Miles (Paul Giamatti) comes to forget his divorce, with Maya (Virginia Madsen). photo, courtesy of Fox Searchlight

The filmography of writer/director Alexander Payne reads like a litany of sharp, albeit emotionally distant, satire. Citizen Ruth (Miramax, 1996) skewers both sides of the abortion debate while focusing on a flawed central character. Election (Paramount, 1999) casts professional politics into sharp relief by sending up its high school counterpart. About Schmidt (New Line, 2002), while centering on a more human drama, still manages to lampoon the social conflict between a conservative father and his daughter's liberal in-laws-to-be. With his latest film, however, Payne seems to be turning a new corner, one more invested in emotion than intellect.

"Increasingly, as a director, I see that emotions are more important," says Payne. "I'm [a] pretty cerebral kind of fellow," he continues, adding, "I like movies that make me think and I like to make movies which make others think, but for my own evolution I think I'm trying to direct much more for emotion."

Sideways (Fox Searchlight, 2004), his latest, tells the story of Miles Raymond (Paul Giammati), a failed writer who's grown desperate enough to steal from his own mother, but still has enough pride not to accept a loan from her. His misadventures with his buddy Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) during the week prior to Jack's wedding make up the bulk of the film, which favors feeling more than Payne's previous efforts. Of his first few films, Payne notes that they are "mentally really fun, but not emotionally rich, per se."

Another consistent aspect of Payne's work is the almost documentary-like production design and cinematography, which create a world real enough to exist just outside the theater doors. This reflects Payne's preference for "making films which relate to life, and not to movie life, or a movie version of life." He refers to "all the forces of beautification you have to fight while making [a] movie."

For the most part, Sideways continues in this tradition. Payne even asked female lead Virginia Madsen if she'd be comfortable performing without make-up, to which she readily agreed. "She's sick of being this babe-a-licious creation," he explains. But the emotional warmth that's been added to Payne's palette shows up in the visual texture of the film as well. Warm oranges and yellows saturate certain shots in a way reminiscent of films from thirty years ago, which Payne admits were a huge influence on this particular project.

"I really saw this as in some way, kind of like one of those very character-driven films of the Seventies," he explains. "After Schmidt [and] before this one, I just happen to have seen a lot of Hal Ashby movies. He had that prodigious string in the Seventies: The Landlord (Cartier, 1970), Harold and Maude (Paramount, 1970), The Last Detail (Columbia, 1973), Shampoo (Columbia, 1975), Bound for Glory (United Artists, 1976), Being There (Lorimar, 1979). I mean, six miraculous films in eight or nine years? I mean, that's a pretty stunning accomplishment in film history."

Miles, (Paul Giamatti, left) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church right) sample Santa Barbara vino.

Payne and his director of photography, Phedon Papmichael, watched films such as these before deciding on the look of Sideways. "There's a softness to them," says Payne. "There's a pastel nature to the color which I find very pleasing," he continues, adding, "A little more warm and human. Inasmuch as the image informs your feeling of the characters and the story. I wanted that feeling."

Contributing to that feeling are various shots Payne took of the film's setting, the beautiful wine country of Santa Barbara, California. Payne's favorite shot in the film, in fact, is only meant to enhance the setting, not further the plot. "There's a shot of some young girls singing," says Payne. "And you don't hear what they're singing. I like that shot."

The shot wasn't planned. It was simply extra footage Payne wanted the assistant director to get while at a farmer's market in Lompoc, California. "That shot somehow radiates, in a very quiet way, a tenderness that I think informs some of the movie," Payne adds.

That tenderness is also apparent in a quiet scene on a porch between Miles and Madsen's character, Maya. Late at night, they discuss their favorite grapes and reveal more about themselves than they perhaps realize. The scene originated in the eponymous book upon which the film is based, but was expanded for the movie. "In the book, we inherited Miles [telling] her a little bit about why he likes Pinot," Payne explains. "We decided to give Maya a speech as well. And what she says is very personal to me. And somehow, it just came organically to be the love scene. Audiences seem really to go for it."

Audience reaction has been strong so far. After a warm reception at the Toronto Film Festival where it made its debut in September, Sideways has generated a positive buzz from preview screenings leading up to its October 15 limited release date in New York and Los Angeles. The caliber of the actors involved contributes to this response. Of Giamatti, Payne enthusiastically says, "Every take was different and equally truthful." He continues, "[Giamatti] can do physical comedy and slapstick comedy. He can bring you to a tear with just the expression on his face." The casting of Madsen came about in part because, "She brought a certain age- I mean that in the best way, in the way that her face reveals a lot of life experience." Payne explains that this depth is something he felt has been lacking in many contemporary actors.

The casting of Church as actor-in-decline Jack seems somewhat self-reflexive, especially when his character talks about being famous on television for a while before fading into relative obscurity. Church himself enjoyed considerable popularity as a regular on Wings and somewhat less so on Ned and Stacey before disappearing from the limelight. Payne, however, had never seen Wings and cast Church based in part on his auditions for Election and About Schmidt. A similar misconception surrounds Payne's casting of Matthew Broderick as a relatively uptight schoolteacher in Election who would probably throttle Ferris Beuller. But this was merely the luck of the draw, as Payne admits, "I've still never seen Ferris Beuller's Day Off (Paramount, 1986)."

A very easy casting choice was Sandra Oh, who plays a romantic foil for Jack. In addition to being a "terrific actress" and the part being "perfect for her," she's married to Payne and had he not cast her, "She would have killed me!"

Ultimately, the elements that make Sideways so enjoyable are many of the same elements that drew Payne to the material in the first place. "I like that strange sense of buddy movie. I like the melancholy of Miles' character. The pathetic nature of Jack. And the wine," Payne explains. "And shooting in the vineyards and being outside. Just a dream film to make. We've got human characters, and wine and sunshine. It was a ball to make," he concludes.

Sideways opens in Philadelphia on Friday, October 29. For more information, please visit http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/sideways/

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