Coming soon: Paul Giamatti to film movie at St. Mark's School in Southborough

SOUTHBOROUGH — St. Mark’s School is set to be the location for key scenes of “The Holdovers,” a movie starring Academy Award-nominated actor Paul Giamatti.

Filming for the Miramax production is slated to take place in mid-March, when students are on break.

The 150-year-old Episcopal preparatory school at 25 Marlboro Road will reportedly double as Deerfield Academy. The actual Deerfield Academy is 100 miles to the west.

On Tuesday, Thomas Cadrin, assistant location manager for the production, told the Southborough Board of Selectmen that most of the filming will be done in the daytime with only a few evening scenes that could go past 7 p.m., but “not too far past.”

The two-week school break begins March 13.

More: Movie list: 14 movies filmed in Central Mass.

“The Holdovers” is about a hated New England prep school teacher (Giamatti) who finds himself alone with a smart but ill-tempered teenager and the school’s head cook, who recently lost her son in Vietnam, during the holiday break. Held up for two very snowy weeks in the academy, the three “holdovers” forge an unlikely bond and find the true meaning of Christmas together.

“The story follows Paul and the student over those two weeks of Christmas break 1970 from the hills to New England and Boston,” Cadrin said. “And they laugh a lot and they cry a lot and they learn a lot along the way.”

Cadrin, who grew up in Grafton, also worked on the Showtime series “Dexter: New Blood,” which was filmed in Boylston, Gardner, Grafton, Holden, Lancaster, Shirley, Sterling, Sturbridge, West Boylston and Worcester.

Giamatti, who can be seen in HBO’s “Billions," was nominated for best supporting actor for “Cinderella Man” and won a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy and Screen Actor Guild Award for playing the title character in the HBO miniseries “John Adams.”

The film is being helmed by Academy Award-nominated director and two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter Alexander Payne. Payne first directed Giamatti in the Oscar-winning “Sideways,” a movie about two disillusioned men taking a road trip to Santa Barbara wine country.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, best known for roles in Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name” opposite Eddie Murphy, and Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” has been cast as the cook.

“The Holdovers” is not the first time Hollywood has come to Southborough.

In spring 2009, Adam Sandler and some of his funny friends including David Spade, Colin Quinn, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and Kevin James filmed scenes for “Grown Ups” at Pilgrim Congregational Church.

The Sandler comedy, which is about five friends who reunite 30 years after their high school graduation and spend a Fourth of July weekend together, was a hit and spawned a sequel.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Coming soon: Paul Giamatti to film "The Holdovers" movie at St. Mark's School in Southborough