Out of The Holdovers‘ premiere on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition, Alexander Payne’s newest movie gained reward from critics for the triple-hander’s lead performances from Academy Award-nominee Paul Giamatti, Solely Murders within the Constructing star Da’Vine Pleasure Randolph, and newcomer Dominic Sessa. Nonetheless, on the film’s second public screening, it was an unknown actor with one on-camera line that bought the largest response from audiences. 

Joe Howell could not have predicted it could be him who’d carry a packed viewers at Toronto’s palatial Princess of Wales Theater to a crescendo of laughter, cheers, and applause. A clerk and whiskey knowledgeable at Federal Wine & Spirits in Boston, Massachusetts, he was simply at work when Payne and a crew member got here in on an impromptu location scout that led to his being forged in The Holdovers. 

How Alexander Payne discovered the proper Boston clerk for The Holdovers.

Earlier than the viewers at TIFF, Payne recalled how a location had fallen by way of for a scene set in a liquor retailer. So he was “scrambling” to discover a substitute. He additionally wanted somebody to play the shop’s clerk. This, he defined to us, was how he met “Joe.”

Through electronic mail, Federal Wine & Spirits proprietor Len Rothenberg informed Mashable, “We have been closed to clients in January 2022 when Alexander Payne and his staff knocked on our door unannounced, desirous to see the shop.” 

Rothenberg allow them to in, however Howell retreated to the shop’s basement. In a telephone interview with Mashable, Howell defined he had COVID on the time. Although he felt advantageous, he stored his distance to be “cautious in that scenario.” Howell added, “I imply, why move it alongside and have others have issues?” 

Rothenberg recounted what occurred subsequent: “Payne appreciated the place, and he and I hit it off. I believe to be good, he informed me that I may very well be the clerk [in the movie]. I replied that it actually needs to be Joe, as a result of Joe had been making ready for the function for 20 years and, being a local from Dorchester, was good for the half.” 

At TIFF, Payne had recalled Rothenberg promoting him on Howell by speaking up the clerk’s love of films. Howell informed Mashable that he does love films, the “older issues.” Although he has seen a few of Payne’s movies, he famous, “I had not seen Sideways, truly.” 

Naturally, Payne requested if he may meet Howell, and that was when the director was informed his could-be clerk was within the basement — with COVID. Payne urged Rothenberg present him a photograph of Howell, then described to the rapt competition viewers how the latter informed him to attend a second, then went behind the counter, the place he lifted up a big picket lure door — Payne famous this was, in any case, a centuries-old Boston constructing — and disappeared down a small spiral staircase to the unseen basement under. 

When Rothenberg returned, he held out his telephone to Payne. On the display screen was a snapshot. Payne described how the person within the image was in a darkish room, seemingly solely lit by the flash of the digital camera, and surrounded by liquor bins. The director famous that this man regarded a bit shocked to have his image snapped. Howell remembers the image being taken however would not recall if he regarded on the outcomes.

Rothenberg mentioned of the picture, “[Joe] was sick, so he seems somewhat hangdog.” Nevertheless it was adequate for Payne.

With Howell’s permission, Rothenberg shared the picture with Mashable: 

Joe Howell within the basement of Federal Wine & Spirits, January 2022.
Credit score: Len Rothenberg

“Inform Joe he is in,” Payne recounted to the TIFF crowd, who cheered as he made his exit. The film started. And we waited for Joe’s huge second. 

What’s Joe Howell’s huge second in The Holdovers?

The Holdovers facilities on the connection that varieties between a curmudgeonly professor (Giamatti), a mourning cook dinner (Randolph), and a trouble-making pupil (Sessa) over a cold winter break at a fancy boarding faculty. However a area journey to Boston brings trainer and pupil into Rothenberg’s liquor retailer. 

Whereas the TIFF viewers had been laughing all through the movie, usually on the ruthlessly witty insults slung by Giamatti’s irate trainer, a complete new degree of pleasure hit because the characters entered the liquor retailer. You possibly can really feel the thrill as we collectively anticipated the reveal of Joe, the film lover who overcame COVID to attain an look in not simply any movie however an Alexander Payne movie destined for Oscar buzz. 

Whereas a lot of the scene is concentrated on Giamatti and Sessa as they reveal a little bit of juicy backstory, there may be one shot of Joe. From behind the counter, he arms Giamatti again his buy of a bottle of Jim Beam and says with a sensationally surly sense of boredom, “Right here ya go, killer.” 

The viewers of a theater that seats 2,000 exploded with cheers, applause, and even shouts of “Joe!” I am informed that even with out this anticipatory anecdote, Howell’s line supply scored laughs at press screenings and the movie’s worldwide premiere the evening earlier than. 

Once I reached out to Howell — initially by way of electronic mail — and informed him concerning the response of TIFF, he wrote again that with this information “a smile ear to ear stumbled on my face.” Later, over the telephone, he shared that Payne had texted Rothenberg that “[Joe’s] was the funniest line within the film.”

“Very happy with that,” Howell shared.

And identical to that, a median Joe stole the highlight for a quick however highly effective second at one of many world’s most revered festivals, throughout one in every of its most-anticipated Particular Displays. Good for Joe. 

How you can watch: The Holdovers is now streaming on Peacock. The movie was reviewed out of its worldwide premiere on the 2023 Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition.