Isn’t it ironic that Paul Giamatti is standing side-by-side with fellow Oscar nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Jamie Foxx, et. al., on the cover of the current Newsweek (“Oscar Confidential”) and his Oscar nominee status, as of this morning, is no more? It’s the Eisenhower-era members of the Academy who voted against him, I suspect….or rather against Miles, his Sideways character. Giamatti’s deeply touching, occasionally side-splitting performance was one of ’04’s finest, but Academy blue-hairs had no tolerance for Miles’ morose, schlubby, wine-swigging behavior. The death blow, I’m guessing, was over Miles having stolen money from his mother’s bedroom dresser.
