Steven Prusakowski
Paul Giamatti has carved a singular path in Hollywood, consistently drawn to characters who are deeply human, often wrestling with their imperfections and unfulfilled desires. From his breakout role in Private Parts to Sideways, The Holdovers (where Joey spoke to him here), and now Black Mirror’s Eulogy, Giamatti chooses to portray men who are, in his own words, “stuck in their backstory.” He infuses them with such humanity that they resonate with audiences, making him relatable and easy to root for. The actor joined me on the TV Topics podcast to discuss the series and some of the television that shaped him. It was a fun, down-to-earth conversation that felt like talking to an old friend, probably because of how relatable he has made so many of his characters throughout his career.
In Black Mirror’s Eulogy, Giamatti plays Phillip, a man trapped by grief and regret, tethered to a past he cannot let go. In the episode, he gets the opportunity to revisit moments of his past to confront emotional voids tied to his lost love, Carol, who recently passed away. The technology allows him to step into the past, bringing old photographs to life so he can walk through the memories. Much to his dismay, Phillip is unable to see Carol’s face, no matter how he tries—past pain prevents closure. The episode has a less harsh tone than many Black Mirror episodes, which often dwell on dystopian themes. Instead, this often one-man show is an exploration of memory and loss, giving Giamatti the space to navigate an array of emotions.
Giamatti’s draw to Eulogy stemmed from his appreciation for Black Mirror, a series that uses themes of technology and media to comment on contemporary society. The episode’s unique tone surprised him: “I was surprised to get such a gentle story. And that was nice about it. It was tonally different. I kept waiting for something truly awful to happen in the middle of it. You know, something was going to be exposed as truly awful, but it never does.” This softer side of the series allowed Giamatti to explore Phillip’s emotional landscape, focusing on human elements rather than technological cynicism.
“The script is very evocative. Everybody keeps asking me, ‘Did I come up with a backstory for the character?’ I’m like, the backstory is there. It’s in there. It’s all about his backstory,” Giamatti explained. “There’s a universality to it. I told series creator Charlie Brooker, ‘I’m freaked out by people who say they have no regrets in life.’ I’m like, you’re a psychopath or you’re a saint to have no regrets. I have lots of regrets and sadnesses and griefs and things like that.” This insight allowed Giamatti to tap into a shared human experience, making Phillip’s journey relatable.
Giamatti’s performance in Eulogy showcases the big emotions and subtlety he injects into his roles. Eulogy presented a unique challenge, with no other human character to play off. His only scene companion was an AI-generated guide that curates the memories he walks through, played by Patsy Ferran. “As an actor, I wasn’t alone in the way I thought I was going to because she was in the room with me. And she’s a wonderful, great, brilliant actress,” explained Giamatti. “As much as he’s talking to himself and that’s how it’s supposed to come across, as an actor I felt like there was another person there with me. That helped generate emotion because I did feel like I was sharing an experience with somebody. I didn’t feel alone.”
The weight of immersing himself in such a heavy role steeped in regret and loss was not lost on Giamatti. “It’s not easy. It’s hard, and it can be weirdly painful,” he admitted. “There’s a strange way in which actors find it compelling. It’s one of the many weird things about actors, is that you kind of like it. And that’s interesting, too, because, in a way, this character likes revisiting this emotional gap. There’s some part of him that wants to go into it, he gets seduced into it and wants to go into it too.”
The episode resonates deeply not only because we’ve all experienced loss, but also because it offers a solution, or at least a reprieve from it. It raises the question I asked Giamatti: “Would you use the technology if it were available?” “Yeah, I think I would,” shared the actor. “I think it’d be hard to not just try it at the very least. What’s so pernicious about this technology is its seductive allure. And you just sit there going like, I have to try it. It would be hard to say no. I don’t think I could say no. The danger is then indulging in it, which is the danger with all this technology—letting it run away with you. Living in the past constantly.”
My conversation with Paul Giamatti prompted my idea for a follow-up to Black Mirror’s Eulogy – a concept I created that Giamatti called “dark” and seemed genuinely excited to explore with Charlie Brooker. If it were to come to fruition with Giamatti returning, I’d be eager to see the additional depth he’d bring to an already layered character and where Brooker would take the episode. It would be fascinating, but possibly less gentle than the original Eulogy. Then again, it’s Black Mirror, so you never know.
To learn more about my concept, additional insights from Giamatti on Eulogy, a dive into Paul’s love for Star Trek, and a lively discussion about the television that shaped his career, check out the full episode of TV Topics.
Watch Giamatti’s work in the introspective and poignant Eulogy episode of Black Mirror, now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
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