business as long as Giamatti has knows, Hollywood is a corrupt place-- and that made his role as Marty Wolf all the more easier to play.
Get the interview in part two of "BIG FAT LIAR" PAUL GIAMATTI>>>
