Los Angeles, Jan 24 (IANS): Actor Paul Giamatti has scored his long-overdue first lead nod at the upcoming edition of the Oscars after coming extremely close with another Alexander Payne collaboration, ‘Sideways’, in 2004.

This year, with Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers’, Paul has scored a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role, along with Bradley Cooper (‘Maestro’), Colman Domingo (‘Rustin’), Cillian Murphy (‘Oppenheimer’), and Jeffrey Wright (‘American Fiction’), reports ‘The Hollywood Reporter’.

‘The Holdovers’ follows a curmudgeonly teacher (Paul) at a New England boarding school, forced to watch over a small group of students over the holidays.

He’s joined on campus by a grieving cook (played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who was also nominated on Wednesday) and a rebellious senior looking for trouble (newcomer Dominic Sessa).

As per ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, the film scored five Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Original Screenplay.

Talking about his nomination, the actor said, “I have been lucky to be acknowledged before. And I really love this movie. There’s something special about that. I’m older than I was 20 years ago, obviously.

“I think there’s a way in which I feel a little bit like, ‘OK, I can relax. I actually did the right thing with my life. And I’m going to work again, and I can recognise that I’ve done some good stuff, and I can feel good about it’. That’s a lot for me to say. So, it’s a really good thing. It feels nice coming at this time of my life."