Pig Virus Grows Up

Paul Giamatti, who played Pig Virus in “Private Parts”, called in this morning to talk about his most recent role as Jim Braddock’s trainer in “Cinderella Man”. Howard congratulated him on his success and Paul thanked Howard for giving him the boost he needed to get his career started. Paul told Howard that Russell Crowe was the best actor he had worked with since working with Howard. Robin told Paul she thought he should have at least gotten an Oscar nomination for his role in “Sideways” and asked if he felt he should have been. Paul, however, said he never expected a nomination for that role, although he did appreciate the sentiment.

Given what a great movie Howard thought “Cinderella Man” was, he was really surprised by the bad reviews it got from the NY Post and NY Daily News, despite the fact that others like USA Today and Rolling Stone gave it great reviews. Paul thought he got paid about $10,000 for his part in “Private Parts” and revealed that he did make a lot more for “Cinderella Man”, although not in the millions because, as Paul put it, he comes cheap. Paul said he’s still happily married and has a 3 year old kid. His next project is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, which he says will be great. Howard talked about how great it was working with Paul and how much fun he had working on the movie. In fact, Howard said he was even considering doing another movie soon. Paul encouraged him to do so. Several times throughout the conversation Paul repeated that he felt he wouldn’t be where he was today if it hadn’t been for Howard and “Private Parts”. Howard said he thought Paul was being sarcastic when Paul said he owed everything to Howard, but now knows he is serious. Although Howard told Paul he was a tremendously talented actor and that was the reason he is so successful. Paul thanked him again before hanging up. After he was gone, Howard said one of his biggest regrets was that he didn’t spend a lot of time with Paul off the set. He said he would do his scenes with Paul and then go talk to the hot extras. Hot chicks always get his attention. Artie said there was nothing like being ugly on a movie set to make you feel invisible.