‘The Holdovers’ Screenwriter David Hemingson Is Pretty Happy About His Oscar Nomination

It’s always a great thing to talk to a brand-new Oscar nominee, especially a first-time nominee. It’s maybe the only time filmmakers are excited to talk to someone like me. In reality, it would have been a huge surprise if David Hemingson wasn’t nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. It is the definition of a “writer’s movie,” though Hemingson – this being his first film screenplay after a long career in television – was never going to let himself believe this would actually happen. The Holdovers is just one of those movies where we, the audience, like the characters so much we just want to keep hanging out with them.

As Hemingson explains ahead, he’s over the moon that these characters and events drawn from his life touched so many people that he’s now an Oscar nominee.

How are you? That’s a dumb question. Sorry.

I’m good! I’m kind of dazed. I’m full of caffeine. I’m just sort of staring at the sky, thanking the heavens for this fantastic thing that just happened.

Everyone was predicting this was going to happen for you, but do you let yourself believe that?

Never. Never. Not for a minute. No. Never. I can be a little superstitious, but I’m sort of like, this has been such a ride that … You consider it, obviously. It’s something you dream about your whole life. And when the possibility is there, even kind of looming, I didn’t want to look at it. It’s like I was scared to look at it, afraid I’d turn to stone. So, the fact that it happened is just a wondrous thing, and I am deeply grateful, especially to Alexander for choosing me to write this film, and making such a beautiful movie.

I know this is always the most popular question, but I always like hearing the story. But how do you find out about the nomination?

One of my closest friends in the world, a woman named Dina Whitman, who I’ve been friends with for about 40 years, she’s in Chicago. She’s got this heavy Chicago accent. And literally, I was asleep. I had been trying to sleep all night. Nanoseconds after the whole thing happened I get this call from Chicago, “Oh my God. Oh my God”

Are even you surprised by how much this movie is hitting with people? I watched it again a couple of weeks ago while cleaning my apartment because I just like hanging out with the characters. Of course, I got sucked in and didn’t get any cleaning done.

By the way, thank you for that. I’m glad you like hanging out with them because they were living in my head for a while. And I’m glad that other people enjoyed their company as much as I did. Obviously, that’s because Paul Giamatti, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa did such an incredible job embodying them. And what spectacular performances. But that is a huge compliment. Thank you. I’ll take it. My feeling is, oftentimes when I’m writing, I’ll just have a movie that I love on in the background. Last night it was The Godfather Part II.

Now, how are you supposed to get any work done with that on?

You know what’s funny? You can’t.

I know about all the television work you’ve done. On a day like today are you thinking, “Maybe I should have written a movie a long time ago.”

Honestly? It’s been 27 years, but I think everything happens right on time. I don’t think I could have told this story before now. And I certainly couldn’t have told this story without Alexander Payne and without the people at Focus Features lavishing the kind of loving kindness they’ve lavished on this movie. Like I said, everything happens on time, and happens for a reason. And I don’t think I would’ve been able to distill my personal experiences down into this and find the right partners… Again, Alexander Payne. I’m sorry. I’m rambling.

First of all, you’re not. And second of all, completely understandable if you do.

Yeah, bless you. But no, man, I’m overwhelmed. I mean, I’m overwhelmed and ecstatic, and it’s a really good morning. It’s a really good morning.

Were you surprised when he called you? I know he read a television pilot you did that had some similar themes, I think?

It was set in a prep school in 1980, but it was very different in terms of the plot. And the characters are completely different. But he knew that I knew that world. And he kind of reached out and tapped me. And I’m forever in his debt.

I’m going through his filmography right now. I guess he didn’t write Nebraska. But he does have a tendency to at least be a co-writer on most of this stuff, so this feels unique.

It was wonderful. I am at a loss for words. It was incredible. It was incredible to be tapped to do this. And he was such an incredible mentor and collaborator and he’s like a walking film encyclopedia. He knows so much about cinema.

Oh yes, very much.

So, it’s like the entire experience was getting a master’s degree at Alexander Payne University. So, I’m deeply honored that he tapped me.

What was the television pilot about?

It was basically a story of this kid who goes to this prep school because his dad’s teaching there. His mom’s a nurse and his uncle is sort of raising him. It’s a story of him arriving at this school, thinking he’s going to Rushmore. It turns out it’s the high school from Dazed and Confused kind of thing. And, so, it was obviously extremely different, a completely different story. But I think what he saw in it was just the themes of love and connection and family, and the world of the prep school, that resonated with him. I think that’s why he wanted me to do it.

He’s famously from Omaha and gets that part of the country really well. I assume he needed to hand this off because an East Coast prep school is going to be foreign to him.

I think that’s exactly why he did it. I mean, I think he kind of got the sense that I really understood the kind of granular reality of these schools. 1970 was not exactly my era. I’m a little bit younger than that. But there are traditions that are kind of passed down that never change. And the tensions, and the inequity, and inequality, and all of that stuff. I saw all that growing up. So, it was wonderful to be able to revisit that in my heart and get that down on the page.

Like I said, I love hanging out with these characters. A lot of people feel that way. Are you surprised at all by that?

Yeah, I am absolutely surprised. But I’m also deeply gratified because I just feel like I’m drawing on the people that I knew and loved and kind of putting them into the world, just trying to create space for Da’Vine to do that incredible job. But the emotional core is for my mom. And I couldn’t tell the full story. Only she could tell the full story of that woman’s journey. And Paul, honestly, is a huge homage to my uncle, who would say things like, “Sex is 99 percent erection, one percent goodwill.” All of that stuff. The cherry jubilee moment actually happened to me, at Anthony’s Pier 4 in Boston. I was denied Cherries Jubilee.

They wouldn’t serve you a cherries jubilee and you had to go outside?

Exactly. Because I was like nine years old. We went outside. We didn’t do it in the parking lot. I think we got ice cream. But it was me, and my mom, and her friend Fran.

Did it almost set the car on fire?

We didn’t actually put it up and set it on fire. We just went and got a Carvel. But in reality, that hooker moment happened on Second Avenue and 30th Street in New York when my uncle and I were walking the dog in about 1972. So, a lot of these things, a lot of these little moments are episodes taken directly from my life. And it’s sort of wonderful that the people have joined me in this sort of memory play, but also have made my friends into their friends. I mean, I love these people, and I’m just ecstatic that people seem to like to hang out with them.

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