Paul Giamatti Lets ‘Interesting’ Stories Guide His Film Career (Exclusive)

Paul Giamatti knows how to direct his career.

The Holdovers star, 58, recently opened up about how he decides which projects to take on — and said it all comes down to one key factor.

“I really look for the story to be interesting, you know, and then the role is kind of secondary,” the actor told PEOPLE. “I mean, if it’s a good role, that’d be nice too, but I actually just want to be in a good story.”

Giamatti, who spoke to people at the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale N.Y.C. premiere, noted that was the reason why he was happy to reprise his role as Harold Levinson in the Downton Abbey movie series.

“This is all just such a good story… I mean people love the stories in [Downton Abbey] and there’s a million stories going on at once, and I just like that kind of thing,” he explained.

He also shared that he thought he had more freedom to choose roles after earning a Golden Globe win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy and an Oscar nomination for his 2023 film The Holdovers. Despite not winning the Oscar, he said the recognition still opened several doors for him.

“I mean you do feel freed up to kind of do whatever you want to do, you know?” he shared. “So it’s like, wonderful things like this come along? Sure, I’ll do it.”

“It all feels like gravy after that. It’s nice,” he added.

Giamatti, who launched his acting career in the 1990s, revealed back in April that he hoped to broaden his film work with more roles in the science fiction genre — which is something he is slowly beginning to do. In 2025, he bolstered his résumé with roles in Black Mirror and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

“I think that I’m getting opportunities and going, ‘I totally want to do that.’ Like, I would love to do science fiction. I would love to do horror,” he told PEOPLE at the time. “So being able to do it, yes, I do think it’s a result of that for whatever reason. And so, God bless it, that’s a great result to have happened.”

He also shared that he was interested in doing more “horror” films, which could likely come with a role in Eli Roth’s TV adaptation of the Hostel series. The series is being described as an “elevated thriller” and a “reinvention” of the director’s hit horror film, and Giamatti is set to star “in a key role,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

When asked if there were any updates on the project, Giamatti told PEOPLE in April, “They’ve been working on getting it set up somewhere. That’s the last I know, and that Eli’s writing episodes and stuff like that.” 

As he waits for updates on the series, the actor looked back on his past year with gratitude, saying, “It’s like I’m getting to do fun stuff on really good stuff, so I can’t complain.”