The movie “The Holdovers” was nominated for four Academy Awards and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who played the role of a cook (Mary Lamb), won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars on Sunday, March 10.
The Middlesex County connection to “The Holdovers” is the Rev. Mike Cook, pastor of Philippi Christian Church in Deltaville, who played two roles in the movie.
Rev. Cook was in scenes with Randolph and Paul Giamatti, who was nominated for Best Actor. The movie, set in the winter of 1970-1971, is about a cranky history teacher (Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a grieving cook (Randolph) who had just lost her son in the Vietnam War and several troubled students who had no place to go.
Cook played two roles in the movie as a priest and a bartender. “Da’Vine was in the scene with me in the church, though at quite a distance from me,” said Cook. “I addressed her in my scene and on some level I knew my priest role was really kind of being a jerk.
“She was clearly the kind of actor who is very much at work between takes, staying in character, so she kept to herself,” he said. “She created a marvelous character very different from her. It required tremendous focus. She very much deserved her award.”
“Giamatti is such a generous and supportive actor,” said Cook. “He kept telling me how much he loved what I was doing, how fun it was to play two parts. He was equally supportive of others who worked on the film.
“His monologue in my scene in the bar was just effortless (think about rattling off a long Latin sentence perfectly, over and over again), and of course, insanely funny. It was a joy to be in a scene with such an artist.”
Cook, 65, ties to Deltaville go back to his childhood. He started acting professionally in 1975. He has played roles on stage and movies throughout the country.
